Crossing borders: the exceptional variety of projects in the French border region

The Esch2022 region is not only composed of 10 municipalities from the South of Luxembourg, but also includes the eight municipalities of the French CCPHVA region. In the coming weeks, the participating French cities will be hosting major international events as well as some smaller, more intimate experiences to allow the visitors of Esch2022 to discover the vast cultural richness of this exciting region.

For the opening of the 45th edition of the Festival du Film Italien de Villerupt, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg does us the honour of presenting an exceptional concert. With its 70 musicians, the orchestra will perform a selection of outstanding music live on the stage of the L’Arche Cultural Centre on Saturday 29 October 2022, in a concert entitled Musica e Cinema, which will last one and a half hours.

In partnership with the INA (Institut National de l’Audiovisuel – France), some twenty 30-second retro teasers will be screened prior to the performance. These teasers have been compiled from archive images and highlight key moments from the region’s history that are associated with the famous film festival.

The exhibition MEMORIES, IMAGES AND HISTORY ACROSS BORDERS will also take you on a journey through time and present the Esch2022 region through 150 documents from the collections of the INA and the CNA. You will get an insight into the major events, the history and the fates of the people and their surroundings that have shaped the region between 1950 and today.

Moreover, in this context, the students of the University of Lorraine (Metz) will develop and produce a transmedia game and a web documentary remixing archival images and contemporary stories.

Throughout the year 2022, numerous events have been and will still be organised in the framework of this project at various locations in the region, bringing together professionals and researchers with interested citizens to discuss together the particularities of this cross-border region.

For example, on 2 October, the event Territoires et destins frontaliers partagés : attendus et imprévus à Thil will be held at the Salle polyvalente in Thil.

Programme:
02.10.2022
Salle polyvalente à Thil
2.30 pm – 3.30 pm
2 conferences: Historians, contemporary witnesses, political and social actors take a look at what it means to live on both sides of an open border, the French side as well as the Luxembourg side.
4 pm – 4.45 pm
Conference: Deindustrialisation is a process that goes beyond borders. However, the effects are not the same everywhere: Luxembourg has extremely expanded the service sector. This has created a dynamic world of work, but at the same time led to imbalances.
4.45 – 5.15 pm
Conference: The “flight” of top Lorraine footballers to the clubs of the Grand Duchy as an example of interdependence in the border region.
The event will conclude with a convivial get-together and a video mapping at the entrance of the former Tiercelet mine in Thil.

On the Luxembourg side, the exhibition ECCE HOMO revolves around the work of Bruce Clarke and will be on view at the newly renovated National Museum of Resistance and Human Rights in Esch-Alzette between September and the end of December 2022. The artist addresses the effects of war, crimes against humanity and genocide, deportation and destruction, exile, migration, resistance and human dignity.

Clarke incorporates his political engagement and quest for human rights into his sculptural work and explores contemporary history, as well as the writing and communication of that history – in a way that encourages reflection on today’s world and how it is represented.

Within this framework, the Tebby Ramasike Collective will present The Wreckage of my Flesh, an expressive and intense Butō performance, at the National Museum of Resistance and Human Rights in Esch-Alzette and at the entrance of the Tiercelet mine in Thil. In this performance, the human body is understood as a universal metaphor for the resistance of the being against the aggressions of history. The dancing bodies will react and interact with the work of Bruce Clarke.

30.09. – 02.10.
7.30 pm – 9.30 pm
Musée National de la Résistance et des Droits Humains, Place de la Résistance, Esch-Alzette

04.10. – 06.10.
7.30 pm – 9.30 pm
Parvis de la Mine du Tiercelet
Rue du Carreau de la Mine, Thil

The town of Aumetz will also be joining the Esch2022 programme with a completely unique event. It is based on a long-term artistic creation process between artists as well as between artists and citizens. After exploring every possible individual facet of sleep through surveys, interviews and participatory workshops, the EKINOX project invites you to a unique event at different locations in Aumetz. In a combination of performance, banquet, procession and dance ball, they will celebrate locally collected dreams and lullabies.

The project brings together six artistic teams: l’Insomnante, the company Rara Woulib, the directors Alexandra Tobelaim and Sophie Langevin, the visual artist Tuia Cherici and the composer Olivier Mellano as well as the dream anthropologist Arianna Cecconi.

24.09.
6.45 pm – 11.59 pm
Various locations in Aumetz