WATCH: Moviemiento has put together a 5 and a half minute documentary featuring the people, places, performances and partners we worked with to create the travelling festival, ‘Le Bazar Roulant’.

Video by Nadja Bülow and Christian Söder

BazarRoulant SHORT from Moviemiento on Vimeo.

The project was made possible by the help of the Robert Bosch Foundation, and was the second if its kind between the French and German associations. Over three weeks, it saw around 50 volunteers in total come together to create a cultural programme that toured out-of-the-way places in the Cevennes region; free performances, film screenings, workshops, and of course the concept of the Give Box, were all part of the project. Most importantly, we spread the messages of upcycling and waste reduction where we went, as well as promoting community interaction and exchange in each of the six towns we visited.

We had an amazing time and felt privileged to be able to bring people together in an open and cultural format.

Please share our message, so that we may have another opportunity to take a travelling festival to new and exciting regions.

Thank you all for your support,

Le Bazar Roulant Team.

Le Bazar Roulant was a 2-week tour that revolved around the topic of reducing waste and upcycling. The Givebox, central to the project, encouraged people to swap things they no longer needed for things they did; the boxes themselves made out of old scrap materials and pre-loved furniture. But there’s more to upcycling than to swap old wares: at each stop of the tour, our team hosted upcycling workshops, giving a new lease on life to old or broken objects.

All together, 17 workshops were offered to the community (and our own team). Here’s a run down of DIY projects that cost (almost) nothing, and won’t cost the earth. Happy upcycling!

Wednesday 7th May, Alès

The first event of Le Bazar Roulant was very well attended, with hundreds of people visiting throughout the day. Because we had partnered with the Association of the “quartier RAIA”, there were many children who attended and took part in in our workshops.

Paper Masks built out of old cardboard boxes, by Thomas and Christian

Acrobatic show-jumping course for children, with Manu

CuiCui (little birds out of recycled fabric) show, with Charlotte

Juggling balls made out of balloons and dirt, by Julien

Paper bead necklaces made of old magazines and coloured electrical wire, by Anna

Sewing workshop using old bits of fabric and buttons to make small ornaments and key-rings, by Christi

Friday 9th May, Lasalle

Lasalle welcomed us with perfect weather. It felt like much of the town came during the day to take part in workshops and watch the performances. In the afternoon, after an announcement in the adjacent park by Sarah, dozens of kids came to make their own shoe pot-plant, with Julianne and Janosch.

The pot plants were made using old shoes, flowers and herbs from a local meadow, and soil from the park (thanks Lasalle municipality!). Children then decorated their shoe-planters with old nail polish

Saturday 10th May, Sainte Croix Vallée Française

Another sunny day. Under our big umbrella just by the river, three workshops were offered – and a few of our team took part, too!

Lamps build out of trash, by Janosch and Elly. A few made by the team were kept to decorate future events.

An example of one of the lamps. Made by Dorte.

Bamboo objects (Sevrin even constructed a massage tent!) using the wood in the nearby grove, by Thomas. Sadly the massage tent couldn’t be reconstructed in every town from then on…

Windmills made out of recycled plastic bottles which rolled in the wind, by Thomas

Travelling windmills

Thomas demonstrating how to make a windmil

Finished product!

Wednesday 14th May, L’Espinas

Pimp your dress, making old clothes look more interesting by adding using old fabric scraps and buttons, by Elly

Elly getting ready to pimp a dress

CuiCui (little birds out of recycled fabric) show, with Charlotte

CuiCuis!

Making a Givebox using old wood and furniture, which was then permanently installed on the bistro terrace. Lots of people helped on this project, which was a part of the team’s programme. Co-ordinated by Christophe and helped by Sarah, Tatiana, Janosch, Thomas (from Belgium), Thomas (from Germany), Christian, Sevrin, Mirko… Watch the timelapse video of its construction in this blog post.

Saturday 17th May, La Grand’Combe

Scrap books made out of used paper, wire and other trash, by Dorte and Anna

Rustic drinking glasses made out of old bottles that were scored, heated up, and cooled down very quickly. The tension caused the cut to break, leaving the bottom of the bottle for a glass. Janosch and Thomas supervised this!

Wallets out of old milk and juice cartons, by Robin

Pimp your dress, making old clothes look more interesting by using old fabric scraps and buttons, by Elly and Nadja

Juggling balls made out of old plastic trash and dirt, by Julien

Photos: Nadja Bülow

Le Bazar Roulant has rolled to  close! Saturday, May 17 marked the final date of the tour under the big circus tent at Salles du Gardon. It was the last weekend for the team: following our sojourn with Mas d’Espinas, we made our way “home” to La Grand’Combe and set up for the final time of the project.

In conjunction with Les Journées du Cirque (a festival surrounding circus and acrobatics), we presented our selection of short films on Friday and Saturday, set ou our free market in front of the Grande’Combe town hall, held upcycling workshops for children and presented a concert and a DJ (DJ geranium ) in the evening.

Les Journées du Cirque also presented two great performances by professional circus performers, a end-of-workshop show by 6th graders from Larguier Leo College, as well as a concert performed by La Grand’Combe music school. All the performances attracted large audiences from surrounding villages, filling the circus tent stands.

To conclude the event – and the whole festival, for that matter, Belgium singer-songwriter Clara joined us to play a musical repertoire entitled Chomeuse go on, a play on words meaning ‘Unemployment’ must go on. She played both cynically and provocatively, mixing vocas, accordion and gypsy guitar.

The Moviemiento team left last Sunday… a beautiful partnership, nice encounters and a renewed desire to start another project together. A project well done, well worn and well lived well by our team… which fluctuated between 25 and 35 people. A remake is certainly on the cards, but a little later and after a well deserved rest!

Each organisation returns to their duties a little less collectively. Atelier T.O.U.P.I.E. plans to ride the wave of international success of the festival and the Givebox activations! The demand is huge; municipalities and other institutions love the idea and are keen to learn more about, and implement, the concepts of community solidarity, citizenship and the art of giving and exchanging! The association is already in the process of recruiting a dozen employees to fulful this incredible demand for innovative and original Givebox constructions!

Okay… so maybe this is a while coming yet… But the important thing is that idea has already come a long way and touched people like we never imagened it would. And touched us too, for that matter. Action Hummingbird for a more cohesive and less capitalist society!

Movimiento has projects under way in Germany and elsewhere, La Fée Nadou is currently hosting clown school and has a chock-a-block calendar. Atelier T.O.U.P.I.E. has always, and still, plans to set up a recycling center in La Grand’Combe – the project has injected this plan with even more purpose. There are plans too to facilitate upcycling workshops with children, so watch this space.

We will continue to post things from time to time as a reminder of our travels, those people we met, and the experienced we collected.

Thank you to all those who took part. It was an amazing journey. A true bizarre.

Photos: Nadja Bülow