As part of the Festival des Sciences et des Arts 2025 organised by Aix Marseille Université’s Interdisciplinarity Mission, Mathilde Dewavrin, resident at the Citadelle/Iméra 2024-2025, is offering a guided tour of Fort Saint-Jean. Registration is mandatory.
A carte blanche following a residency at Iméra
After the first edition of “Une démocratie de pierres” (A democracy of stones) at Fort Saint-Nicolas when she left her residency in June 2025, Mathilde Dewavrin is repeating the experience by inviting the public to carry out an investigation into stones by surveying the Fort Saint-Jean area. Combining fiction and the words of experts, A democracy of stones aims to open up imaginations, make connections between sediments and serve as fertile ground for utopias.
During the collective investigation, we will seek to understand the stones that make up the buildings that surround us. Based on a body of artistic research compiled by the artist, the participants will be invited to take an active part in putting together a cross-disciplinary study of the stones: geological, anthropological, sociological, aesthetic, architectural, historical, etc. As we wander through the labyrinths of Fort Saint-Jean, we will methodically observe and record our questions and remarks in an attempt to answer the question: if stones could speak, what would they say about our contemporary society?
Event information
- Event with mandatory registration (max 30 places)
- Location: Fort Saint-Jean, Prom. Robert Laffont, 13002 Marseille. Departure from the Forum.
- Schedule : 3.45 pm to 4.45 pm.
About the Festival des sciences et des arts
For its 6ᵉ edition, the Festival of Science and the Arts‘ theme is “Science and Beliefs”, in order to highlight their dialogue, but also their contradictions. Through a programme combining science and artistic practices, this year’s Festival explores the current issues and historical roots of this complex relationship, with the desire, from the perspective of a major university, to rethink the ways in which knowledge is shared.
Iméra is represented on the Festival’s Scientific Council by Constance Moréteau, Iméra’s scientific coordinator and head of the Arts-Sciences research programme.
This year, Iméra is taking part in the carte blanche organised by Mathilde Dewavrin, as well as supporting the “La supérette des idées reçues” project organised by the Maison Méditerranée des Sciences de l’Homme (MMSH) on September 18 and 19, from 3.30 pm to 6 pm, also at the Mucem Forum.
