The Houses of the Illustrious : memories on the move

As part of the celebration of

Bicentenary of Louis Pasteur’s birth (1822-2022)

 

The Houses of the Illustrious : memories on the move

 

Arbois (Jura)

8-9-10 june 2022

 

Conference organized by the CIMEOS Research Unit (UBFC) and the Public Cultural Cooperation Establishment Terre de Louis Pasteur

Labeled by the French Society for Information and Communication Studies,

with the support of the Club des Illustres, the City of Arbois and the Community Heart of Jura.

 

« Created in 2011, the label « Maisons des Illustres » points out places whose vocation is to preserve and transmit the memory of women and men who have distinguished themselves in the political, social and cultural history of France… It represents an official recognition of the heritage interest of the House… The network now has 250 houses ».

Website of the French Ministry of Cultural Affairs

 

“Preserve”, “transmit”, “memory”, “social and cultural political history”, “heritage interest”, “network”… so many words that “label” the label, so many words that question it. A commemoration – in this case, the bicentenary of the birth – of a local, regional, national, or worldwide illustrious person – Louis Pasteur – is an opportunity to question these words, all the more so since the primary meaning of commemoration relates to death and, precisely, we are commemorating the birth of the illustrious person – not yet illustrious and now illustrious, especially after his death.

This collective act reminds the community of the key events in its history, but it defines, too, its (a ?) local identity: this community is incresaingly concerned about positioning itself and having its history and socio-cultural roots recognized in order to strengthen its sense of existence and belonging. The territory is indeed a highly symbolic perimeter. Each territory builds its identity with the story of collective histories, often warlike, heroic or even, more globally, cultural. Those who have had the privilege of seeing illustrious people born or live capitalize on a form of notoriety that intrigues. For illustrious people often remind us that part of their character comes from the land where they were born and lived.

Since the 19th century, the relationship between historical figures and learned societies and the patrimonial use of the Illustrious were, in fact, set up in a territorial marketing perspective. These houses of the Illustrious also began in a close relationship with the “monument”, which is worthy of perpetuation, the memorial sign par excellence, of a city, a region. All these stories have fed, in many works, the answers on the qualities of a territory, using magical thinking to activate a mysterious “law of contagion” at the origin of this fetishism of the places, that is added to the strange attraction of the objects they contain and that the commemoration is there to reactivate a-periodically.

But this “law of contagion” has spread to multiple spaces: the territory of the Illustrious, of his objects and of his house, cannot now be thought of without its relations with other territories. The commemorations are encrusted in a label, a “brand”, the objects are metamorphosed into products and the borders of these territories are less and less physical: the territories “have taken their virtual quarters”[1].

The Illustrious were born, by their social function, under the Enlightenment of Diderot and Reason, and their houses with them – the museum-pseudo-house of Diderot was inaugurated on the tercentenary of his birth[2]. They grew up, and their houses with them, under the dim lights of Freud and Memory – Freud’s birthplace is a house-museum in Pribor now in… Czechia. They continue their illustrious lives, and their houses with them, under the dim lights of Disney and Pleasure – Disney’s birthplace has become a private home in Chicago. Finally, now, under the pixelated lights, they post themselves, and their houses with them, on Facebook, communicate on Twitter, have fans on YouTube.

Intended to be singled out, to be exemplified, they come out of themselves. They serve, and their houses with them, to nourish tourism, to create an “efficient” territorial identity and are forms of using the past in a perspective of attractiveness. How can we identify, analyze and understand the stakes involved in setting up a phygital life of the Illustrious and their houses at the community level and on territories that are increasingly large, increasingly distant and increasingly elusive? Are commemorations and other events, derivative products soluble in territorial branding (or even more!)? It is not easy to “live” listening to Freud, who lived in his native house for three years, Disney, who lived there for five years, and possibly Diderot, who lived in his two adjoining houses for fourteen years!

Branding, territory, museography, brand, exceptional, magical thought… The questions are numerous, the answers are complex.

