Draw me your planet

From 1st April to 31st October 2023 (Access closed during the festivals)

In 2021, the Little Prince written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry celebrated its 75th birthday, and Devrolle its 190th Birthday! On 29th June 2021 – the “international day of the Little Prince” a major exhibition of the last 75 years was inaugurated at the Château de la Bourdaisière. “Draw me your planet” where ecology is told to grown-ups by children and how to act for a positive ecology. A sensory, educational, and ecological journey through which the values held dear by the Little Prince and Deyrolle can be discussed by children and adults alike.

To mark the occasion of the 75th birthday of the Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry – which has been translated in to 455 different languages and has sold 200 million copies worldwide, including 14 million in France – numerous events celebrated this milestone in 2021: An exhibition at La Sucrière in Lyon which finished in April 2021, a special coin collection was minted by the Monnaie de Paris, and a commemorative stamp was produced by the French post office, as well as many literary events etc.

 

An exhibition for a new narrative of ecology

The first edition of the significant anniversary exhibition, “Draw me your planet” was held from 29th June to 15th November 2021. Imagined and produced by Deyrolle in the park, gardens, and cellars of the Château de la Bourdaisière, this exhibition-trail is an initiation of 10 stages inspired as much by the work of Saint-Exupéry as by the language and commitment of Deyrolle. Each stage is an experience which highlights ecological issues. The visitor strolls through amazing, sensory immersive installations as close as possible to nature, soaking in works such as land-art, or art display boards mixing the iconography of Deyrolle and illustrations from the Little Prince.

The 10 steps: 1. Nature is an adventure. 2. The Unexpected. 3. The Common Home. 4. Wildlife. 5. Time. 6. Cultivate your garden. 7. Water. 8 The Social Link. 9. Space. 10. The Imaginary.

 

An experience of game-based learning

Taking care of our planet and mankind are the challenges of this exhibition consisting of 10 experimental and educational stages associated with both a metaphorical and philosophical dimension. “Draw me your planet” is an adventurous journey, and with the turning of each page we discover is a new planet that we experience with our child’s soul. Through an accompanying educational booklet, both grown-ups and children are invited to imagine different ways they can contribute to protecting the planet by reducing their ecological footprint. This thought-provoking exhibition is intended for both children and grow-ups. It embodies the shared values of the Little Prince and Deyrolle, making the visitor reflect on the world of tomorrow.

TICKETS

Are you a teacher? Register on our platform dedicated to schools, and book your student’s places at the price set for school children as well as a coach to travel to the exhibition.

The historical and natural setting of the Chateau de La Bourdaisiere for a sensory educational and ecological journey

 

The little reporters from Kidiklik 37 published an article following their visit to the exhibition.

 Check it out by clicking the button below!

The 10 key stages of this journey

 

  1. Nature is an adventure – Talks about the awareness of material and immaterial heritage, of singularities of the territory in which we live and where we are going. This stage is illustrated by a cabinet of curiosities relating to the gastronomy of Touraine.
  2. The Unexpected – Addresses the importance of adaptiveness (in terms of biology). Learning to be resilient, beautiful, and strong in times of trouble.
  3. The Common Home – “Oikos” is the sense of community of where we live. A shared responsibility for all that it possesses, pushing us in search of a way of to lower our ecological footprint, to adopt a more frugal lifestyle, and to protect natural resources.
  1. Fauna – Allows us to measure the complexity of ecosystems in the chain of life.
  1. Time – Both a friend and an enemy in our lives, it is presented as the metronome of our part in a world of motion.
  1. Cultivating your garden – invites us to understand the scope of pollination.
  1. Water – Our guardian angel, our self, and our mirror.
  1. The Social Link – An element which makes up our myths, but also tells our story and our history.
  1. Space – Leads us to take another look at our unique planet.
  1. Imaginary – It is our imagination which allows us to dream and to choose another path so that we can preserve our planet for future generations.

 

 

PARTNERS

An exhibition which invites children and adults to consider the benefits of positive ecology

 

This exhibition awakens each visitor to the challenges of positive ecology:

  • Reconnect to nature
  • Rediscover the wonder of our life on our planet
  • Learn as a family, to take care of the Earth and Mankind
  • Make our responsibility a means of action for the future
  • Promote global action for a more reasonable world
  • Become an actor of change by reducing your ecological footprint
  • Develop imagination in the service of a less carbon-heavy society
  • Recreate the link for a society of sharing and conviviality

 

Deyrolle and the Little Prince have it in common to take a curious look at the world around us, where beauty and emotion mingle to teach us to observe, marvel, transmit and TO ACT!

This exhibition is accompanied by a collaborative work to be published by Actes Sud, which counts among its contributors: Baptiste Morizot, Camille Etienne, Charles et Perrine Hervé-Gruyer, Jean-Louis Etienne, François Sarano, Coline Serreau, Jean-François Clervoy…

Louis Albert de Broglie – Owner of Deyrolle

 

Why are Deyrolle and the « Association des Amis des Manifestations de la Bourdaisière » organising this exhibition?

