For Laughs – Pour Rire
The festival, Imaginez Maintenant – Les 4 Jours de la Jeune Création, is in it’s final day today. It started on July 1st for a 4 day run with : fashion, concerts, tastings, expositions, shows, performances etc. all on the Chaillot hill (Colline de Chaillot) which is just around Troacdero.
I ran into one of these performances which was more than just a performance, it was the hilarious idea of two women with a giant sense of humor! Charlotte Moisand is a “paysagiste” and Caroline Oriot is a “scénographe” who conceptualized Turris Ferrae ‘Eiffelum’ which is a project that explores the idea of what if the Eiffel tower grew roots! Their collaborators invent and explore all the possible reasons why the Eiffel tower would have roots that have pushed out of the ground, and discuss, with spectators and passers by, the ecological solutions for what to do with it.
What is so hilarious is that they keep a completely sober face when explaining this outrageous fib, and by the look of some tourists faces, there were a few believers in the crowd.
The young man I took a video of explains how the Eiffel tower’s roots are made porous from the mushrooms, mold and pollution underground, and then when it pushes through the ground it is actually a plant, that he was doing “scientific tests on” and even was able to cook it. It had a sort of licorice flavor. There were also buds of the Eiffel tower that grew, and he had one in a separate pot. He was saying that if this type of “plant could “grow” in these conditions, then we could grow this all over the world and feed the starving populations of the third world.And the whole time he keeps a complete straight face. It was so hard not to burst out laughing!
Bravo to Charlotte and Caroline, this is a fabulous, delirious idea, and a lot of fun! Go see it today if you get the chance. Spots are scattered around the Palais de Chaillot.