French Culture Days will lure with sound of glass, film, and chocolate

The tenth French Culture Days (March 23 – April 17) will close the chapter comprising the decade-long series of the traditional several-week-long event in the Eastern Slovak metropolis. As of next year, Alliance Française in Košice would like to present Francophone culture throughout the year. The initiative is a piece laying out the world-wide mosaic of French Culture Days, which are organized every March.

Art glass exhibition called D´ores et d´espaces in Vojtech Loeffler’s Museum, an opening event of the initiative, will be a treat for Košice in organizers’ opinion. “The exhibition, with the title which eludes exact translation (Here and in This Place) and may seem too classic, will however portray something unprecedented. Glass will team up with sound, and sound effects, and attempt to create a single whole,” noted Grégoire Brault, director of Alliance Française in Košice and the attaché of the ambassador of the French Republic, about the upcoming event.

Art photography exhibit will disclose physical and mental nakedness in oeuvre of the renowned French photographer Marta Jonville in J. Boccatius’ Public Library. “I look forward to the concert by the Senegalese band Lack thyossane taking place in the ballroom of City District Košice – Staré Mesto, because this year’s French Culture Days shall become Francophone culture days thanks to their concert.  Senegalese are not French, but belong to Francophone countries. They will present African-French music, which is hard to come by in Košice,” divulged Roman Gajdoš, president of Alliance Française .

G. Brault praises the partnership with local cultural organisations in Košice. “French Culture Days initiative with its ten-year tradition does not have to force itself onto residents of Košice to be promoted any longer and run without support of local organisations. Majority of events are organised in partnerships with museums, galleries, City Council or City District Košice – Staré Mesto. We also collaborate closely with the ECC team.”

During French Culture Days, as many of us have already discovered, culture transcends language and language barriers. “Exhibitions and music speak a universal language. This year, we are going to make a series of French films more accessible to a wide spectrum of audience through Slovak subtitles,” added Mr Gajdoš, who has not registered an increased public interest in studying French, despite the fact the French city of Marseille will hold the ECC title in 2013 along with Košice.

French Culture Days will close with a sweet treat to the taste buds with the presentation of the renowned French confectioner – chocolateur. “Those who make it to the event will find out more about chocolate’s history, ways of preparing it, and will witness its creation. They can try out the quality of a freshly made chocolate on the spot, during degustation,” said the president of Alliance Française on a closing note.

zuzana.lehotska@kosice2013.sk