The ICiMa chair and the I3SP – Institut des Sciences du Sport-Santé de Paris of the University of Paris, with the support of the CARP platform , are organizing an international symposium on the relationship between aerobatics and weightlessness. It follows the publication of the monographic work Kitsou Dubois, danser l'apesanteur , published in co-edition with Alternatives théâtrales, and the work carried out with Bernard Andrieu on the " Bodily experience of the artist ". This symposium contributes more broadly to the advancement of research in the “ Gesture and movement ” axis of the ICiMa chair.

In order to examine the link between zero-G and gesture, as well as the relationship between space and sensation, speakers are invited to consider the different types of environments involving a total or partial absence of gravity. Apart from the International Space Station (ISS), these can correspond to special experiences organized by space experts (zero-G parabolic flights), to experiences accessible on Earth (in water or via digital devices), or to physical practices (circus and acrobatics). The idea of immersion in a new environment changes the way of conceiving a gesture and of perceiving interiority – it also creates new impressions on an audience. Analyses of the artist's internal sensations have been conducted by Bernard Andrieu, with « drawings of consciousness » made by Cnac students and in the book Donner le vertige. Les arts immersifs (2014). The experience of emptiness and vertigo allows artists to look into the interior of their own bodies, even though it becomes difficult to perceive the boundary between the self and outside space. Several circus artists have conducted research along these lines: Frédéri Vernier and Sébastien Davis-VanGelder with an apnea show**, Mathurin Bolze with large moving platforms (pendulum motion) or Adam Dipert with 'Space Juggling' . The symposium focuses on the technical and technological devices used by the artists to deepen our knowledge of weightlessness.