In the classroom, the cactus pots stand alone under the shelf, the ruler is twisted and the globe cubic. Outside, the children walk on the roofs of the houses, lie on the treetops watching a sandbox on the ceiling. Welcome to the land of contraries, contrasts and loss of bearings. A funny universe, designed by the City of Sciences for toddlers from 2 to 7 years old. "We wanted to make the opposites feel physically, shake up the relationships of scale and immerse the children in an imaginary world composed of five places", details Nil Didier, museographer and curator of this new exhibition.
At the organized Bazaar, Joséphine, 2 and a half years old, fiddles with the wooden fruits, arranges them in boxes. Then tip the ordered tray into a cheerful badaboum. Everything ends up loose in the bin below. Small signs recommend storage by shape, by color. The leek looks like a bottle. Toddlers play the merchant without a cash drawer.
In the street of mini-giants, you get big or small. The measure upsets the size. Faced with an interactive landscape, the shadow of the child is compared to the size of the animals. "You measure 24 hummingbirds," calculates the big screen. Under the dandelion and the giant pigeon, we are Lilliputian. Here, a car. Sitting inside, we roll up to the level of insects, between flowers and grasses. The voice of singer Juliette invites to tickle her vocal cords. The deeper the song, the smaller the bricks appear at the corner of the screen. "You go down with your voice like you go down a staircase," compares Juliette. The children sing, the Voix'ture battery is charged. The little ones discover the expression "strong piano" and have fun with the vocal variations. Sitting, that's enough, we go out to climb on the roofs of the houses, enter a building the size of a minot. This time, we are giant in the city.
We put on a poncho with multicolored UV ink
We then enter the discolored house. The living room splits into a black and white half, another in color. On the window, we slide plexiglass plates to superimpose clouds, rain, compose a gloomy or sunny weather. But the most fun here is to color the characters on a white sheet. We slide them into a frame to digitize them, and here is our rainbow guy who comes alive, walks, and receives the rain by crossing the small screens on the wall. Damn, it has lost all of its colors! We just have to start again… Or else we go to put ourselves in a yellow light, on a wall, to see its shadow in gradation of colors. And behind the sofa wall, what's going on? It is the invisibility chamber. We put on a poncho streaked with UV ink and enter a black light chamber. We are confused with a savannah decor, the poncho designs are the same as the fluorescent ones on the walls.
In the Strange School, a little man runs on the walls, catches colors, bounces on the board. Children look for the 7 pranksters in the room. Twisted chairs, a soft table ... Under the shelf, the pots of succulents are hanging upside down, spiky at the bottom. In a basket, a spicy comforter sticks to a soft comforter. Pause time on reading corner cushions. An art book binder designed books on opposites specifically for the exhibition. Pages from white to black, others cut from small to large, thin or thick, flexible and rigid. We touch, we barely leaf through, it's so beautiful.
Our walk, in the order of the recommended order, ends with the park. The square is upside down. The sandbox, the rocking games and the feet of the trees are on the ceiling. We love each other in a big orange beanbag placed in the treetops, while the globe of the lamppost lights up next to it. On the ceiling scrolls a small cartoon, The duck pond, where a candy paper turns into a dragonfly, a tennis ball becomes a duck. Children let their imagination wander, stretch, relax. To perhaps fall asleep with your head in the air, your brain in delicious disorder.
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Contraires exhibition, from February 18, 2020 to January 3, 2021, at the City of Science and Industry, 30 avenue Corentin-Cariou (XIXth). Every day except Monday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and until 7 p.m. on Sunday. Prices: 9 to 12 euros. Rens. : cite-sciences.fr.