Without reins or saddle

Photos Jacques Toffi

Free roaming horses that move as if they were led by invisible strings have become synonymous with the legendary equestrian performer, Jean Francois Pignon.

By Camilla Alfthan

“BASICALLY, I try to show people a part of nature – a stallion, mares and foals, and that is my goal with the shows where horses roam freely,” tells the softly spoken Frenchman over a glass of wine before going in the ring with his show, Horse Music.

The venue is a five star show jumping event with luxury brands strewn all over the place. As a contrast to the lavish surroundings the celebrated horseman is remarkably low key.

Unlike any other rider, Jean Francois Pignon does not work with reins, nor does he use a saddle.

“In my life I was always more or less guided without having to step back and think,” he tells. “It all began one autumn after school when I did’nt have too much time to look after my mares because the evening came fast. I wanted to play with them and didn’t have the time to brush them or put on a saddle. In fact, I learned to ride without a saddle because my father did not have the means to buy one.  And I think he thought it was a good way to learn to improve my balance. Afterwards, I found myself working with the horses in the same way.

So without reins, how do you communicate ? What are the brakes and the steering wheel?  In the beginning I fell in the trap using words that my father was using, certain words that indicated what the horses had to do. Then I began to observe them and I realized that they don’t communicate like that. Whenever you see a herd move it happens silently. How does the leader tell them, now we move? It’s much more subtle than using words or sounds. Humans are intelligent enough to say that if they go to England it helps to speak English, if they want to talk with me it’s better if they speak a minimum of French  and we haven’t thought about the horses in the same way.

With them we speak a human language. I wanted to do the contrary, I wanted to understand the subtleness of the horse.

At first I tried to use a few words that were strong and precise. But a little over a decade ago, I said to myself that I really want to communicate only through movements.

“Whenever you see a herd move it happens silently. How does the leader tell them, now we move? It’s much more subtle than using words or sounds.”

That destabilized me in the beginning because I got used to clicking my tongue like any rider usually does. The first time it didn’t go as well because the horses were used to a certain dialogue between us, to which they responded very well, and when I wanted to go deeper into this subtle langue I felt less sure about myself and the horses were a little bit confused. So we regressed a little.

But I had a new horse, who – unlike the others – did not know his name. All the others would respond to their names but he did not know his, and he was always observing my movements to know what to do and that reassured me. While the others were a little bit confused, he was observing  me all the time to read my movements. So I stayed on this track.

Now I have a special relationship with my new horses and I feel that we’ve come further than the others who were used to my voice. I even feel less uncomfortable.

“My dad taught me one thing which is very interesting and important – that the animal must respect you. I find that is the base.”

Is there a hierarchy where you work with the leader of the herd so that the rest will follow him when he follows you?  No, you really need to have a relation to each individual horse. Only when you have that you can put them in a group, because once you do so, they have a tendency to slide away because of their natural hierarchy.

So it is only by having a relation with those who are in the lower echelon of the hierarchy that you can make them come next to the dominant horse, that they feel, it is OK because they are protected by me.

So are you their leader ?  No, I’m a human being among the horses. But I believe strongly in God and think I was made to be dominant over the animals – especially the horses. So I won’t abuse of this power; I want to respect them and believe in this gift that I was born with.

It began years ago with your mare Gazelle from Camargue. Exactly, I became very interested in horses when I had her, contrary to football where everyone was measuring one another and I needed to prove myself to my friends on the field. With Gazelle I could be very tired and I wasn’t judged by her in any way, she made me feel really good.

Later, when I found faith in God it completely changed my life. He made me understand that loving horses is a good thing but you must not forget to love the humans, too.

So you’re very religious ?  No, not religious, certainly not. Because religions are the source of many wars and it’s not very playful. One of the most important phrases in the Bible is to love your neighbour as you love yourself. Religions make war and they often make mistakes. I believe too much in God to be religious.

I really want to love my neighbour, even if he doesn’t think like I do. If theres a lack of respect I will retreat, and the same goes for the horses.  The horses that don’t respect me don’t have the right to come next to me. I always put them a little bit behind the others. My goal is to be in harmony with horses and the people.

