Big Bang

Telling the story of the universe,

from the Big Bang to man.
CONTENTS
The project ................................................................................................................................................. page 5
1. The topic
2. Writing : images and music
3. The interrogation of basic research: both a philosophical and scientific issue
4. Plasticiens Volants street theater and savoir-faire

The Show.................................................................................................................................................... page 7

5. Staging page 7
6. History page 11
7. The scenario page 13
8. Design and set, technics requested page 26
9. Workshops with local actors page 31

Creation .....................................................................................................................................................page 33
10. Challenges and issues page 33
11. Timing and venue page 35
12. Partners page 37
13. Budget (see attached)

On Tour ..................................................................................................................................................... page 39

14. Participants, technical, logistical
15. Performances

The Plasticiens Volants company .............................................................................................................page 41

16. Marc Mirales, director
17. Marc Bureau, director
18. The story is not over: other emotions are waiting !
4

«To think that scientific images feeds the artist’s
imagination is commonplace. It has been this way for
centuries, but at varying degrees. Certain times are more
conducive than others to happy cousinage between science
and various forms of artistic expression. “
Jean-Pierre Luminet, astrophysicist, «Poets and the universe»
The project
1.The topic : tell the evolution of the universe from the Big Bang up to
the appearance of man poetically, without didacticism. This is not about
reproducing, and even less about explaining.
2. Writing, visual and sound : no text, a recorded soundtrack, perhaps poems,
which serve as reference points like the stars in a night sky, inorganic characters,
plants, animals, humans, flying, running, turning.
3. Why ? Man asks himself, he needs to know the world to understand
himself. Time, as said Jean-Pierre Luminet, seems favourable to happy cousinage
between science and art. The L.H.C. (Large Hadron Collider), the great particle accel-
erator, which starts these times, is supposed to provide answers to the unresolved
issues of physics. Understanding the world, from the infinitely small to the infinitely
large, in the passage of time... A challenge that is as philosophical as it is
scientific: a folly to the image of the current questionings and crazy an-
swers considered.
4. Plasticiens Volants street theater and savoir-faire
It might seem like a gamble to turn this rather off-putting subject into a live show.
But, the street is suitable because of its space, the great visual it provides, by bath-
ing the public in this universe, inflatable air is a wonderful key technique to evoke
this. This story is therefore in the «hyper strings” of Plasticiens Volants.
5
 The whirl galaxy Robert Smithon, Spiral Jetty, 1970

6 Courrier Inte
rnational - d
u 3 au 9 juillet
 The show

5. Staging

No didacticism but not contradictory to science either, so that the show can be a spring-
board for reflection. There is no realism, but easily identifiable reference points
are used so that viewers can follow the story’s development. It will be a show without
text or, in any case, with little text, this does not mean without writing; the writings will
result from visual and musical propositions, such as a poem. The challenge is to inject a
little humour and above all, a lot of emotion into a subject that is neither hot nor cold.

Ammonite core Alexandre Calder, Soleil, lune, mer et spirales dialoguent, 1974 Young bracken fronds curled

7
 Gaston Bachelard, in The Air and Dreams - test on the
imagination of movement :
« You always want the imagination to be the ability to
form images. But rather it is the ability to distort images
provided by one’s perception, it is above all the power to
free our first images from us, to change images. »

« The fascination of a new subject to seek is a particular

type of romantic encounter. Everything is there: the first
contact, temptation, attraction... Such as in a party, I am
first attracted by a look and then intrigued, I cast my eye
again, knowing that it is already too late: I feel faint. I
flirt with the subject for a moment and - what is worse
- the subject flirts with me. The whole thing bothers me,
pursues me relentlessly. »

David van Reybrouck, archaeologist, philosopher, historian, in «The

Scourge», Actes Sud, May 2008.

Research on the inflatable character transformation

8
The show
The director’s viewpoint

Jumping into the subject, I was surprised by the fascination that it could bring. Al-
though a bit daunting for the «uninformed» I am provoked not to boredom but rather
a desire to know the result, like in a good novel. I was also struck by scientists’ need for
images to make theories or discoveries identifiable and accessible. We also spoke about
“strange quark”, “charmed quark”, and “beauty quark”, so called colourful constella-
tions and nebulae ... Names that make you want to know more ...

