Oh, we definitely made a boom with our "My Soft City: From Flâneur to Entrpreneur", a project initiated by 4 countries (France, Portugal, Romania and Sweden) that will last another year and a half. For three days, the city of Nîmes became the center of urban sketches. With the support of our French partners Maison de l'Europe de Nîmes and Le Lycée CCI DU GARD, Nîmes was the host of this long-awaited training.
The city of Nîmes is known for the coolest Roman aqueduct in Europe, bullfighting, crocodiles and... jeans. Yes, yes, as we found out, this is where jeans were created. Remember the other name for jeans - denim - exactly as it suggests de Nîmes, from Nîmes.
When it comes to bullfighting, let's say right away that we are active opponents of such entertainment, but as artists we recognize the beauty of the amphitheatre and the specific atmosphere created by the elegant French sculptors. As for the crocodiles, let's keep it a secret, for intrigue. We’ll just give you a hint: there are many crocodiles on the streets of Nîmes, as well as in the Municipality building.
Our Portuguese group was very representative. 3 teachers, 2 professional artists, 2 art therapists and 3 youth workers. Everyone with a pretty serious background.
The team was quite busy during the training. We spent three days on hard work and master classes on creating and editing sketches. There was no time for croissants at all, which is a pity, they are delicious in Nîmes!!!
Everyone liked the technique offered by our French partner Le Lycée CCI DU GARD... quick, bright and individual. The technique we learnt was slightly modified to a Portuguese style, and as such we used it for our own workshop that took place in Funchal and was visited by 25 participants.
Amazingly, in three days all the 37 participants from four countries managed to create a huge number of sketches, so much so that the city municipality organized an exhibition of the urban sketches in Nîmes supported by l'Office de tourisme de la ville.
Our next step, the training in Madeira, is dedicated to creating an urban game. Also, many more trainings in Romania, Sweden and again in Madeira are being planned. We have already announced a call for participants, and if you are interested in taking part in the creation of an interactive city map and city games, just write to us...
ARTE.M team
Funchal, 2021
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