How long does it take to train the horses? Does it only work with some of them ?  It works with all horses which is extraordinary. To make a horse take interest and follow me usually takes one hour.

What do you think about the way the equestrian scene has developed in recent years?  The horse adapts very well to all changes. There are many methods and you need everything to make the world. The Bible has taught me about tolerance and love, and everyone has their own ways, if it is jumping bars or racing a horse. I like what others do, too, and  I don’t want them to do the same as I.

At l’Ecole Militaire in the heart of Paris, the horses were a relaxed backdrop to Stella McCartney’s latest collection.

How do you get new ideas to innovate your shows ? Well, it’s funny; my inspiration comes when I clean out boxes when we’re on the road. It’s a manual work that I dont have to think about and my ideas come at that moment and, of course, also when I pray. Whereever I go the language of the horse is universal. We entertain people and I’m also enjoying myself.

Do you ever use tack when at home ? No, the horses are nude. I’m dressed. I feel their warmth against me – we become one.” ©

The artist

 David Bailey with Salvador Dali in the 1970s. “I’m only interested in real photography, not in anyone thinking they can do it because they can’t.”  

His striking fashion shots defined the pages of Vogue during the Swinging Sixties. Yet, David Bailey hates being called a mere photographer. For the National Portrait Gallery in London he exhibited some of his best works. 

By Camilla Alfthan

YOU BEEN AROUND for over half a century. Is the exhibition a way for you to look back? That’s for people who are bored with what they’re doing now. I’m looking forward to the moment. I’m finding stuff from the past but I never look back.

Were there some highlights that you wanted to put forward? No, I just wanted to make an entertaining exhibition. Superficial people hang on to the Mick Jaggers and the Kate Moss because they are probably the only ones they know or can relate to. I’ve got headhunters and cannibals from New Guinea, starving kids from Sudan.  I’m curious of people that haven’t been touched by outside civilisation. I don’t think they’re more pure than us, the human race is not pure, then we would have died out a long time ago.

You once said fashion was the only place to be creative. Is was the only place you could get paid and be creative. Sort of creative.  I haven’t done fashion since the 1980s. I do celebrities, people with talent. I’ve never been interested in making money, I always did what I thought was right. Sometimes I do things for charity. The only time I’ve compromised is when I used to direct commercials. That’s an industry, what I do is an art.

“If Jesus Christ came back now he couldn’t get cruxified because we don’t have capital punishment.”

Though art has become quite commercialized. It was always like that. Who sponsored the Italian rennaissance? The Church or the Medicis. The National Portrait Gallery asked me to do it and it’s sponsored by Hugo Boss, they both get something out of it.

Everyone is making pictures these days, has it changed anything? Since the Brownie came in 1900 people have taken pictures. Everyone can do what you do now, or what I do or what Picasso did, so it is about whether you want to do it or not. It’s not because someone comes along with a new gadget that it’s going to change anything. You’ve got 300 million people taking the same picture on Instagram. What’s creative about that, what’s that got to do with your imagination and your connection with the two things?

Michelangelo Antonioni’s classic, Blow Up from 1966 was inspired by you.. Blow Up was just another film, it wasn’t a great film, Seven Samurais was. Also, I’m not a photographer, I’m an artist.  I paint, I make sculptures, it’s just a different way of using my imagination and my curiosity.

Are you still as curious as you were then? Yes, of course, I’m more or less the same since I was in my 20s. I would have been the same if I was born in the Rennaissance or in Rome 100 AD, it’s seing things as they are to me. “Be true to yourself”, as Shakespeare probably said first, it’s a good quote.

How important was the zeitgeist of the 1960s – where do think you would have been today? Everybody you’ve ever heard of in history came at the right time otherwise you wouldn’t have heard of them. If Jesus Christ came back now he couldn’t get cruxified because we don’t have capital punishment.

With Jerry Hall and Helmut Newton at the footsteps of the Croisette.