This symposium concerns the issues of the Houses of the Illustrious understood as local and territorial devices mobilizing a host of actors, taking into account their objects and their installations in territories with variable geometry – physical and digital territories, “phygital” territories. It wants to bring together, around these questions, staff working in the world of Houses and/or gravitating around them – operational, political or associative actors – and staff working in the world of university research, a research involved and engaged in practice. It also hopes to participate in the enrichment of the houses’ links with each other and with the universities, to help facilitate the Network of Houses of The Illustrious through the establishment of regular meetings, and the development of the links between these Houses and their territories.

Three lines for reflections are proposed:

1. A first question concerns the label itself. What meaning can we attribute to it? What dynamics has it made (or not!) possible? How was the Illustre’s switch to “labeled” Illustre thanks to his house? Conversely, does the labeling of a house build an Illustrated? What does this label do to the social figure[3] of the Illustre? What functions does this process of “exceptionalization” play in the life of the Houses, in its popular attractiveness, in the understanding of the history and work of the Illustre?
   Places are multiplying – and sometimes labels! – stuck between souvenir and memory, the porting of a history and the installation of symbols that differ according to whether the house is a house-museum “allowing to enter into the intimacy of these illustrious people through objects and furniture preserved in their setting of origin, an archive house “presenting and valuing various documents and testimonies”, a house-creation “where carte blanche was given to an artist for an aesthetic evocation” or perpetuating “the spirit of the illustrious character by welcoming the residence of writers, painters or actors.”

2. A second question concerns the “objects” that inhabit these Houses and the memories that inhabit us. What stories do these objects bear, material and immaterial? How are they built? How are they, in turn, carried by the Houses? What does She/He eat? What is She/He drinking? How does She/He wash? Does She/He sing? Does She/He have a garden? How to work on a “memo-mobility” search, a “daily memo”? How is the life of an Illustre told, sometimes with stories with plural origins, sometimes uncertain? How can these “transmedia” stories be taken into account? How to work on research on the cultural expressions of the Illustrious, media and popular? How to keep, build, evoke heritage atmospheres and how to make them dialogue with emotions?
   This form of belonging to all is to be compared with inventions / works that belong to all equally. It circulates in the veins of the house: the vagaries of people and furniture, the fixation of objects on one side, and, on the other, derived, if not degraded (or even “infamous” pieces[4]), scholarly and familiar narratives, sometimes co-constructed, which can be exploited as communication strategies.
   The sanctification (sometimes synonymous with immobility) is, at all times, in discussion with mediations, public presentations, renovations, new sets, themselves transmedias (sometimes synonymous with appearance).

3. A third question concerns the inscription in the territories of these Houses and their Illustrious and the local involvement, which is essential. Essential, also, is the link between valuation, singularization of historical characters and impact on the territory, economic, but social too. How to combine waiting communication with pro-active communication? How can we work, in the digital age, an event communication, (com)memorial, occasional? How our Illustrious are /can they be/ bearers of a brand[5]?
   In the context of digital territorial communication, the participation of targeted audiences is increasingly desired in order to provoke contact, mobilize communities of interest and maintain the relationship, once the visit is made. How does this strategy of capturing and retaining these target audiences use social networks and related Community Management techniques? How do the Illustrious engage the inhabitants and social actors of their territory in a visiting experience – becoming a co-constructed experience perhaps – that is defined as a journey upstream and downstream of the visit itself? Finally, more generally, how can all stakeholders be involved in a policy of valuing the Illustrious? heritage? what heritage? of a city? territory or even a region? What strategies? A commemoration? How, in the end, do they make their territory speak to other territories?

How to cross the views (and actions!): the oriented view “museum” and “conservation” and the oriented view “network” and “wonderization”[6]? A continuum probably exists between, on the one hand, breathing the “spirit of the place” that haunts the house and “smoothing” the image of the one who inhabited it, more or less long, and, on the other, “breaking the walls” of the so-called house and “pasticher” the image of the so-called illustrious, taking it out of the silo in which it tends to be enclosed. Let’s collect, commemorate, market at once… Let’s set objects, men, places in motion…

How, too, to live… without a label! How do all these questions arise and all these views are carried elsewhere, in other countries, on other cultural territories, when the Illustrious are not so designated and their Houses stigmatized?

