"Bob Marley’s song, « Get up Stand up » was a call for action: an action to free our bodies and souls. The context was that of a human revolution where one should not « give up the fight ».

Times have changed, but the challenges remain. The question is no longer related to the freedom fights, in those days where two thirds of the planet was colonized by one third.

Today, the question of freedom takes another turn: political, of course, but also economical and intellectual. How can we envision freedom in a globalised world? What are the miraculous weapons, to quote Aimé Césaire, that we must forge in order to achieve our goals?

Art is not the only answer, but it is certainly a field that allows experimentation and risks taking.

With the help of their masters, the students of this second chapter of The Studio will be asked to invent a language of their own, a language that could allow them to Stand up for their beliefs and their ideas.”

Simon Njami