For over 25 years, the company has been manipulating a palette of colours, sounds and shapes linked to flame. Through our empirical and artistic experiments, we have developed a unique vocabulary of fire through our creations.
Since 2020, as part of our ongoing quest to explore new ways of writing, we have been working with Vincent Robin, a teacher and researcher in fluid mechanics from the P' laboratory at the University of Poitiers.
This ‘researcher associated with the company’ (as we like to call him) works alongside us to bring art and science together in a shared desire to experiment, create and raise awareness.
We've been able to try out different forms of collaboration: a knowledge-sharing workshop on combustion, the creation of prototypes for a scenographic object for the company and a teaching aid for students, fundamental research residencies at the Quai des Savoirs in Toulouse and the Parapluie-CNAREP in Aurillac, a visit to the P' laboratory and a meeting with its team of researchers, and so on.
In 2025, we'll be meeting up again on the campus of the University of Poitiers, to experiment with a new format for encounters: ‘arts and sciences’ residencies, enabling us to pursue our joint research.
History
In 2020, we won the DGCA/Ministry of Culture's ‘Research in Theatre and the Associated Arts’ scheme. We then initiated a meeting with Vincent Robin, around flame phenomena, in order to expand our Alphabet of Fire.
In 2021, the project received support from the CNRS under the ‘Mechanics of the Future’ call for projects.
We are making a film to document this journey, this complementary and cross-disciplinary collaboration (see below).
Vincent Robin's encounter with the company's artistic work has also become a teaching aid for students, with the production of an educational film, prototypes to popularise certain flame phenomena, and a source of reflection on the aesthetics of scientific results and their appropriation by the general public.
In 2022, research led to the creation of the scenographic object ‘Les Veilleurs’, the culmination of specific research into the tornado flame. Based on the principle of the vortex, this lighthouse makes flames 1 metre high dance and grow, with no energy other than air.
Since the creation of Les Veilleurs, we've continued to experiment with the flame, its heat, movement, light and energy.
After two years of collaboration, the shared desire emerged to create more bridges between the company and the laboratory.
In 2023, with the support of the Quai des Savoirs, Toulouse's centre for scientific culture, these crossroads between art and science will be extended to the fields of philosophy and technology. Echoing the ‘Feux et Méga-Feux’ exhibition organised by the Quai des Savoirs, the Carabosse company and Vincent Robin are organising a research seminar on the flame in the public space, the representation of fire in the arts and the evolution of our relationship with fire. Philosopher and researcher Aline Wiam and firefighter lieutenant Giorgo Esposito will be talking about other approaches to the flame.
In 2024, the Carabosse team went to the Pprime Institute in Poitiers to visit several laboratories. They met new researchers, some of whom specialised in acoustics and turbulent combustion. The day gave rise to the desire to continue the exchanges, a collaboration whose outlines are currently being worked out.
The year 2025 will give substance to the shared desire to create more bridges between the company and the Institut Pprime.
The Carabosse company will open its studio to researchers from the Institut Pprime and the CNRS in Poitiers for a unique visit.
The company will be working with Vincent Robin's laboratory team on the issue of the aesthetics of scientific results in order to make them accessible to the general public.
As part of the company's next creation, we are planning a residency in Poitiers in 2025, in partnership with the University of Poitiers, the Pprime Institute and the CNRS. This residency will focus on research into prototypes, exploring the link between flame, movement and the musicality of the show.
