The great adventurers of the spirit: artists and intellectuals; pioneers who know how to change worlds.

Born in Syria, a performing artist, Chérif Khaznadar ceaselessly wanders the planet to preserve its cultures.

Globally renowned anthropologist Maurice Godelier spent his youth with the Baruya in New Guinea, deriving from them a new conception of thought.

Born in Malaysia, the great Taiwanese film-maker Tsai Ming-Liang has won prizes in Venice, Berlin and Cannes, and is honouring us with a visit. 

We will also be hosting historian and medievalist Michel Pastoureau, a specialist in colours and a connoisseur of bestiaries.

Lilian Thuram will be closing the season: the former French international is a man of conviction, and will be talking about his battle with racism and discrimination.

Friday 12 October 2012, 6.30 pm

Michel Pastoureau

Original guest Dominique Blanc has postponed his appearance for health reasons, and Michel Pastoureau is doing us the honour of replacing him.

Historian and medievalist Michel Pastoureau is a specialist in the symbolism of colours, symbols and heraldry. Paleographer, archivist and director of studies at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales and the l'École Pratique des Hautes Etudes, since 1983 he has occupied the chair in the History of Western Symbolism at the latter institution.  He has published forty works dedicated to the history of colours, animals and symbols, including  Histoire d'une couleur (Seuil, 2002), Une histoire symbolique du Moyen Âge occidental (Seuil, 2004), Les couleurs de nos souvenirs (Seuil, 2010), and Bestiaires du Moyen Âge (Seuil, 2011).

Friday 23 November 2012, 6.30 pm

Tsai Ming-Liang

Born in Malaysia, Tsai Ming-Liang is one of the key directors of the Taiwanese "Second New Wave" of the 1990s, with films such as Rebels of the Neon God, Vive l’amour, The River, The Hole, What Time Is It There? and Face.

Friday 28 September 2012, 6.30 pm

Chérif Khaznadar

Born in Syria, founder of the first festival of traditional arts dedicated to world music, in Rennes, then in 1982 founder of the Maison des Cultures du Monde, he is currently the president of the Culture and Communication Committee and Vice President of the French National Commission for UNESCO.