At the beginning of the year, Féminin Pluriel is recruiting.
Lunch followed by a private tour of the exhibition: “Who’s Next? Homelessness, Architecture, and Cities?”
The exhibition Who’s Next, created by the Architekturmuseum der Technischen Universität München (Pinakothek der Moderne), presents a wide range of architectural approaches to addressing the phenomenon of homelessness.
Homelessness has been increasing in slightly larger cities. In the 1970s and 1980s, one could observe “traditional vagabonds” in certain isolated areas. They were, in a way, familiar figures whose stories were known by many. This situation drastically changed with the spread of drugs. The line between drug users and the homeless became blurred. At the same time, with the opening of borders, begging became more widespread. Homelessness grew in scale and became more visible.
We are facing a problem that will persist and needs to be better understood, especially as we deal with multiple types of homelessness and equally varied motivations.
This exhibition, shown in Munich, Hamburg, and Bolzano, consists of panels, videos, and models illustrating a series of examples from cities outside Europe, case studies within Europe, and concludes with a perspective on Luxembourg. International examples—Los Angeles, São Paulo, Hong Kong, and Munich—highlighted in the exhibition, aim to encourage reflection on potential solutions.
Rejecting radical exclusion and instead fostering a nuanced understanding of the phenomenon is one of the exhibition’s goals. It calls for rethinking our approach.
At the beginning of the year, Féminin Pluriel is recruiting.
The Remarkable Journey of Olympe de Gouges by Magali Segouin
On Tuesday, January 14, Féminin Pluriel Montpellier Méditerranée welcomed Magali Segouin, creator of Les Belles Visites, for a leap into the 18th century to meet Olympe de Gouges.
Olympe de Gouges, a visionary woman of the 18th century, long despised and then erased from collective memory, is finally being rehabilitated.
A revolutionary, humanist, playwright, writer, woman of ideas, pamphleteer, and feminist pioneer, she stood up with courage and conviction to defend avant-garde ideas that resonate even today.
She is best known for her Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen (1791). At the height of the French Revolution, Olympe de Gouges wrote this groundbreaking text.
A true response to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, she strongly denounces the exclusion of women from civil and political rights. Article 10, the most famous today, proclaims:
“No one should be disturbed for their opinions, even fundamental ones; a woman has the right to go to the scaffold, she must also have the right to go to the podium.”
Her independence of thought and boldness led her to confront one of the most powerful and feared figures of her time: Robespierre.
“Rude and vile conspirator, correct yourself if there’s still time. I throw down the gauntlet of civility, do you dare to pick it up? Mark on this poster the day, the hour, the place of the fight, I will be there.”
But Olympe de Gouges did not stop there. She embodied a true vision for a more just society, proposing a program of social reforms to fight against poverty, injustice, and slavery—her most important battle.
She wrote an engaged and poignant play, The Slavery of the Negroes, or the Happy Shipwreck (1789), in which she denounces the atrocities of this inhumane practice.
Her text, rare for the time, highlights the brutality of colonial systems and calls consciences to the dignity and rights of oppressed peoples. By choosing theater as a means of expression, she hoped to raise awareness among a wide audience and spark a real political debate. Unfortunately, her play was largely ignored, but it remains a powerful testament to her humanist commitment.
Refusing to yield to intimidation, she never renounced her ideals, even at the cost of her own life. She was arrested, judged without a lawyer, and guillotined in 1793.
“In defending the oppressed, I only wanted what was just.”
Today, Olympe de Gouges is an inspiration for those who dare to defend their convictions in the face of adversity.
