Latitudes Contemporaines #25

To celebrate this twenty-fifth edition of the Latitudes Contemporaines festival, it seemed important to me that the program narrative be unifying. This is why the idea of ​​building a program narrative around the notion of “WE” became obvious. As society fragments, as moments of sharing become rarer, as autonomy and individual performance are valued, as spaces for selfless sharing, such as a theatre or a museum, are perceived as less of a priority, how can we still find spaces where we create together, where we create “We”? Society is increasingly digitalised. 

Screens, the virtual world, and social media are profoundly transforming how we meet and share collective experiences. Everything is designed to accelerate our lives. Artistic and cultural spaces, however, offer a respite where time expands and stands still, for the duration of a performance, an encounter, a shared experience. In a world dominated by individualism, screens, and fragmented attention, art and culture remain unique spaces where "We" can still materialise physically. These moments when strangers, brought together by a work of art, a performance, or an encounter with an artist, temporarily become a single entity - breathing, laughing, trembling, or silent together - have become rare, and therefore all the more precious.

This feeling of being "We" is heightened at a festival: this event transforms, for a few days, strangers into an ephemeral community. We share a story, an atmosphere, an energy. This is what we call "the festival experience." “We”: Art and Culture as an Invisible Bond. There is a “We” that cannot be decreed, imposed by law or authority, but awakens in the sharing of an emotion, a symbol, or a story. This “We” is not simply the sum of individuals: it is an alchemy where art and culture act as catalysts. They transform diversity into a living mosaic, where each piece, while retaining its uniqueness, contributes to creating shared images and experiences.

This “We” does not erase differences: it allows them to coexist, to meet, and to produce something common. It is this “We” that Latitudes Contemporaines hopes to set in motion in 2027: a “We” to observe, to create, to inhabit, to share, and to pass on.