VILLEURBANNE | 2022

In April 2022, Villeurbanne in the outskirts of Lyon, 160 high-school students gathered at Komplex Kapharnaüm live open-air performance company for four days. Together, they devised, wrote and recorded a new podcast, as well as an open-air performance as part of the ‘Villeurbanne, French capital city of culture’ program.

We provided these teenagers with microphones and recorders so that they could talk more freely about their outlook on society and the world around them. For each of them to speak, shout, demand or compel listeners – loudly, clearly – to listen to their experience, their feelings and their anger. So that they may all, individually or together, get behind the mic to speak, sing or whisper what they want adults to hear. In this podcast and the texts written – or improvised – by these teenagers, you will hear their anger boil, their joys burst, their fears rumble and their smiles spring out; between the lines, you’ll also hear the thrust of the many aspects of a generation that is keen to understand the world, to get hold of it, to make it their own for it to become a better, more welcoming place for them to live in.