Some people are envious of your lifestyle.. That is just silly people, they couldn’t take the pace, they couldn’t work like I do. I work all the time, I never stop working. I get up about six and I go to bed about two more or less everyday. I’m working on bronzes, sculptures, silk screens, paintings, I’ve painted since I was three. It’s something I do. Some people make coffee, others make things.

So when did you have time for all the women? I’ve been with the same woman for thirty years. All my ex-wives are my best friends. It’s common sense, I don’t see how you can be with someone for five years and then not like them, then they must be morons.

Do you still photograph them? I’m doing one tomorrow. And I did one yesterday. My current wife and tomorrow I’m doing my previous wife. It’s just a coincidence. It’s another day, another time, it is not revisiting, I don’t have a time machine.

And self portraits? Only to stop some boring photographer coming around, spending three hours taking an ugly picture when I can spend two minutes doing an ugly picture myself.

Do you admire some photographers? I’m only interested in real photography, not in anyone thinking they can do it because they can’t.  Cartier Brésson, Walker Evans, Helmut Newton, Bruce Weber…there’s lots of great ones and there’s even more who just take pictures.  Anyone can take a picture and anyone can make a drawing, by the way. Their drawing is far more interesting than their terrible photographs on Instagram because the drawing tells you more about their personality.

What’s on your walls at home? Mostly Damian Hirst and Irving Penn. But not my own things. It’s bad enough I have to make them, I don’t want to sit and look at them everyday. There’s nothing worse than copying yourself.

“You’re either born with an edge or you’re not.”

But do you rework the same motifs when you paint? Yes, that’s normal. Recently it’s all been based on the Annunciation which is probably the worst painting Leonardo ever did. I like the story, I like the myth of some angel coming down and telling Mary that she’s about to have a baby – that must be quite an emotional chock for her.

Did your background – coming from the working classes  – give you a greater artistic freedom? No, I think it was probably a great disadvantage. You couldn’t even talk to those people in the class system the way it was in England in the 1950s. They wouldn’t talk to you if you had a bad accent. It was almost like the caste system in India. You can’t know it if you didn’t experience it. I was lucky, I was also an dyslexic which gave me a edge on lots of educative fault.

It pushed you to do what you’re doing? Probably, yes. You’re either born with an edge or you’re not. I didn’t go to university to get dumb. The school system stinks.

So the school of life is better? I think that’s the source of all the bullshit in life, most people don’t have a chance because they’re too busy feeding their family.

But hasn’t  technology changed the way you work? Not really, it hasn’t changed since Talbot invented photography as we know it today. I have a 13th century house in Devon in Dartmoore and I have studios and darkrooms there so I was printing on Christmas Day making images. Whenever you do art, you have to be completely dedicated, you have to be ruthless and do what you want to do otherwise you shouldn’t do it. You have to make decisons whether it’s having a nice, boring life in the country with ten kids or being lonely doing what artists usually do.

What are you working on now? Some silkprints, three books on East End are coming out, three or four books for Taschen, a couple of exhibitions…We’re doing it all the time. I’ll probably do some bronzes soon.

How many books did you publish? I think about 40 if I don’t count the catalogues. It’s like people saying how many models did you sleep with. If you have to count obviously it’s not many. I’ve lost count.

Was it a hundred? Bloody hell, no, it wasn’t a tv game show.

The world has changed a lot since you started..If I was a Marsian and came to earth I’d say, what a strange lot of people they are. One half are killing each other and the other half are watching football on TV.  Politicians love TV and football because it’s the opium of the people. It’s not a philosophical view of the world, it is common sense. We’re the most threatening species because of over population. There’s too many of us, that’s why you got so many wars. Forget the Ferraris – there’s too many people in the world and that’s why there’s so much pollution.

But you have three kids. It had nothing to do with me, I was being generous to my wife, it was her idea.  I like people once in a while. I’m a bit like a buddhist, I like the person next to me. Less to deal with. ©

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Swiss with a swish

Designer Alfredo Häberli has created a Swiss Gesamtkunstwerk with the best of the best from his own home country.

