A day of artistic and cultural education took place on Saint-Germain Island, on November 6, orchestrated by CLAVIM in partnership with the Hauts-de-Seine department. This initiative, aimed at young people, allowed a group of twelve young people from the Saint-Exupéry leisure center to discover and explore the Tour aux Figures by Jean Dubuffet, an emblematic work and monument of contemporary art which continues to inspire curiosity and imagination.
A guided tour inside a unique work of art
The day began with a guided tour of the Tower of Figures, offering young people the opportunity to go inside a work of art. The immersive experience quickly captivated them, with each expressing their amazement at this monumental structure. “I love this tower, it’s big, pretty, a little weird,” says one participant enthusiastically. This first impression clearly evokes the effect that Dubuffet wanted to create: an invitation to enter an imaginary world populated by “lots of different figures” who seem to come to life in the children’s perspective.
40 years of the tower: a tribute to Jean Dubuffet
Next year, in 2025, will mark an anniversary: the 40th anniversary of Jean Dubuffet’s choice of the departmental park of Île Saint-Germain, on the initiative of André Santini, to install his monumental work. Disappearing a few months later, the artist will not see the tower inaugurated in 1988 and this day of visit and creation therefore has a particular resonance, introducing young people to the journey and artistic vision of a major figure in art. contemporary.
A source of imagination and creation for young people
As part of the “Heritage in poetry” activity, young people were invited to draw inspiration from the works of Dubuffet to create in turn, both in poetry and in the visual arts. By recreating the artist’s motifs – zigzags, round shapes, and broken lines – the children were able to appropriate the artist’s artistic codes while expressing their own vision.
For these young people, this immersion in the world of Dubuffet and contemporary art offered a new perspective, an incentive to express their creativity and take another look at their urban environment. They live in a city full of monuments and structures, but this experience allowed them to truly connect with an artistic heritage that surrounds them and to draw inspiration from it to create themselves.
