Exhibition from October 12 to 18, 2016 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
As part of the 2016 opening symposium "Migrations, réfugiés, exil" an exhibition is organized at the Collège de France.
The Collège de France is closed on weekends.
This year's Collège de France opening symposium focuses on the important subject of migration, refugees and exile. The program shows that "exile is not a new idea in Europe", nor in the rest of the world. What would a world without exile be if not an assembly of scattered, sedentary populations, ignorant of each other and of village culture, the culture of roots, which resonates with racism because "the earth does not lie". The opening symposium will show us the extent to which displacement is part of human history, from our African ancestors (and yes, "we are all Africans") who arrived in Europe 50,000 years ago and bequeathed us the cave paintings. Because culture in all its forms is almost always the fruit of uprooting - not all uprooting necessitates exile - great travelers, even immobile ones, build and enrich the territories that welcome them. I'm deliberately avoiding the term "nation" here. But if the Colloquium is intended as an intellectual reflection on the theme chosen, without excessive naivety, by the Assembly of Professors of the Collège de France, it is not merely an academic exercise. This is the meaning of the opening Round Table, which is likely to focus on the tragic fate of migrants. This is also the meaning of the exhibition which will accompany and continue the opening symposium for several days, and which owes its existence to the collaboration of the Musée national de l'histoire de l'immigration, to whom I would like to extend my warmest thanks. I'd also like to thank all those who have taken part in an event that reflects our vision of the Collège de France's mission.
Alain Prochiantz, Director of the Collège de France
