Feuillets d’Hypnos, 237 actions pour la scène was performed
at the Cour d’Honneur in the Palais des papes
for the 60th Anniversary of the Festival d’Avignon.

The set layout is not a performance project, but the proposal of
a housing unit located on site, which redefines traditional codes
of thought in set and habitat design. This unit of residence serves
a literal purpose : the troop of artists lives on stage in the Cour d’Honneur with their families, for 24 hours a day during
the whole of the three-day performance. Both a circumstantial
and forced community thus brought itself into being, and took
the stage to speak and recite the poetry of René Char every evening.

The performance space is substituted with functional programming : a kitchen, a bathroom, a Badminton court, small amphitheater, a public gathering space, and an ensemble of cabin bedrooms. The latter of which provide a softer surface for multiple and indeterminate purposes, functioning simultaneously
as a work, reading or sleeping space ...

This residential unit evokes the standard form of functionalized architecture invented in the 20th Century. A concept therefore corrupted by virtue of the unit’s specific location within the Cour d’honneur. The seemingly standard form of this architectural structure “3 Days” (3 days of set-up, 3 days of performance,
3 days of dismantling) was drawn up in tandem with the project’s registration on the site for the performance dates of the 15th, 16th and 17th of July, 2007. It is presented as a series of climatic modifications that respond to the different micro-climates within the Cour d’Honneur.

The stage is re-territorialized in function with the potential forms of habitat made possible by the climate of the site : from cooler
to warmer, from the most artificial to the most natural, from east
to west. The set is composed of five climate sections, which allow
for as many possibilities of eco-habitation. A long hallway crosses
the whole of the building, enabling the public to successively cross each one of the differing climatic environments throughout
the day.

Ambient temperature section : To the east, the cabins are open to the sky, for sleeping under the stars. The air from the coolest zone of the Cour d’Honneur enters through this section
of the building.

Wind section : The Mistral wind crosses the Cour d’Honneur with greatest intensity in this section, and is reproduced in keeping with its orientation within the surrounding walls of the bedrooms and the hallway.

Mist section : A refreshing mist is diffused in the bedrooms and the bathroom, creating a screen from exterior view.

Rain section : Artificial rain falls from the roof and constitutes
a facade of fresh water for the rooms and the kitchen.

Air-conditioned section : In the western edge of the residential unit, the cabins are artificially air-conditioned from 16°C to 18°C. The temperature outdoors goes above 30°C during the day.