The Night of the Museums, the meeting which wants to open the culture

It seems that at night, in this quirky labyrinth connecting the four private mansions that form the Museum of Fine Arts in Agen, we hear strange noises, murmurs… Drafts carry strange impressions, sometimes the floor creaks without anyone stepping on it and strangely, the portraits seem to follow the unwary visitor with their eyes…
Well for once in the year, the good souls and those less well intentioned who prowl within these walls, will not have peace! The shambles joyfully organized by the protagonists of a meeting open to all, will upset the habits of the permanent and invisible residents of these places.
The Night of Museums is made for this: to upset the daily grind.

Open open the door to the museums…

Initiated by the Ministry of Culture, it signs its 18th edition this year, after two years somewhat heckled by Mr. or Mrs. Covid – the first transgender disease since the masculine is used as much as the feminine to talk about her, about him. “In 2020, the Night of Museums had been canceled face-to-face, digital nights remained for the largest museums. In 2021, it was postponed to July 3, we had made projections on the exterior walls, “mappings” explains Adrien Enfedaque, curator of the Agen museum.
This year, here is this beautiful and mysterious Night of the Museums, in « flesh and bone », very much alive since in the middle of the works will evolve dancers from the Agen Conservatory, students from the Félix-Aunac college, and a specialist of Pole dancing (« sport not naughty entertainment » specify the museum team).
Very strange animations that this evening proposes between the walls which, usually, perceive only the whisperings of the visitors gathered in front of the works of the great masters – Goya for example, and many others.
Before becoming the “Night of the Museums” (or more exactly until midnight, because afterwards, we don’t really know what can happen, some works have a bad character) the appointment was fixed for the spring. It originated in Germany and the French Ministry of Culture wanted to reproduce it in France, it gradually spread to all of Europe.
It is sincerely open to everyone, it seduces the young public since very often activities are offered to them, but it also enlists parents, grandparents, friends… The goal is really to invite to the museum, to proclaim loudly and strong that it is not reserved for those who have already taken a few steps in the world of art. No need to know the techniques used by the masters of Impressionism to feel the emotion of an afternoon in the shade of a large willow tree, on the edge of a lake… The veil of mystery is lifted during this Night of the museums, and it feels so good!

Dance comes to the museum

For this Night of Museums, the Conservatory of Music and Dance of Agen invests the rooms of the Museum of Fine Arts. Between the motionless works the dancers will twirl.

The museum and CRDA teams have put together a fun, innovative evening, far from the rigid clichés of a visit to the museum, opening up new horizons.
Nathalie Lacroix and Emilie Malaure, as mistresses of ceremony, know their stuff. They sought to ensure that the activities presented on Saturday 14 from 8:30 p.m. to midnight enrich not only the public but also the actresses and actors. « There is an important exchange between the dancers and the public » adds the curator of the museum Adrien Enfedaque. “These devices open the eyes, the ears and the minds of the students because they move in an unusual place for them, very close to the public” adds Jacky Lhiver, director of the CRDA.
An interactive music device with the public is also offered in the medieval room, by the students of Martin Mestre, from the CRDA.
The Night of the Museums also supports the operation “The class, the work” which invites classes of students to create a work and exhibit it at the museum. This year, the BTS in industrial product design by De Baudre (an alarm clock in D printing) are taking part; the 1st beauty-cosmetics-perfumery in Lomet (perfume bottle); the CE1-CE2 of Félix-Aunac (character of Lalanne); the 4th by Félix-Aunac with the dance performance « Le Radeau de la Méduse »: « It is a question of staging the characters who make up Théodore Géricault’s painting, of reconstituting the minutes just before the painter fixes the scene on the web, » explains Emilie Malaure.
And for the record, exceptionally, the floors of the museum have not been waxed for more than a week, for the safety of the dancers…

May 14

8:30 p.m.: Classical dance duets, with students from the conservatory. Corot and Courbet rooms, 1st floor
8:50 p.m.: Contemporary dance solos, with students from the conservatory. Flemish, Tintoretto and Goya rooms, 1st floor
9:10 p.m.: “The Raft of the Medusa” choreography, with students from Félix-Aunac middle school. Corot room, 1st floor
9:30 p.m.: Pole dancing, with Morgane Cordier, dancer. Cour Vergès, ground floor
10 p.m.: Classical dance duets, with the students of the conservatory. Corot and Courbet rooms, 1st floor
10:20 p.m.: Contemporary dance solos, with students from the conservatory. Flemish, Tintoretto and Goya rooms, 1st floor
10:40 p.m.: “The Raft of the Medusa” choreography, with students from Félix-Aunac middle school. Corot room, 1st floor
11 p.m.: Pole dancing, with Morgane Cordier, dancer. Cour Vergès, ground floor
11:15 p.m.: Classical dance duet, with the students of the conservatory. Corot and Courbet rooms, 1st floor
11:30 p.m.: Contemporary dance solos, with students from the conservatory. Flemish, Tintoretto and Goya rooms, 1st floor
11:45 p.m.: Pole dancing, with Morgane Cordier, dancer. Cour Vergès, ground floor