For six months, at Lycée Vauban, “EXIL(S)” was structured as a collaborative laboratory involving a dozen teachers from different subjects, approximately fifty students from 4th to Terminale, and the artists Jean-Noël Pierre (writer-director), Julie Barthélémy (choreographer, dancer), and Caroline Laurent (author). During regular classes, as well as meetings and specific workshops, the artists engaged the students in exploring the theme of exile, utilizing words, gestures, and images to bring forth their personal experiences and narratives of exile onto the stage. The result was a multidisciplinary theatrical production presented in June 2023.

Specifically, this project empowered young individuals to introspect and view themselves from a fresh perspective, to challenge themselves through original artistic expression, to meet and collaborate with contemporary artists, to shift their focus by looking kindly upon others and discovering their sensitive universe, and also to connect with students/teachers/artists as part of a shared and co-constructed interdisciplinary project, breaking down school barriers.