From the International to the Local

Building on its partnerships and experience, Le Polymorphe forges alliances across Europe and internationally. These collaborations nourish our artistic creations, challenge our practices and open up new ways of working together at the crossroads of visual arts, performance, public space and participatory practices.

Based in Marseille, at the Cité des arts de la rue, Le Polymorphe develops artistic projects rooted in local communities while cultivating exchanges with artists, cultural organisations and international networks.

Maëva Longvert is an artist in the European IN SITU network, led by Lieux Publics, which supports artistic creation in public space through European cooperation.

2023 — Le Polymorphe joins a European Erasmus+ KA1 consortium led by Samba Résille

In 2023, Le Polymorphe joins a European Erasmus+ KA1 consortium led by Samba Résille, a long-standing partner and ally. This collaboration opens up new opportunities for mobility, encounters and the exchange of practices with artistic and cultural organisations across Europe and internationally.

In November 2023, the team travels to South Africa to conclude a cooperation project involving France, Sweden, Belgium and South Africa. In December, the ten associations belonging to the consortium meet in Berlin to share their experiences, strengthen their connections and continue a collective reflection on artistic and cultural practices.

These exchanges enable the teams to discover different working contexts, compare methodologies and experiment with new forms of cooperation. They directly inform Le Polymorphe’s projects, particularly its participatory approaches, public-space creations and the development of alliances between artists, cultural organisations and local communities.

For Le Polymorphe, international mobility and cooperation are opportunities for mutual learning, the transformation of practices and collective invention.

Building International Artistic Alliances

Since 2019, Le Polymorphe has developed collaborations in several countries. In Belgium, in Brussels with CIFAS and in Marchin with Latitude50; in Denmark, in Copenhagen with KIT — Københavns Internationale Teater; in Finland, with the Caisa Cultural Centre; and in Mexico, in Chihuahua, where the team took part in the FICHO Festival in November 2022 to develop a short version of NYCTALOPE.

These encounters provide spaces for research, the circulation of artistic works and the sharing of practices. They make it possible to experiment with new ways of creating in public space, connect with new audiences and develop projects shaped by the specific characteristics of each territory.

POP UP — Towards an Ethics of Participation

Le Polymorphe is a recipient of the European Erasmus+ KA2 programme for POP UP, a cooperation and research project exploring the ethics of participation in artistic and cultural practices.

The project is developed in collaboration with Artistania, an arts and intercultural association based in Berlin, and Claire Chaulet, its co-founder. Together, they explore the conditions for participation that is fair, inclusive and genuinely shared. The project examines the role of people involved in creative processes, their capacity to act and the responsibilities of the artists

participants and cultural organisations.

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POP UP — Institut français PAIR Programme

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In 2026, Le Polymorphe is also a recipient of the PAIR programme — Programme for International Artists in Residence, led by the Institut français, to host Claire Chaulet, artist and co-founder of Artistania in Berlin.

This four-week residency in the field of street arts extends the research initiated through POP UP and strengthens exchanges between the French and German artistic scenes. It provides a space for experimentation around collective practices, artistic cooperation and the ethical challenges of participation.

The residency offers an opportunity to deepen a shared inquiry into the conditions required for genuinely participatory practices, while facilitating the exchange of experiences and methodologies between the two countries.

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SCÉLÉRATES — Forging Alliances in the Face of Rising Waters

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With SCÉLÉRATES, Le Polymorphe continues to expand its international outlook through an artistic creation exploring rising waters, the metamorphoses of living beings and the imaginaries of catastrophe.

The project takes two complementary forms: a monumental public-space installation featuring 700 textile jellyfish, and an underwater installation designed specifically for a swimming pool, combining submerged textile sculptures, performances, films and underwater photography.

The project explores new ways of inhabiting the world and imagining interspecies alliances in the face of ecological and social upheaval. It is shaped by encounters, personal testimonies, workshops and collective making processes, in collaboration with the territories and people involved in its development.

SCÉLÉRATES extends Le Polymorphe’s commitment to building transnational artistic alliances and bringing new shared narratives about possible futures into being.

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Sharing Practices, Rooting Projects in Local Communities

From Marseille to Berlin, from Brussels to Copenhagen, from Finland to Mexico and South Africa, these collaborations form a living geography of encounters and experimentation.

For Le Polymorphe, international cooperation is not an end in itself. It enriches local work, expands artistic practices and makes it possible to develop projects together with the people, organisations and communities that host them.

Building alliances, sharing experiences and inventing together: a way of making art into a space for encounter, collective empowerment and transformation.