I was also very surprised at the number of poetic and philosophical citations in popu-
lar scientific works, where Hawking put forwards the idea of time when talking about
quantum physics, that he also wants to explain the complexity in a children’s book, and
that Luminet also establish a strong link between poetry and astrophysics ...

Through all this, there is a real willingness by scientists to be understood by as many

people as possible, to not remain locked in their in their cliques. Suddenly it seemed
interesting to me that as artists we do the opposite, that poetry leads us
to the rational: crossing paths, we say roughly, from the scientific to the poetic for
some, the poetic to the scientific for others.

Gaston Bachelard’s reflection confirms the common ground between

artists and scientists: the imagination. Although it doesn’t have the same pur-
pose for the two professions (one distorts reality to create a poetic vision, the other
distorts the appearance that seems to be reality to discover a more “real” or more “ac-
curate” reality), one can imagine that these two goals satisfy the same quest: to know
and understand the world.

9
 Varech primordial lourd des poissons futurs
Le pêcheur d’étoiles enivré de nuées
Passage de femmes dans un ciel froid
Immersion du moi dans la cosmique immensité
Univers je remonte en toi, et longue est ta légende.
Michel Cassé « Varech primordial »

Cat Eye Nebula

10
The show
6.The Story. Telling the story of the universe, from the Big Bang to man, and even after ... To evoke this
poetically: it is not about reproducing, and even less about explaining. In the story we tell, there are four
major periods: before, matter, life, after.

The main theme will be time. During the actual length of the show (an hour), the minute hand of a
clock will make 12 turns of the dial: This course corresponds to some 14 billion years, and represents the pas-
sage of time, the actual movement of needles accelerates or slows down over the panels, using its presence
to punctuate the narrative.

A ubiquitous character goes for a walk, observes: an eye? Eyes? In any event, a highly mobile flying character
(designed so that it has ambiguity: it does not resemble any deity, or God); it represents the sight that man
has had until now, it does not act, it is just a witness. It can show interest, its pupil dilates, it blinks, at times
verging on epilepsy, as the scenes pass:

•Before
a. Nothing ? In preamble
•Mater
b. Matter. Initial explosion
c. Supernova : a shapeless cluster grows
d. Sun, stars, planets, comets, asteroids
•Life
e. The Earth, basic life. Water, expansion
f. Diversification of living things
g. Man
•After
h. After. Before ?

Man is important, not as supreme being at the top of a pyramid of perfection, but as an observer of
the fragile beauty of the world. It is not about, of course, recreating the 14 billion years of evolution in
detail of current scientific knowledge, but only to discuss this development in its poetic dimension, to show
the beauty of this voyage through time and space; and partially open the door to the great questions
that this poses to all thought.
11
 b. Initial explosion

12
The show
7. The scenario

a. Nothing ? In the preamble, we play with time for a few seconds: visually, musically?

b. Matter. Initial explosion, birth of light, plasma origins, the birth of substance in the
infinitely small, the first atoms ... In any form, then spheres of various sizes (from the in-
flatable flying three meter ping pong ball to a soccer ball). Overlapping if related...

b. First elements combination

13
 c. Stars conversation

14
 The show
7. The scenario (continuation)

c. Supernova : a shapeless cluster grows (a sphere is inflated to view), swells;

around it, a dialogue is established between the stars (a wink to the string
theory which assumes that basic particles are linked by vibration): bright dialogue
that is extended to the actors and the music to invade all of the space. Around the
heart, the movements accelerate leaving only a few very white spheres and light
moving around the centre. The heart reddens until the explosion.

d. The sun majestically occupies the centre, around it, the stars have become
planets. Comets, asteroids, and other meteorites allow the building of life to
be built transporting vital elements in the cosmos: theatrical game, squadrons of
comets, the actors draw inspiration from the Red Baron, Tanguy and Laverdure,
from the kamikaze to the controls of its Zero, or Papy Bodington
d. Sun, stars, planets, comets, asteroids

c. Supernova
 e. Life - Sketches of research around the ammonite form

16
The show
7. The scenario (continuation)

e. Earth, life. Water (evoked by the music without being depicted). A first form
arises, small, for example ammonite with its spiral structure, then another and
others still, the space is filled with these forms, which spread out to the
public. At the end, perhaps a game of sexual attraction.

