BnF: Pocket Films Empathy, as part of “Views on Serge Tisseron”

30 November 2019. Published by Benoît Labourdette.
  3 min
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Public synthetic presentation of the “Pocket Films Empathy” approach (Serge Tisseron and Benoît Labourdette), by involving the spectators, so that they live the subject from the inside.

On the occasion of the donation of his archives to the Bibliothèque nationale de France, a day was organised in honour of Serge Tisseron on 30 November 2019: “A look at Serge Tisseron, from tintology to robotics”. Numerous speakers exchanged and debated with him on the multiple subjects explored in his work. It is in this context that I presented our joint project “Pocket Films Empathy”.

Serge Tisseron has worked a lot on the fact that human symbolization (how each one builds his representation of the world) is not only through words but also through drawing and the body. I was struck that the speeches, during the day, only explore the subject through words. The proposed experiment (speakers addressing seated people) did not put into practice this idea of symbolization through the body.

After a long and exciting day of listening to the conferences, I therefore proposed, in 7 minutes, two participative moments with photography, for the 200 people present, so that the subject could also be considered through a lived experience. Thus, I started and ended my presentation about the use of audiovisual creation to foster empathy, with two participative moments that engaged the spectators’ bodies:

  • At the beginning, I suggested that people take out their phone, leave it off, place it in their hand as if they were going to film or photograph something and close their eyes, imagine, visualize, the image that could be made by this “eye in the hand”. Thus, by this slight playful shift, to put the imagination and the critical distance back on the road.
  • At the end of my talk, I suggested that people get into groups of three, people sitting next to each other, then have two of them hold hands, the third take a picture of this with his phone, and send it to the other two. Meet your neighbour, create with him, make a connection, empathy, through creativity.
Pocket Films Empathy - Speech by Benoît Labourdette (7’30s)

Programme for the day: A look at Serge Tisseron from tintology to robotics

Animation: Nathalie Bocher-Lenoir, president of Gens d’Images.

  • 14h: Dialogue between Serge Tisseron and Denis Bruckmann, Director General of the BnF.
  • 14h35: Family secrets
    • Elisabeth Darchis, President of the European Association Nicolas Abraham and Maria Torok.
    • Chantal Diamante, President of the IDF Family Therapy Society.
  • 15h: The images
    • Frédéric Tordo, clinical psychologist, doctor of clinical psychology.
    • Yann Leroux, clinical psychologist, doctor in clinical psychology.
    • Pierre Léna, member of the Academy of Sciences, co-founder of “La Main à la pâte”.
  • 15h35: La photographie
    • The Manifesto of the Lower School of Photography, dialogue with Bernard Plossu, photographer.
  • 16h: Coffee break and signing session.
  • 16h30: The doctor’s laughter
    • Caroline Simonds (Giraffe) and Jean Philippe Buzaud ( Roger Chips), clowns.
  • 16h45: Why a shrink at the Academy of Technology?
    • Yves Farge, member of the Academy of Technologies.
  • 17h: Robotics and the challenges of the future
    • Pierre-Marie Lledo: Director of the “Perception and Memory” research laboratory at the Pasteur Institute, and of the “Gene and Cognition” laboratory at the CNRS.
    • Véronique Aubergé: CNRS research fellow at the LIG, Robo’ethics Chair of the Grenoble INP foundation.
  • 17h30: The “Small Empathy Laboratories” (PLEM: Federation of associations created by Serge Tisseron)
    • Three, Six, Nine, Twelve: by Marie-Noelle Clément (child psychiatrist, director of the André Boulloche day hospital, Association Cerep-Phymentin).
    • Developing Empathy through the Game of Three Figures (DEPJ3F): by Thérèse Auzou (doctoral student in educational sciences).
    • Institute for the History and Memory of Disasters (IHMEC): by Francisca Espinoza (sociologist) and Sylvaine Pettens (educational manager, INA).
    • Pocket film empathy: by Benoît Labourdette (filmmaker).
    • Institute for the Study of Human-Robot Relations (IERHR): by Olivier Duris (psychologist, doctoral student in clinical psychology).
  • 18h15: Preview screening of the film “Tisseron in quest for Serge”, with the support of the BnF.
  • 19h: Presentation of the Legion of Honour to Serge Tisseron by François de Singly and the robot Nao.

The co-construction and coordination of this day were led by Pascale Issartel (Director of the Audiovisual Department of the BnF) and her teams.

Portfolio

Video and audio recordings, documents, abstracts, of conferences that I run in different contexts.