Open to academic professionals and professionals of the Houses (or “not yet houses” or “other houses”, labeled or not…), contributions and interventions can (must!) be renderings of actions and research renderings – research-actions, on-going research, perhaps! The questions raised are numerous and can only receive collective, interdisciplinary, interprofessional and inter-actor responses. The successful proposals will be programmed so that they can be subject to constructive discussions with the participants, discussions of which the book from the symposium will also ensure publicization.

The conference will take place over two days, including lectures, workshops, convivial, cultural and spectacular events. It will be preceded by the General Assembly of the Club des Illustres.

It will begin with an introduction delivered by Dominique FERRIOT, Academy of Technologies. This introduction will be followed by a speech by Jean-François BOURASSEAU and Pierre-Yves MAHE, co-founders of the Club des Illustres, and a comprehensive presentation on the objectives and implementation of the project (Anne PARIZOT and Daniel RAICHVARG, Lab. CIMEOS, UBFC). It will continue with the rendering of an investigation into the Houses of Illustrations, the results of which will be offered to the collective discussion.

In the previous months, a virtual exhibition will take place: Quand un Illustre (Pasteur) en invite d’autres chez lui(When an Illustrious (Pasteur) invites others to his home)

 

Provisional program

Wednesday, June 8

16.00-18.00: General Assembly of the Club des Illustres, Jean-François BOURASSEAU (Maison natale de Georges Clemenceau. musée national Clemenceau-de Lattre) and Pierre-Yves MAHE (Maison Niepce), co-founders of the Club des Illustres.

Topic of discussion: the relationship between the Houses of Illustrations and universities (experiences with students, trainees, researchers).

 

Free dinner

 

Thursday, June 9

09.00-09.30:     Valérie DEPIERRE, Mayor of Arbois

Dominique FERRIOT, Academy of Technologies

Jean-François BOURASSEAU and Pierre-Yves MAHE, Club des Illustres

Anne PARIZOT and Daniel RAICHVARG, Lab. CIMEOS, UBFC: Objectives and implementation of the project

 

09.30-11.00: Conferences and exchanges on each of the 3 questions:

• Delphine SAURIER (Audencia, Nantes), My beautiful label, Respondent: Jean MOCHON, innovative tourism consultant.
• Axel GRYSPEERDT (Foundation Collectiana, Université Catholique de Louvain), My beautiful item, my relic. Respondent: Adeline RISPAL, architect-scenographer.
• Adeline WRONA (GRIPIC, Sorbonne Université), My beautiful brand, my by-product. Respondent: Hermine DE SAINT-ALBIN, journalist.

Moderation : Anne PARIZOT (CIMEOS, UBFC).

 

11.00-11.30: Coffee and Gaudes Break

 

11.30-12.00: « Echo-conference »: François COOREN (Dpt of Communication, University of Montreal), Echo from the homes: The illustrious and us: who makes whom speak?

Moderation : Adeline RISPAL, architect-scenographer.

 

12.00-12.30: Survey: The Houses of the Illustrious seen from France, OCIM

Moderation : Jacqueline EIDELMAN, Museology, Ecole du Louvre.

 

12.30-14.00 : Buffet of Gaudes, Espace Pasteur

 

14.00-15.00 : Domui et Orbi (1)

– Houses of the Illustrious, inspiring houses: the Houses seen by the Chinese tourist websites, Xiaoni HAN (Journalist, Shanghai Morning Post).

– A label that renews the links with the territory: the domain of La Chesnaye (Guilly, Indre) and his Illustrious, Ferdinand de Lesseps, Michel LABROUSSE, Musée des Ponts-et-Chaussées.

Moderation: Hermine DE SAINT-ALBIN, journalist.

 

15.00-17.30 : First series of communications, 3 axis: « labels », « objects », « territories ».

 

17.45-18.00 : Dance with Science, Scholars from Middle school Pasteur, Louis Pasteur’s Monument, Promenade Pasteur.

 

18.30, Town Hall, aperitif

 

20.00-23.00, Espace Pasteur: Gala of the Illustrious, accompanied by a menu “Louis Pasteur” and “pasteurizing” songs.