Windsock - Diversification of living things

17
18
The show
7. The scenario (continuation)

f. Diversification of living things. Variety becomes queen. They are all very
different. They interact with each other, eat, mate, ignore one another. We
witness little by little a growing swarming. It is a changing jungle where
horror produces something better. Symbolizing a spiral of DNA, little by little
it is built in projection. Finally, a bird, perhaps another evolved animal, real
or imaginary, takes shape and arises.

19
 Finally, a bird, perhaps another evolved animal, real or
imaginary, takes shape and arises.

g. Totem under construction

20
 The Show
7. The scenario (continuation)

g. Man arrives. The clock reads 11:59; the last second passes (a few million
years in reality, several minutes in the show), dominated by the brilliance of man,
his frenzy and, perhaps, the brevity of his existence.
Fire, the collective work, it strikes, it knocks, it climbs on rickety ladders, it saws,
it cuts, an industrial world takes shape.
In the middle, a form arises that is finally revealed as human.
Around it, the unrest of the men transforms into a conflict, which divides them
into two camps: those who want to kill the icon, against those who want to beau-
tify it.

g. Men and Totems

21
 e Huet
26 Août 2008 - Futurs - Sylvestr
Libération - Mardi
22

Temps ! Espace !
Seules divinités qui maîtrisez le monde !...
Je me révolte contre vous !
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti « Les licous du temps et de l’espace »
Le spectacle
7. The scenario (continuation)
h. After. Before? The abolition of time and our reference points evoke searching
questions and understanding of the world. Among the research is rationalism
which certainly will find new paths to explore thanks to the tools recently put
in place, and anthropogenism (not to be confused with entropy), a beauti-
ful poetic idea that will bring a magical reading of the world, and which can be
expressed as: «the world is as it is to allow the existence of man who wondered
about the world...» (see left-hand article page). The philosopher’s compass is
tied in knots!
23
 A surreal vision of the world
24
The show
7. The scenario (continuation)

Be that as it may, we are lead to a surreal vision of the world, in the sense of beyond
reality. Mixing the infinitely large and infinitely small, living things and matter, madness and
reason, all elements recur, playing together. Mirrors reflect reverse images of reality.
The clocks are multiplied, crazy, they dance to unpredictable rhythms, in the opposite
direction ... Time no longer exists !

A enchanted madness, a final flourish without fireworks.

25
 Extrèmophiles

Prototypes demanches à air

26
The show

8. Scenography, the set, and the techniques requested.

a.The stage space must represent the universe. With a centre that expels
and attracts. The centre is never the same, it is the starting point from where eve-
rything leaves, it is the nucleus of the atom, it is the star, the black hole at the heart
of the galaxies, the man from the point of view of man ... But a central location
with a clearance on the back: a peninsula, the isthmus serving as wings. Telling this
story in ambulatory seems difficult; a fixed show is required so that the wire is not
lost.

b.Inflatables: carried, flying, fixed, organics (in transformation), roll-

ing, bouncy, media projections. These will be the main characters of the sto-
ry. From the shapeless to structures developed into living things, passing through
the spherical: we draw inspiration from the extremophiles, life forms existing in
unlikely places, such as animals in the deep ocean, survivors of great heat, lack of
oxygen, or from the driest deserts. And we do not refrain from inventing others.

c. Painting: an evolution from black and white (grey) at the beginning,

to a surreal abundance. From the absence of colours, but also a look to admire,
lack of life on interstellar and quantum spaces (infinitely large and infinitely small),
in a crazy, unimaginable, seemingly irrational manner, in any case beyond reality,
which researchers are using to try to describe the world.

d. Projections: inside, outside, occasional, on the characters, the envi-

ronment, even the smoke. If necessary they must emphasize the subject, or
multiply images for other scenes, such as active mirrors.

e. Lumières : en symbiose avec les projections, elle sera par moments elle-
27
même acteur de l’évolution du monde, modifiant l’apparence des choses, les
 The evolution proceeds like the Bolero by Ravel.
It begins gently and slowly with
unicellular organisms, following a long series of
almost imperceptible variations on the same
theme that continues to come back to haunt us. The
tempo accelerates as time
passes, and the explosion of life forms to the
Cambrian period is similar to the variety of
instruments that are gradually entering
in the piece by Ravel. But the unity of life is
always present, as the underlying theme of the
Bolero, which is constantly heard.
Until the crescendo and the climax, where all
instruments play together in a maelstrom of
notes, as the miracle of the emergence of
thought and conscience.

