The spirit of May’68 lingers on (4/4)
Abandoning Mao Zedong in favor of digital media
Tramp or ghost? All the students at the University of Paris VIII have bumped into this strange character, walking around with his underwear on his head. He is in fact a former teacher who has haunted the hallways of the faculty buildings for 25 years. The strange story of Gérard Girard is an essential part of a very singular university, born out of the spirit of the May '68 student uprisings. This university was created in Vincennes in the Paris suburbs. Populated mostly by left-wing students, it welcomed the teachings of radical thinkers like Foucault and Deleuze, before moving to another suburb, Saint-Denis, in the 1980s. Times changed and ideals changed, from the libertarian utopianism of the 1970s to the narcissistic individualism of the 2010s. The life and career of "the phantom of the university" mirror the evolutions in French society.
Recorded: January-February 2012 - Sound design and mixing: Arnaud Forest - Author : Sophie Knapp