Deyrolle, which this year celebrates 190 years since being founded, is a company which has always explained the Earth to as many people as possible and for 20 years, with the Deyrolle editions for the future and land development actions, strives to explain how to preserve life. Official partner of the COP21 for education, Deyrolle is a two-hundred-year-old institution whose DNA is based on the trilogy: “Nature Art Education”. Education is understood here as the teaching of innovation with a view towards a low-carbon society and the transmission of resilient ecosystems to the future generations. Deyrolle is therefore consistent with its teaching strategy when it combines its iconographic universe with that of the Little Prince, both narrators of a beautiful vision of the world.

 

Why did you choose the setting of the Château de La Bourdaisière to organise this exhibition?

The Château de La Bourdaisière is a laboratory in the heart of the Châteaux de la Loire, and for almost 30 years it has housed the National Tomato Conservatory, the Dahlia Conservatory, and the well-being trail. This château was the site of the launch of the first farm of the Future Farms Association which I co-created with Maxime de Rostolan. It hosted the exhibitions « La Terre Vue du Ciel » and « Des Bêtes et des Hommes » by Yann Arthus Bertrand. In addition, three events are organised every year: The Plant Festival, the Tomato and Flavours Festival and the Wood Festival. The Château de la Bourdaisière is part of Deyrolle group and bases its activities on the preservation of life, heritage, education, the art of living and the cultural and educational actions performed by the association of the “Amis des Manifestations of the Château de La Bourdaisière”

Deyrolle

 

“Education through sight is that which least tires the intelligence, but this education can only work if the ideas which are engraved in the mind of the child are rigorously precise” Emile Deyrolle

 

Since 1831, through its trilogy of fundamental values: Nature, Art and Education, Deyrolle has devoloped its activity around nature, science, fauna and flora, the distribution of school materials, and creates many teaching aids including the famous boards. Since 1871, dozens of generations have been awakened to the world through the teaching boards of Maison Deyrolle which teach botany, zoology, entomology, geography, human anatomy, civics, physics, chemistry, geology, mineralogy, biology, etc.

In 2007, Louis Albert de Broglie, under the label of Deyrolle for the future, relaunched the creation of new educational boards around contemporary environmental and societal issues. So, boards are produced on sustainable development, climate change, wind energy, endangered species, etc. In 2015, Deyrolle for the future was the official partner of COP21 for education, and organised events for school children, exhibitions in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris and at UNESCO. Deyrolle has since continued to produce books increasing awareness of ecological issues.

Louis Albert de Broglie – Owner of Deyrolle

In 2019 you had already associated the Little Prince with the fourth edition of the Forest and Wood festival at La Bourdaisière. The Little Price seems to be very dear to you. Why?

The Little Prince symbolises a guide. Someone who talks to us about the trilogy of values “Nature, Art, Education”, which is the essence of Deyrolle and La Bourdaisière, and which foreshadows a committed look at humane and technical responses to help build and develop ecosystems, which awaken solidarity between generations based on low carbon, frugal, self-reliant and resilient objectives.

 

Why did you choose the theme “Draw me your planet or ecology as told to grown-ups by children”?

Acting for ecology means acting for our “common home.” We need to reinvent a way of life which enriches everyday life, that gives hope rather than deprivation, more joy than sadness. Each stage of the exhibition is a position which invites visitors to become agents of change. 2046 is the objective that different States have set themselves to achieve carbon neutrality! How do we get there? if it’s not by “drawing our planet”!

 

You wanted this exhibition to be accompanied by a book written by 10 authors, published by Actes Sud. What is the intention of this collective work?

“Draw me your planet” is not a subject confined to one place, but a subject which affects the planet as a whole, and therefore must be carried by a text which explains the position carried by each stage of the exhibition and seen by a committed author. It was therefore necessary to find in the same work an overlapping of thoughts by different authors, the iconographic world of the Little Prince and the words found in Devrolle which symbolise the essential, the action and the future. The authors amaze us with the freshness of varied points of view, like the passengers of a space rocket heading for the international space station which orbits around the Earth and watch it with intensity like Jean Francois Clervoy…

Thomas Riviere – Estate of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Tale for children and philosophical reflection on humans, what is positive ecology according to the Little Prince?

The Little Prince has been a publishing phenomenon for 75 years. More than 14 million books have been sold in France and it is a book which we hand down and which affects all generations of readers. Throughout the Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry talks about the importance of taking care of your planet and writes “When you have finished cleaning yourself in the morning, you must carefully clean the planet” Today this message is particularly poignant, and it has long been my favourite passage.

 

Why did the Little Prince team up with Deyrolle?

Deyrolle is a company which shares the values of the Little Prince and whose work is both ethical and exemplary. It is in Deyrolle’s DNA to take care of ecological issues, and beyond offering high quality display boards and products, they are actors in the world of tomorrow. Each action carried out by Deyrolle is thought through and measured to have the least possible impact on nature. They are ambassadors of a positive ecology, so we find ourselves perfectly in line with each other. It was only natural that we work together on this project to communicate to families, children, and future generations, the actions that matter and the importance of life.

 

What common values do you share?

Deyrolle and the Little Prince exist because they are aware of the world around them, and issues that the world will and must face. The Little Prince has become an icon, which everyone knows and recognises, so it’s obvious that his image should be associated with such a noble cause, aimed at raising children’s awareness of the fragility of nature. It is not doom and gloom, our mission is to show that in every desert there is a well, and that anything is possible. We do this through the actions of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Youth Foundation, which has been financing educational projects all over the world for 12 years. This thirst for knowledge brings us closer together, especially when it comes to protecting nature.

In the press !