To the sound of African drums and a little bit of last minute hammering on various stands, the Paléo conference revealed yesterday that all was ready for another great festival. Daniel Rossellat the president of the festival, showed the press round the various installations, the first being the OBOX. This is a giant water fountain, surrounded by pools and footbridges and with stepping stones to jump across the water. The structure, designed by the students of Hes-SO (University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland) will be a great place to cool off if these high temperatures continue. At night time, the installation will be lit up and luminous with various light projections, a place definitely to check out!
Below- Mr Daniel Rossellat and a student demonstrate their agility on the stepping stones
Hes-SO are involved in many other projects at Paléo including the designing of the Paléo poster, the video clips on the giants screens, the play park in the Mielmelo area for children (see last year’s post about this area), a project called Have Fun in a responsible way this is an awareness campaign in the car park for festival goers to appoint a designated driver, an ice machine where you can order an ice lolly from the chemistry students prepared by a robot!
As the spotlight on the music this year in the Village du Monde is on South Africa,the area is made up of “giant necklaces” in the form of huts and African stalls selling wares reflecting the sounds, flavours and colours of the region. Each year the festival has a social partner and this year it is the Neuchatel based IMBEWU Suisse. This charity works for the integration of youth through sport.
Below – Finishing touches to the Village du Monde