Paris footballer Mbappé pumps up art for kids

Paris footballer Mbappé pumps up art for kids

News

norman lebrecht

December 13, 2021

The PSG and France striker Kylian Mbappé has launched an ‘artistic, participatory and immersive project’ through his KM foundation at the Philharmonie de Paris concerthall complex.

The initiative, involving 20,000 children, is the brainchild of Paris-based American artist Rachel Marks.

She outlines the project as a ‘monumental installation, a living ecosystem, trees that share the same roots to speak of diversity and the relationship between nature and humanity. Concretely, the work will consist of five trunks with intertwined roots, between which the public will be able to wander “to see and hear all the voices of the world”.’

The installation will reach fruition before the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Full story here on Diapason.

Press photo (c) William Beaucardet

Comments

  • John Borstlap says:

    How nice…. a woke tree.

    Finally the movement has found its correct level of understanding. Cudos!

    Wokism has particular implications for France. The Enlightenment idea is that concerning rights and the law, every civilian is equal. So, you should not see individual people as first and foremost as representing a group, because that is dehumanizing, stripping them of their unique individualism. This idea is deeply embedded in French law and policy. But on the ground, people do discriminate against other people like hell, it’s an emotional prejudice. How to battle it? If you define ethnic or cultural groups, give minorities a label, to devise government programs to help them fight discrimination and to improve their chances in society, you are first dehumanizing the individuals in that group. You will make distinctions between civilians and define them as ‘different’, which is again a form of discrimination. So, in France that is not possible, it goes against the ideal of republicanism.

    It is a hughe paradox.

    The French philosopher Alain Finkielkraut has described this problem in his ‘La défait de la pensée’ (1987), his pulverizing critique of multiculturalism.

    Wokists however, say that race, colour, gender do matter, because people have different experiences depending on those factors, and so public policies need to differentiate between different groups.

    Although entirely understandable as an attempt to change people’s primitive prejudices, wokism plays into the herd instinct of the masses, where individualism is easily sacrificed to the security of group think and ethno speak. It can easily lead to serious aggression between groups in society, while the original idea was to correct a systemic imbalance in the practice of civil rights.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59584125

    • Anon says:

      Wow! Now it only takes the one word ‘diversity’ to set off an anti-woke rant. Overlooking entirely what the linked Diapason article is about:

      « Cette initiative illustre totalement la philosophie de Inspired by KM, qui vise à ouvrir le champ des possibles des enfants, à leur permettre d’expérimenter et de vivre les mixités pour les amener à apprendre, comprendre, partager et enfin transmettre. »

      « Je suis heureux d’associer la Philharmonie de Paris à cet ambitieux projet artistique à la croisée des disciplines – musique, arts plastiques, éducation – qui permettra à la Philharmonie, dont l’ambition est de s’ouvrir toujours plus aux nouveaux publics, d’accentuer sa démarche en touchant un grand nombre de jeunes », déclare Olivier Mantei, nouveau patron de la Philharmonie.

      • John Borstlap says:

        Yes, that’s about something else isn’t it? I get very tired of this anti woke thing. Woke itself is already tiring enough!

        Sally

        • Anon says:

          Yes, Sally, your boss is quite right, broadening the artistic horizons of a large number of children is undeniably a ‘woke’ project (especially if a black footballer is involved), and any right-thinking SD commenter should condemn outright.

  • Elizabeth Owen says:

    Sounds like an excellent idea and it will be interesting to see how it progresses.

  • gimel says:

    Super spreader event. Merry Christmas, the gift that keeps on giving.

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