By Camilla Alfthan

THE SCENE of this contemporary space is situated in the outskirts of Copenhagen in the residence of the Swiss embassy – a 19th century house facing the sea which is inhabited by Benedikt Wechsler; an ambassador with a penchant for sports and modern design. Dressed in tailored suits and matching bowties he cycles to meetings on a renovated Swiss bicycle from the forties, complete with batteries. A breath of fresh air has also blown through the formerly conservative residence which has been turned into the coolest home on the block. The most iconic piece of furniture is perhaps Ubald Klug’s creme coloured Sofa Terrazza from 1972 which is juxtaposed with an asymmetric coffee table made of fake granite. Its’ hedonistic design of the seventies evokes images of the pop culture of the epoch.
“I received a call from Bern saying that the sofa is not embassy like. I had to reassure them that the ambassador does not smoke pot. If I did not have some humour I would not be doing this,” tells Alfredo Häberli with a laugh.

Ubald Klug’s not very embassy like Sofa Terrazza is in for a revival. In the adjoining room Frank O. Gehry’s cloud shaped lamp from Vitra hovers over the dining table.

As the curator of the project he imposed an important rule : All interiors had to be designed or produced in his native Switzerland and of the very best quality.

“I could not buy textiles just because they were inexpensive or choose a furniture cover because it was practical.  At first I put a lot of pressure on myself, thinking that the Swiss design had to stand up to the Danish masters such as Wegner and Jacobsen which seemed an impossible task. But then I looked at contemporary design and I realized that Switzerland is doing better than the Danes. Our design is stronger,” he says.

Traditionally, the Swiss style is rational and functional. Colours are muted and the furniture is made using as little material as possible which is often aluminium.    “It is a little cold and not very cosy if you don’t count the wooden chalets in the mountains. We don’t have the hygge of Denmark,” Häberli explains.

“At first I put a lot of pressure on myself, thinking that the Swiss design had to stand up to the Danish masters which seemed an impossible task. But then I looked at contemporary design and I realized that Switzerland is doing better than the Danes. Our design is stronger”

As a Swiss born in Argentina Alfredo Häberli prefers colors and warm material such as wood and velvet. Instead of the usual white walls, a Scandinavian classic, he painted each room in different pastel colours and picked design favourites from Swiss companies such as Vitra. He also selected things from his own studio including his iconic Moreso chairs and the humouristic Jill Tube which is made of aluminium tubes wrapped in knits.

Benedikt Wechsler in his Swiss surroundings which include Häberli’s elegant Moreso chairs and photographs from Fotostiftung Schweiz.  Ph. C.Alfthan

As a design project the embassy is a first of its kind.

“Design is a cultural statement. In Denmark and Finland it was always used to market the country but we’re still not quite there though we have good designers and very good architects,” says Häberli who also included the garden in his Gesamtkunstwerk, filling it with Swiss furniture from different epochs. On the terasse there’s Hans Coray’s Landi chair from 1939 with polka dotted holes and another sculptural chair is Loop of 1954. Together with the eternit furniture on the lawn which absorb the heat of the sun they are testaments to the longevity of Swiss ingenuity. ©

Humour, a dash of colour and shoes (for the Swiss brand, Bally) are a part of Alfredo Häberli’s signature designs.

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Flying high

“You know, some people have no imagination,” said the Swiss explorer, Bertrand Piccard when I met him and his co-pilot, André Borschberg at the Solar Impulse HQs in Lausanne.   Both wrote history when they flew around the globe in their solar powered plane without using as much as a single drop of fuel.  No one thought it was possible though the techniques they employed had already been invented.   Now the work continues with The World Alliance for Efficient Solutions with the aim to find 1,000 solutions for a greener, and cleaner, future.

By Camilla Alfthan    

CA VOUS FAIS quoi de voir les images de votre tour du monde après avoir été isolé dans l’avion?  

