AIFRS activities bring Arqus students from Graz and Leipzig to prestigious Festival d’Avignon in France

Arqus students from Graz and Leipzig attended the prestigious “Festival d’Avignon” in France as part of the activities organised by the Arqus International Forum on Romance Studies (AIFRS).

From 7 to 12 July, a group of 12 students of French Language and Literature and French and Francophone Cultures from the Universities of Graz and Leipzig spent an eventful week at the Festival d’Avignon as spectators and theatre critics. It is one of the most renowned cultural events in the world, celebrated annually since 1947 in the southern Provençal city of Avignon.

As the culmination of a semester dedicated to the study of contemporary theatre, the students from Graz and Leipzig visited 2 exhibitions and attended several performances per day, ranging from the various stages in the city centre to historical scenarios such as Carrière de Boulbon, Chartreuse-Villeneuve lez Avignon, or Cour d’honneur du Palais des papes. With Spanish as the invited culture this year, the students put their Romanist training to the test by attending plays not only in French —some of them with actors from the Comédie-Française— but also in Spanish, with a special focus on Latin American culture.

The programme offered them reinterpretations of classical myths in a context of social injustice, encouraged them to parade through the streets of Avignon with a concert of Andean music to learn about the situation of indigenous American peoples, and offered them scenarios that combined reality and fiction to reflect on the critical situation of human rights in the Southern Cone. The group also had the opportunity to visit the Maison Jean Vilar, where they learned about the history of the festival and the life of its founder. They had access to the archive’s library and enjoyed a friendly conversation with its director, who offered them information about research visits and institutional support for their projects.

Beyond the festival, the students gained a better knowledge of the region (with visits to the Avignon area), practiced their French by talking to locals, took a short boat ride on the Rhone, and shared a lunch while sharing their thoughts on the plays they had just seen, an activity that strengthened the alliance between Graz and Leipzig.

The excursion was organized and academically supervised by Claudia García-Minguillán, Verena Richter (both from the University of Graz), and Ángela Calderón (from Leipzig University).

News prepared by Dr. Claudia García Minguillán and Dr. Katharina Gerhalter, University Assistants at the Department of Romance Studies of the University of Graz.