Trinh Xuan Thuan, Origines, the nostalgia of beginnigs

28
The show

e. Lighting : in symbiosis with the projections, at times it itself will be the

actor in a changing world, changing the appearance of things, transforming
the way they look. The physical impossibility (budget, number of actors, amount
of helium) to do everything in inflatable requires for scenes in association with the
actor’s theatrical game to be carried out.

f. Costumes : somewhat like trapeze artists, the characters serve the story
but are not in history. Servants. Except for the period referring to man: each
actor could then slip on a particular costume.

g. Music : one piece constantly progressing. The composition becomes

complicated at the same time as the world becomes more complex. With plages
that can be looped to protect problems with the tempo related to outdoors show.
This is not about having a melodic line throughout: sound, “improvised” free jazz
music, will highlight developments in the world. Percussion will signify the tribal
aspect (human period), a trumpet or other wind instrument, the breath of the
man ...

h. Theatre : a theme of improvisation: attraction, repulsion. The inordi-

nate love of the electron for its core, libertine life of elements in heavy heat, the
suicidal attractions of matter and antimatter, the way a planet has of spinning
around the object of its desire, that is the star, with this air of not touching, sexual-
ity in the living world ... The game can also bring a more “human” emotion, being
the medium between the big picture and the public.

29
 Research on the inflatable- Diversification of living things

30
8. Scenography, the set, and the techniques requested.()

i. Special Effects : avoiding fireworks for reasons of scenography (a central space would
force us to work at a safe distance requiring huge and very rare sites). Tiny fireworks
are still possible, but restrict it to a minimum if needed. Smoke, heavy or volatile...

j. Technical and artistic collaborations : projections, music and soundtrack (per-

haps a contemporary musician who loves original adventures, such as François
Rosset, a former student of Olivier Messian, with whom we worked for the show
“Beauty and the Beast” for Grand Angle in Voiron), a researcher inclined to poetry
(an astronomer?), a projections specialist...

9. Workshops with local actors

To theatrically achieve certain scenes without increasing the number

of actors on tour, we will work with the local actors, led by actors of
the company, to reach twelve or eighteen characters on the ground.
We have the stage work experience, which allows us to achieve a spectacular re-
sult in just a few days. In addition, this type of work creates a strong link between
our team and the location that welcomes us, and we love it !

31
 Tous ces quasars dans les fins fonds de la cervelle
Prêts à surgir en rugissant
Pour dévorer le peu de ciel qui nous incombe
Nous les avons créés en les nommant
Tout comme Dieu le cancer et la bombe
Alors que nous n’en sommes qu’à nous supposer.
(…)
Nous rêverons jusqu’à la fin
D’un excellent du subjonctif
Qui courberait l’espace-temps
Jusqu’à ce qu’il morde sa queue
Alors les galaxies qui s’engouffrent
Dans le crématoire céleste
Lasses de s’entredéchirer
Refluerait vers nous comme
Des banquises d’aubépine
Et nous entendrions nos mères
Depuis si longtemps mortes
Nous appeler pour la soupe.
Jean Rousselot « Poèmes en espoir de cause »

32
Creation

10. Issues and Challenges

Through this story, Plasticiens Volants work with one of its key essential
materials, helium: a fundamental material to the company that was created from
balloonist adventures, and an essential material for the universe.
In a way, this creation could be a tribute to this wonderful and harmless gas, emer-
ged from the first moments of the universe and still central to the lives of stars.

But this performance is in line with the company’s creations: different levels of
reading should be possible. If everyone can be seduced and swept away by the
magic of flying inflatables, some will know to look beyond the images at the invitation
to understand the metaphysical issues related to the subject, provided that these
images are sufficiently legible.

To achieve this, Plasticiens Volants savoir-faire in inflatables is a solid basis, and our
experience in the domain of all types of projections is a good support. But to meet the
challenge of the subject, it will have to go beyond what we already have, find
new techniques related to inflatables to play with the subject, its transparency,
work the metamorphosis ...
Large projections with a light system have already been put in place in the performance,
developing different ways to use them on the road will also be a big job.