BERTRAND PICCARD : Ca nous ramènent immédiatement dans les émotions, l’ambiance et l’atmosphère. Quand on est dans le cockpit c’est un moment magique. On voit les moteurs qui tournent uniquement par l’energie solaire. Il n’y a pas de pollution, pas de bruit et c’est la realité – c’est même pas la science fiction.
Mais il faut pas croire qu’on est complètement isolés. En même temps on est en relation avec du monde entier par téléphone satellite avec l’équipe à Monaco, avec les interviews et avec l’autre pilote qui ne vole pas. Donc c’est jamais monotone, c’est toujours fantastique.

ANDRE BORSCHBERG : On a le temps aussi. On est pas sous la pression d’arriver à une heure déterminée. Le but c’est d’arriver avec cette énergie là, et c’est pas important si on prend un jour de plus. C’est l’un des rares moments où on a pu vivre le présent et où on est vraiment dans ce que l’on fais; c’est le mindfulness. C’est un luxe et c’est une découverte aussi.
C’était aussi un tour avec des défis.
BP : Il y a eu tellement des moments sur le sol où c’était vraiment difficile, où on attendait le météo et savait pas, on attendait les autorisations techniques qui venaient pas et il y avait des problèmes techniques. Au sol c’était pénible. Le contraste avec le moment où on décolle, quand on se trouve dans la beauté de la nature avec cet avion completement écologique…c’était magique!
AB : Il fallait décoller pour cela et c’est vrai que le suspense de décoller ou pas décoller étais tel qu’il arrivait des fois trois minutes avant décollage que on a decidé de pas aller. Pas parce que on avait pas le technique mais parceque l’on se dit, “non, c’est pas le bon moment”, il faut savoir renoncer. Quand on était en l’air c’est là où on se dit vraiment,”Maintenant, c’est partie!“.

BP : Un vol Solar Impulse n’existe dès que l’avion est en air, et à la fin du vol quand l’avion est rangée dans le hangar. Parce que tout peut arriver au sol.
Vous avez eu la chance..
BP : Nous avon eu la chance mais aussi beaucoup de complications. Quand le hangar mobile s’est dégonflé par dessus Solar Impulse, quand André était au Japon est il a commencé à pleuvoir et quand on avaient pas encore le hangar mobile gonflée..
En Hawaii c’était le batterie qui avait surchauffé – c’était un problème opérationnel de notre équipe d’ingénieurs qui l’ont monté et remonté trop vite pour faire un test au début du vol vers Hawaii et ca a complètement perturbé la fonctionnement du batteri.
On a l’impression que vous êtes devenu très proches..
BP : On a travaillé ensemble depuis treize ans, et moi, j’ai commencé ce projet il y a quinze ans. On se d’abord rendu aux Etats-Unies pour voir ce que l’on pourrais faire, puis j’ai proposé le projet à l’Ecole Technique Fédérale. Ils ont accepté de faire une étude de faisabilité et ils on proposé André qui étais un consultant à l’extérieure de conduire cette étude de faisabilité. C’est comme ca que j’ai rencontré André.
 Je me suis dis que quelqu’un qui a autant de différence de moi allais me permettre de créer une relation trés synergique. André est pilote d’avion, moi je suis pilote de ballon. Il est ingénieur, moi je suis psychiatre. Il a crée des start up comme entrepreneur, moi je suis explorateur.
Donc c’etais une relation où chacun est l’inverse de l’autre et c’est ca qui est fantastique. Si on veut créer quelque chose il faut avoir des gens différents; il faut pas travailler avec des gens identique.

Bertrand Piccard et André Borschberg avant décollage.

AB : On a aussi beaucoup de choses en commun. Je pense que chacun avait son rêve à lui mais on a un monde commun où on se retrouve dans les aspirations profondes. C’est a travers de ce monde que l’on a trouve notre partenariat, et heureusement on est trés différents. On a pas la même approche et je sais qu’il n’as pas le même avis, mais je me réjouis à voir ce qui va m’encore sortir! De quel angle il va venir!
BP : On se surprend toujours.
 (Rires)

“Je me suis dis que quelqu’un qui a autant de différence de moi allais me permettre de créer une relation trés synergique. André est pilote d’avion, moi je suis pilote de ballon. Il est ingénieur, moi je suis psychiatre. Il a crée des start up comme entrepreneur, moi je suis explorateur.”