 

Friday, June 10

09.00-11.30: Four hands-on workshops “Let’s live with the Illustrious”: Eat (and drink) with them, Sing with them, Go to the garden with them, Communicate (and write) with them.

Co-animation: a manager from a House, a researcher from a University.

 

11.30-12.00: Report on workshops

 

12.00-14.00: Free lunch

 

14.00-15.00 : Domui et Orbi (2)

– Photo album of the illustrious, Elizabeth EMERY, Pre, Montclair State Uni., New Jersey.

– By-products derived from the work of an Illustrious : the case of Edmond Rostand, Béatrice LABAT, Curator of la Villa Arnaga (Cambo-les-Bains).

Moderation: Jean MOCHON, innovative tourism consultant.

 

15.00-16.30 : Second series of communications, 3 axis: « labels », « objects », « territories ».

 

16.30-17.00 : Synthesis:

Dominique FERRIOT, Académie des Technologies

Anne PARIZOT, Pre, Lab. CIMEOS, UBFC

Jean-François BOURASSEAU, President of Le Club des Illustres

Modération: Daniel RAICHVARG, Pr, Lab. CIMEOS, UBFC

 

And the next meeting will be hosted by another Illustrious woman or man who will welcome us in her/his House…

 

Practical information

Location: Espace Pasteur, Arbois

Expected audience: 80 to 100 people

 

Registration – day-one buffet, coffee breaks – documentation materials

visits Maison Louis Pasteur and Sarret Museum in Grozon

Full fare 100 €

PhD-only rate 60 €

Gala dinner – show 50 €

 

Submission terms:

Proposals for communication, including an interim title, a summary of approximately 5000 signs (without the bibliography) and 5 keywords will be addressed before January 15, 2022 The expertise will be double-blind. Notification to authors will be issued on March 15, 2022.

 

Contacts and submissions of proposals (French or English):

• Université Bourgogne-Franche-Comté : Anne PARIZOT, Pr, Lab. CIMEOS anne.collet-parizot@univ-fcomte.fr

• EPCC Terre de Louis Pasteur: Daniel RAICHVARG, Pr, Project manager for French Academy of sciences daniel.raichvarg@u-bourgogne.fr

A book based on the contributions will be published by Editions Universitaires de Dijon in the collection of information and communication sciences (editor: Olivier Galibert, Pr)

Tours will also be organized on free time before or after the symposium.

The conference is organized in partnership with the Club des Illustres and the CIMEOS research center (University of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté). It is accredited by the French Society of Information and Communication Sciences. It is supported by the city of Arbois, the Communauté de Communes Cœur du Jura (Arbois/Poligny/Salins) and the Institut Denis Diderot (University of Burgundy). All the partnerships are currently being finalized.

 

Scientific committee

Presidence: Dominique FERRIOT, Professor, historian and museologist, Académie des Technologies.

Scientific director: Anne PARIZOT, Professor, Information and Communication Sciences, CIMEOS, UBFC.

 

Cristina BADULESCU, Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication, CEREGE, Uni. Poitiers.

Marie-Christine BORDEAUX, Sciences de l’Infor. et de la Com., GRESEC, Univ. Grenoble-Alpes.

Marie CAMBONE, Sciences de l’Information et de la Communicati., GRESEC, Univ. Grenoble-Alpes.

Vincent CHAMBARLHAC, Historien, LIR3S, UBFC.

Alain CHENEVEZ, Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication, LIR3S, UBFC.

François COOREN, Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication, Dépt Communication, Université de Montréal (Québec, Canada)

Elizabeth EMERY, French Studies, Montclair State University (New Jersey, USA).

Jacqueline EIDELMAN, Muséologie, Ecole du Louvre.

Béatrice FLEURY, Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication, CREM, Uni. Lorraine.

Gilles FUMEY, Géographie culturelle, Lab. SIRICE, Sorbonne Université.

Ronan GERMAN, Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication, Soc. Laurence Chabot, Nantes.

François GOXE, Sciences de Gestion, LAREQUOI, Uni. Paris Saclay.