The soundtrack will be an original creation, whose logic should be structured

around a narrative and set design, as in an opera. It is important to design this
continuum in a fairly flexible manner so that it can be adapted to the hazards of being
played in the open, in a public space, without losing its strength.

Overcoming these obstacles will be a new milestone in the history of the

company.
33
34
Creation
11. Shedule and venues

Preparation, searching for partners, and funding: late 2008, early 2009.

Created during 2009, early 2010: according to options, contingent on tours of other
shows, and especially in relation to final rehearsal.

The design, manufacturing, testing, partial rehearsal, all of this can be done in the
company workshops in Graulhet, or in rooms that the city could make available to
us for the occasion. But the finalisation of such a performance would be greatly
facilitated if it could be repeated several days in a row in a covered location, protected
from contingencies inherent to outdoor shows: weather, security, etc ... But the space
required is rare, around 1500 m2 minimum, about 20 meters in height, without pillars
(or enough space) : we have already seen adequate space in Duisburg in a former
steel factory converted into cultural park in the Ruhr area, in Rome at the Palazzo dei
Congressi, we imagine that there are locations in the Toulouse region in the aviation
industry (that would be more convenient and less expensive)...

Integrating into the business of such places for a few days (a week ?) will not be an
easy task! Unless we find an industrial waste land available ?

35
 Opening the Cultura Nova Festival *-Heerlen (Netherlands)-August 2008

36 *The flying character was created based on the image in the mural done by Brazilian artists in Sao Paulo “Os Gemeos.”
Creation
12. Partners considered :

Cité de l’Espace in Toulouse

Institutions and companies involved in astronomy or space
Cultura Nova (Heerlen, Holland)
L’Athanor - Scene Nationale d’Albi
Leucate Port Barcarès Tourism Office
Le Grand Angle - Scène Rhône-Alpes, Voiron
Jean Lurçat Theater - Scène Nationale d’Aubusson
The street theater festivals in France and outside France
Graulhet and Gaillac –Country of Gaillacois and du val Dadou
Le Chaînon Manquant - FNTAV
The place of its creation

The partners will be involved in the creation process as far as external advice; they will be able
to host the first performances of the show. Special arrangements can be considered according
to need. Participation may also be a contribution in kind: instead of a competence partnership.

13. Budget : The creation budget includes the first performances. (Attached)

37
38
On Tour
14. Participants, tecnical, logistical

24 Plasticiens Volants actors will participate in the shows.

The company will arrive on site the day before the performance.
Set up will be the day of the show, except perhaps elements requiring the dark of the
night, in order to make adjustments and be mounted, will be done the day before.

We will require 2 vehicles (a bus and a utility) for transportation.

By plane, we anticipate about 25 m3 to carry (4 tons).

15. Shows

Is fixed on a large location (e.g. 40 x 80 meters) or indoors in very large buildings,

only at night,

each performance will last approximately one hour,

and can accommodate 5,000 spectators.

39
 Babilonia - Toulouse 2008 (Festa Europa) Perle - Montreal - July 2006 (Just for Laughs festival)

40
 The Plasticiens Volants company
Plasticiens Volants is a street theatre company, based in the Tarn.

For the Plasticiens Volants Company, street theatre is grand, poetic, visual, and
for large crowds.

Flying giant puppets, actor-operators : Plasticiens Volants Company is comprised of

a team broken in by a long history of broad performance creations for several years,
emphasised by participation in ephemeral creations for exceptional contexts such as
the Olympic Games ceremonies, for example.

The actor-operators for the flying characters glide among the public, in very close
proximity. The frontal stage configuration no longer exists. The viewer can choose his
viewpoint, it is mobile and in this sense, an actor.

Marc Mirales, director: in the street theatre since 1976, the year “Julie Group” was
created, has worked with the “Theatracide” group. Established in Tarn in 1985.
He runs the Plasticiens Volants Company. A personality in regional cultural life, he
recently participated in the artistic direction of events for the Toulouse candidacy to
be European cultural capital.

Marc Bureau, director: before, he was part of the Théâtre à Louer, then worked with the
Théâtre de l’Unité, and with Ephémère Group (firework creation, precursor of Group F).
Actor in the company since 1991, he has directed Don Quixote (1997) and Simurgh
with Marc Mirales (2001) for Plasticiens Volants, then Pearl, and ephemeral creations.