C’étais en effet votre peur de ne pas avoir assez de carburant lors du vol au ballon qui vous a donné l’idée de voler sans dépendance d’éssence fossile?
BP : Voler perpétuellement sans limite. Théoretiquement sans limite.
Vous avez jamais eu peur?
BP : Vous savez ce qui me fais peur? C’est de vivre dans un monde qui brûle un million de tonnes de pétrole par heure qui détruit le climate, qui perturbe l’environment, qui détruit les ressources de la planète..ca me fais peur! Quand on vole dans un avion qui est bien construit, qui bien est testé et que l’opération de vol est bien menée c’est un cadeau extraordinaire, c’est un privilège.
AB : C’est une découverte..
Quelle est la différence de vol entre Solar Impulse et un ballon ou bien une avion de chasse?
AB : La première chose c’est le sentiment d’être complétement indépendant. Vous avez l’énergie de voler sans interruption. C’est un sentiment de liberté qui est extraordinairement fort et puissant. Un avion qui mélange les meilleurs des technologies à ce que la nature donne et s’intègre dans la nature. On a une harmonie. C’est aussi cette réussite – ce que l’homme fait et la nature qui est notre monde. C’est très fort.

Ca se compare avec le paragliding?
BP : Le paraglider a besoin de l’ascendence thermique pour rester un vol et c’est souvent des vols courts. Quand vous partez vous espérez de trouver les points d’ascendence et vous pourrez pas traverser des océans.
AB : Nous, on fonctionne avec la nature et on a une harmonie avec la nature grace aux technologies propres qui utilisent cette force. Donc c’est une alliance de la technologie et la nature.
Et pour dormir?
BP : C’étais beaucoup plus courts. Le ballon a duré vingt jours et quand j’ai rentré l’absence de bruit m’a réveillé pendant deux semaines où je me suis réveillé en criant.
Et dans l’avion?
AB : Quand il fait nuit et vous allez dormir vous entendez toujours des petites bruits.
BP : Le craquements? Tu m’as réveillé, quand tu m’avais dis qu’il y avait des craquements et tous ca. (Rit)
AB : Le petits craquements, les petits décochements, il y a des interactions sur les différents fréquences. Si il fait nuit vous commencez à entendre des pétits chose. Imaginez que vous êtes seule dans le jungle, vous fermez les yeux et il fait nuit, vous allez entrendre plein des petits choses et vous allez imaginer qu’il y ait un tigre en train de rentrer chez vous, ou un serpent qui vous serre le cou! Alors c’est un peu la même chose. Finalement, il faut avoir confiance en cet vol quand il faut se reposer. Pour moi c’étais très étonnant au début.
Le fait que vous avez construit l’avion, ca vous rassure?
AB : Oui, c’est un peu ca. J’ai perdu une fois pendant le vol une partie de l’entoilage qui se trouve sous l’aile et qui se détaché, donc c’est vrai que ca m’as peut-être marqué parce qu’au moment c’étais un peu délicat. Mais c’est vrai, on est un peu plus sensible à se demander, qu’est ce qui se passe, est-ce qu’il y a quelque chose en train de se passer, est-ce que c’est un signe qui me dis qu’il y ait quelque chose en train de se passer. Chacun a ses experiences et chaqu’un a son monde.
BP : Il y a des fois où il fallait se forcer à dormir. Je me rappelle une fois pendant la traversé de l’Atlantique et il y avait la pleine lune avec des reflets extraordinnaire sur l’océan. Et puis, je dormais vingt minutes et je me suis dis; “J’envie de regarder ca, j’ai pas envie de dormir”. C’est pour ca que le temps de sommeil étais dans le temps de travail. C’est pas autant de plaisir. Je me suis rendormi et puis au levée du soleil extraordinnaire le deuxième matin je doit encore dormir. Et c’est triste parce que c’étais tellement beau.

