Pour l’Amour du Monde – Portrait of Hannah Arendt by Theatre Company “Ballon Vert”

Immerse yourself in the daily life of one of the most important philosophers of the 20th century

IFS is delighted to host the French theatre group, La Compagnie du Ballon Vert, which will honour us with a performance of “Pour l’Amour du Monde – Portrait of Hannah Arendt” at our school.

Date: Friday, 19 January at 8 PM
Venue: Amphitheatre 2900
Audience: 13-14 years old and above
Staging by Amélie Clément

Hannah Arendt, who passed away in 1975 in New York, remains an endless source of inspiration for future generations. Born in 1984, Amélie Clément draws from the teachings of this philosopher to make sense of her era, marked by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the hopes that followed.

Arendt’s thinking, focused on analysing totalitarian regimes, finds new relevance today. While the threat lay in authoritarian regimes in the past, our era witnesses a more subtle menace: the degradation of conditions for autonomous critical thinking. In a world where practical judgment is delegated to specialists, creating a public space for expressing public opinion is compromised.

“Pour l’Amour du Monde” revisits Arendt’s work and offers an opportunity to rediscover the ideal of emancipatory thinking. In the face of the monopolisation of judgment, the importance of individual critical thinking, inherent in every human being, emerges as a vital issue. Artists, as creators, are called to play a significant role in this reconquest.

Arendt conceived judgment as much more than a commonplace activity. In her work “Judging – Essay on Kant’s Philosophy,” she discerns the ability to act according to values and resist the unacceptable in this ethical activity. Thus, Arendt’s thinking urges us to consider the work, in the literal sense, as a production of the mind, a thought in action.

In times when social, political, climatic, and economic crises follow one another, Hannah Arendt’s legacy resonates as a call to preserve our ability to think critically. The ideas of this unique woman continue to guide those seeking orientation in the ruins of past ideologies, providing valuable insight into the necessity of free and independent thinking.

An after-show session will be conducted by Terminale students Héloïse Boutry & Jenna Muhajiz.

About La Compagnie du Ballon Vert:

Based in Caen, Normandy, Le Ballon Vert is a company that engages “beyond the walls” to explore and interact with what it calls the public space. Their approach is to question what unites us here and now. Their transdisciplinary team includes actors, musicians, visual artists, photographers, creators of sound and light, researchers, authors, etc. Together, they co-create narratives to open up as many pathways as possible throughout the city.

The company draws from the stories, investigations, and intimate narratives that animate the city to create unique artistic experiences. They invite you to spaces that are both poetic and political, provoking controversy in a world often perceived as immutable.

An after-show session will be hosted by Héloïse Boutry and Jenna Muhajiz.

Le Ballon Vert company is invited as part of the PEAC (Parcours d’Éducation Artistique et Culturelle).