Pêcheur de Lune - Kiev 2008 (Printemps français)

41
Key dates Festivals

1976 Created in 1976 in Paris from the Julie Group, resulting • France Avignon festival (final part 1983 with Ephémère and Els Comediants)
from Théâtracide : First intervention with a hot-air balloon Chalon dans la rue festival (final part 1991 and1993 with Els Comediants)
in Aix, a city open to street acrobats. festival Viva Cité à Sotteville lès-Rouen (ouverture 2003)
1980 Participation in Falaise des Fous (Jura), one of the first Puppet festival of Charleville-Mezières (2000, 2003, 2006)
street theatre festivals festival Au Bonheur des Mômes au Grand Bornand (2006)
1985 Establishment and structuring of Lavaur Group (Tarn): • Spain First arts festival of Salamanca (2005)
The company changed its name to Plasticiens Volants Dance and theatre festival of Las Palmas (2005)
1999 Established the company in Graulhet (Tarn) in an old Tarrega festival (several times)
tannery La Merce festival in Barcelona (1991)
• United KingdomEdinburgh’s Hogmanay (1992,1995,2000,2001,2007)
Creations Wow on the Waterfront Cardiff festival (2007)
The Stockton International Riverside Festival - Stocktonon-Tees (2000)
1984 GIGANTOMACHIE Greenwich + Docklands festival - London (2004, 2007)
1988 KIRKENES
1990 CETTE ANNEE-LA... Taken from “ The combat of Tancrede and • Romania festival International de Théâtre de Sibiu (2008)
Cloride” of Claudio Monteverdi
• Switzerland The Six Pompes beach festival (2008)
1993 NUIT SAINT GEORGES
1994 L’APPRENTI-SORCIER In production with the F.A.U.S.T. of • Netherlands Cultura Nova festival (2005, 2008)
Toulouse
1995 EZILI • Canada Just for Laugh Montreal festival and Quebec Summer festival (2006)
1997 DON QUICHOTTE
• Australia Sydney, Melbourne and Perth festivals (2000)
1998 LES OGRES
1998 NGALYOD - Creation in Australia • Venezuela International Theater festival of Caracas (2002)
2001 SIMURGH inspired by the Persian folk tale written by Attar in the
XIIIth century called “The language of birds” • Mexico international Cervantino festival of Guanajuato (2003)
2002 LA FIANCEE DU DRAGON for Expo 02 in Switzerland Cultural festival of Zacatecas (2003)
2002 PERLE
2002 MOON (MOON FISHER) • Brazil Belo Horizonte festival (1998)
2003 DETOURS D’EXPEDITION
Sao Paulo festival (1995)
2004 LA 8ème MERVEILLE
2006 BABILONIA • Taiwan Taipeh festival (several editions)
• South Korea Uijeongbu Music and theater festival (2006).
42

Closing ceremony for Olympic Games - Barcelone 1992
Camp Nou Stadium - Barcelone 2007
Special Events
Closing ceremony for the Olympic games
in Barcelona with the company ‘El Comediants’ (1992)
Opening ceremony for the Mediterranean Games
with Jerome Savary (1993)
Inauguration of the ‘Channel Tunnel’
in Great Britain (1994)
Opera Mundi Um Sonho Bom’
with the Fura del Baus and ‘Els Comedians’ in Rio de Janeiro (1994)
Participation in the parade for the World Football Cup
in St Denis France(1998)
Opening ceremony for the World Cycling Tour
in Maastricht (1998)
Opening ceremony for the Para Olympic Games
in Sydney (2000)
Production for Moon Festival anniversary
in Taiwan with the french company ‘Aeroplume’ (2002)
Centenary parade for the ‘Tour de France’
in Paris (2003)
Production for Nice Carnival
(2005– 2006– 2007)
Street performance with Pearl in China
in the frame of the twinning beteween Toulouse and Chongqing (2005)
Production for the Dresden 800th anniversary
(2006)
Opening ceremony for Luxembourg, european cultural capital
(2006)
Production for Alaquas big avenue opening day
in Spain (2006)
Production for the Camp Nou Stadium 50th anniversary
in Barcelona (2007)
43