Le premier vol Solar Impulse a eu lieu en Suisse  en juillet 2010 © AFP PHOTO/FABRICE COFFRINI/SOLARIMPULSE

Comment vous vous êtes préparé pour cette aventure?
AB : On s’est entraîné dans des simulateurs, sept heures pendant la nuit sans dormir et sans manger. Techniquement vous testez. Mais les émotions on peu pas les simuler. Les émotions c’est quelque chose qui se développent au cours du vol, c’est là où vous devriez gérer.
BP : Moi, j’ai utilisé l’auto-hypnose pour gérer ca. André le yoga. Dans le film vous voyez André faire le yoga au cockpit.
AB : Il y a la coté physique et puis, il y a un coté mental. Vous avez des techniques de respiration pour vous soulager du pression de l’extérieur. Prendre un peu de distance par a ce qui se passe et calmer le flux d’idée, le flux de pensés que l’on a dans le cerveau. Donc ca permets de réposer le cerveau sans dormir. Ce techniques il faut s’entrainer – moi je fait pendant dix ans et Bertrand a développé sa technique d’auto-hypnose.
BP : C’est vrai que j’ai utilisé l’auto-hypnose pour rester éveillé dans Solar Impulse et on peut aussi l’utiliser pour dormir, mais il y avait tout le temps des alarms donc c’est trés rare de pouvoir faire vingt minutes de suite. La masque à oxygène est extrêmement désagréable et j’ai utilisé l’autohypnose pour être bien. C’est super bien pour augmenter l’energie du corps, en effet j’avais moins de stress après trois jour en Solar Impulse que quand je prend la voiture pour aller à Zürich. C’étais vraiment marrant. Alors, maintenant quand je roule en voiture après deux heures je m’imagine que je suis deux jours au Solar Impulse et je vais très bien.
Alors maintenant; c’est le anti-climax? Le fais que la grande aventure est fini?
AB : Il y a un mélange des differents sentiments. Il y a un nostalgie et finalement ca se fait pas parce que on est deux, mais parce qu’il y a une équipe dans le vol et autour du monde, 140 personnes.
Chaque personne qui a participée, si c’est le téchnicien ou la communication, a contribuée au succes de cette mission. L’équipe c’est des gens qui sont extrêmement proche parce que on a partagé des choses très forts. Quand on se sépare de ces gens c’est la nostalgie. La vol est fini mais le projet continue.
BP: On a pas chaumé depuis la fin du vol. On a pas eu la possibilité de s’assoir tous les deux, André et moi, pour se dire, “Ca y est. On a réussi!” Chaque fois c’est la course, des interviews, des cerémonies, des récompenses, des conferences, des film que l’on montre, des séances photos, mais le fait de s’assoir et se dire, “On a réussi, on profite”. Ca on a pas pu faire.
AB : On a un livre qui sort fin janvier, et j’ai impression que ce là ou on pourrait vraiment finir notre tour du monde.
BP : Après la dernière atterissage on a su que l’on allait réussir. Il s’est passé tellement de choses.
AB : Tout le monde nous a surexcité pour éviter de faire la petite faute qui gâcherais tout. Vous avez une montée d’adrenaline qui est de suspense et qui donne l’energie.
Comme Lindberg quand il a traversé l’Atlantique.
BP : Quand il est venu la piste était totalement pleine de gens donc il pourrais pas d’atterrir toute de suite, il a du faire la passage à l’écart.

Le selfie de Bertrand Piccard en traversant l’Atlantique. 

Aujourd’hui, pensez-vous que les gens ont vraiment compris votre reussite?