Evelyn HO, Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication, Uni. San Francisco (Cal., USA).

Mathilde LABBE, Littérature, LAMO, Uni. Nantes.

Philippe MARION, Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication, ILC, Uni. Catho. Louvain (Bel.).

Caroline MARTI, Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication, GRIPIC, Paris IV

Cyril MASSELOT, Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication, Lab. CIMEOS, UBFC.

David MICHON, Histoire contemporaine, Lab. CIMEOS, UBFC.

Claudia MONTERO-LIBERONA, Sciences de l’Info. et de la Communication, Uni. Pontificale (Chili).

Nicolas NAVARRO, Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication, Uni. Lyon 2.

Nanta NOVELLO-PAGLIANTI, Sciences de l’Information et de la Communi., Lab. CIMEOS, UBFC.

Véronique PARISOT, Médiation culturelle et Droit, Lab. CREDESPO, uB.

Julien PEQUIGNOT, Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication, Lab. CIMEOS, UBFC.

Bruno RAOUL, Sciences de l’Information et de la Communisation, GERIICO, Université de Lille.

Marie-Clémence REGNIER, Littérature, Lab. Textes et Culture, Université d’Artois.

Delphine SAURIER, Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication, Audencia, Nantes.

Claire SCOPSI, Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication, DICEN, CNAM, Paris

Eric TRIQUET, Sciences de l’Information et de la Communicat., Centre Norbert Elias, Univ. Avignon.

Giovanna TRUDA, Sociologie, Université de Salerne (Italie)

Eneus TRINDADE, Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication, Uni. Sao Paolo (Brésil).

Geneviève VIDAL, Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication, LABSIC, Uni. Paris 13.

Jacques WALTER, Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication, CREM, Uni. Lorraine.

Adeline WRONA, Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication, GRIPIC, Paris IV.

 

Illustrative bibliography

Bertho-Lavenir Catherine, La visite du Monument, Presses Universitaires du Massif Central, 2004, 214 pages.

Boltanski Luc, Esquerre Arnaud, Enrichissement : une critique de la marchandise, Paris, Gallimard, 2017, coll. NRF Essais.

Catellani Andrea, Gryspeerdt Axel, « Collections et musées d’entreprise, entre patrimoine et stratégies de communication », Recherches en communication, 2018, 45 (« Collection et communication d’entreprise – l’art de la mémoire »).

Centlivres Pierre, Fabre Daniel, Zonabend Françoise (dir.), La fabrique des héros, Paris, Editions de la MSH, 12, 1998.

Collet-Parizot Anne, « Les collections de part et d’autre du miroir. Collections d’entreprise et entreprise objet de collection ? », Recherches en communication, 2018, 45 (« Collection et communication d’entreprise – l’art de la mémoire »).

Davallon Jean, Le don du patrimoine, une approche communicationnelle de la patrimonialisation, Paris, Hermès-Lavoisier, 2006.

Eidelman Jacqueline (dir.), Inventer les musées pour demain, rapport de la Mission Musées XXIème siècle, La Documentation française, 2017.

Emery Elizabeth, En toute intimité, Parigramme, 2015.

Emery Elizabeth, Photojournalism and the Origins of the French Writer House Museums (1881-1914) : Privacy, Publicity and Personality, Routledge, 2012.

Genbusger Sarah, « Comprendre la multiplication des « journées de commémoration nationale » : étude d’un instrument d’action publique de nature symbolique », In Charlotte Halpern, Pierre

Gribenski Jean, Meyer Véronique, Vernois Solange, La maison de l’artiste. Construction d’un espace de représentations entre réalité et imaginaire, Rennes, PUR, 2007.

Gryspeerdt Axel, Roger Caillois, des mythes à la collection, Paris, Classiques Garnier, 2013.

Heinich Nathalie, La fabrique du patrimoine. De la cathédrale à la petite cuillère, Paris, Editions de la MSH, 2009.

Labbé Mathilde, « Ancrage local et concurrence commémorative : le cas de Jules Verne (1905-2005) », In Marie-Clémence Régnier (dir.), Centenaires, jubilés, commémorations, Paris, Société des études romantiques et dix-neuviémistes, coll. « L’Atelier du XIX^esiècle », mars 2019.

Lalouette Jacqueline, Un peuple de statues. La célébration sculptée des grands hommes, Paris, Mare & Martin, 2018.

Lascoumes Pierre, Patrick Le Galès (dir.), L’instrumentation de l’action publique. Controverses, résistances, effets, Paris, Presses de Sciences Po, 2014, 345-365.

Masselot Cyril. « Temps, culture et communication au prisme de l’Intelligence Territoriale », Les Cahiers de la SFSIC, Société française des sciences de l’information et de la communication, 2017, pp. 51 à 61.

Michon David, « Parcours mémoriels et commémorations en l’honneur de Gustave Flaubert    (Rouen-Paris, 1821-2017) », thèse sous la direction de Claude-Isabelle Brelot, Lyon 2, 2018.

Nora Olivier, « La visite au grand écrivain », in Pierre Nora (dir.), Les lieux de mémoire, Les Nations, III, Paris, Gallimard, 1986.

Poirrier Philippe (dir.), Les collectivités locales et la culture. Les formes de l’institutionnalisation XIXème-XXème siècles, La Documentation Française, Paris, 2002.

Poirrier Philippe, Le patrimoine : un objet pour l’histoire culturelle du contemporain ? Jalons pour une perspective historiographique, Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2009.

Raichvarg Daniel, Barbe Noël (dir.), Les récits de la pasteurisation – récits, savoirs, actions (1865-2015), Dijon, Éditions Universitaires de Dijon (EUD), 2015, Art, archéologie & patrimoine.

Raynaud Philippe, « La commémoration : illusion ou artifice ? », in Le débat, 78, janvier-février 1994.

Recht Roland (dir.), Victor Hugo et le débat patrimonial, Somogy Editions d’Art, Institut national du patrimoine, Paris, 2003.

Régnier Marie-Clémence, « Vies encloses, demeures écloses. Le grand écrivain en sa maison-musée (1879-1937) », thèse sous la direction de Florence Naugrette et Françoise Mélonio, Paris 4, 2017.

Folin Marco, Preti Monica, « Maison-musées. La patrimonialisation des demeures des illustres », Culture & Musées, 4, 2019.

Roth Catherine, Etude sur le patrimoine scientifique : les enjeux culturels de la mémoire scientifique, Mission du Patrimoine Ethnologique, Sciences ressources, novembre 2000.

Saurier Delphine, La fabrique des illustres. Proust, Curie, Joliot et lieux de mémoire, Paris, Editions non standard, 2013.

Westeel Isabelle, « Le patrimoine passe au numérique », in Bulletin des Bibliothèques de France, 1, Paris, 2009.

Wrona Adeline, Thérenty Marie-Eve (dir.), Objets insignes, objets infâmes de la littérature, Paris : Editions des Archives contemporaines, 2019.

Wrona Adeline, Thérenty Marie-Eve (dir.), L’écrivain comme marque, Paris, Sorbonne Université Presses, 2020.

 

@copyright : Philippe Bruniaux (1, 5), Institut Pasteur/Musée Pasteur (2, 4), Nicolas Dargaud (3).

 

[1] Emmanuel Vergès, Des territoires virtuels de culture, La pensée de midi, Actes sud, 2000/3, p. 124.

[2] And strangely enough, Diderot’s birthplace has changed over the centuries within a few steps of each other.

[3] Even trivial, trivialized! Here we think of Yves Jeanneret’s work. The Illustrious people frequent television sets as well as museums, advertising or political speeches.

[4] To use the title of the book by Marie-Eve Thérenty and Adeline Wrona, Objets insignes, objets infâmes de la littérature (2019).

[5] Marie-Eve Thérenty, Adeline Wrona, L’écrivain comme marque (2020).

[6] To paraphrase Barbara Cassin in « Le lien rhétorique » (1990) : « Plus Wonderful que la pile Wonder, le discours ne s’épuise pas si l’on s’en sert. Au contraire, il augmente ».