BP : Il y a des gens qui comprennent et il y a des gens qu’il comprendront jamais. Vous savez, il y a des gens qui n’ont pas de capacité d’imagination. Il y a des gens qui disaient que la premier avion sert à rien. Il y a des gens qui ont dit que la première voiture servira à rien. Parceque, autre fois avec une voiture il fallait qu’il y ait quelqu’un qui marche avec un drapeau pour avertir les piétons qu’il y ai une voiture qui arrive. C’étais considéré comme sans avenir. Il y a des gens qui ont dis que les ordinateurs ca arriveraient à rien.
AB : Comme le téléphone…

“Vous avez, il y a des gens qui n’ont pas de capacité d’imagination. Il y a des gens qui disaient que la premier avion sert à rien.”

BP : Mon arrière-grand père – quand il avait installé le premier télephone en Suisse dans son bureau et à sa maison, il a invité tous ces collègues qui étaient des professeurs de l’Université à Bâle, et tous ces collègues ont regardé quand il a dis “J’ai téléphone à moi femme.”. Il a téléphone à sa femme et ces collègues ont dis; “Ecoute, Jules, c’est trés intéressante mais ca n’a aucun avenir!”.
Alors pour nous, Solar Impulse, c’est le début de quelque chose nouveau, un noveau cycle. Il y a des avions electriques dans dix ans avec moins des 50 personnes pour des courts courriers. André a des trés jolies idées pour le moyens de transport urbans electriques.
AB : Depuis qu’on a commence il y a treize ans il y a eu une evolution. Il y a Tesla qui ont fait la voiture électrique avec la prise. Solar Impulse prend l’énergie du soleil alors que vous pourrez prendre votre energie où vous voulez. C’est pas perdu comme un moteur au piste où le deux tiers de gaz que vous émettez serviraient à rien. C’est la chaleur, c’est perdu. Deux litres de pétrole sur trois, think about it! Donc l’énergie électrique est efficace, s’est silente. Ils developpent des avions électriques qui peuvent décoller verticalement d’un immeuble à l’autre. C’est le vertical take off, autonome, silencieux, et sans de pollution. Ce qui était la science fiction dans les bandes dessinés il y a dix ans est devenu la réalité grâce a la propulsion électrique. Ce qui était une énigme il y a treize ans devient la realité.
BP : Et puis, maintenent Solar Impulse a fait bouger la coté technique. Alors maintenent il y a la côté politique, de faire écouter les politiciens, et ca c’est le but avec iMondial pour rassembler toutes les professionnels de cette téchnique de manière à pouvoir créer une immense réseau qui amène des solutions. Dans moins de deux ans je me suis engagé à trouver milles solutions et les rendre rentable et efficient pour protéger l’environment. Les gouvernements ont besoin des négociations politiques. Alors, ce qu’il faut c’est des moyens et des solutions techniques pour y arriver là à ce but. Sinon c’est le wishful thinking.

Un vol solaire en 2012 – trois ans avant la première étape autour du monde. Les 40,000km sans carburant étaient une première pour les énergies propres.

Qu’elle est l’avenir avec Donald Trump qui veut réintroduire le charbon?
BP : S’il veut la croissance, il sera obligé de développer des techniques écologiques. Parce que c’est ca qui fais la croissance; pas les vieux systems. Vous avez des voitures électriques, des lumières led, des panneaux solaire, tous ca c’est nouveau.. mais il voudrais aller en arrière avec le charbon.
Donc vous faites le lobbying pour ces techniques?
Quand j’annoncé l’alliance de iMondial il y a eu énormément d’espoir. Ils attendent tous de cette travail, même les G8. J’ai parlé beaucoup aux hommes politiques. Ils sont tous un peu dispersé, ils savaient pas comment l’utiliser. Ce qu’il faut maintenent c’est de faire le lien entre ce technique et les hommes politiques. C’est le but de la fondation.
Vous saviez tous ca quand vous avez commencé cette aventure?
BP : Moi, c’étais mon but. C’étais pour avoir un outil crédible qui puisse communiquer ces techniques écologiques.
AB : Nous avons des partenaires qui viennent des differents cotés, c’est pas des partenaires aeronautiques. C’est la chimie, la technique, les ascenceurs, les gens qui deplace des gens qui voudrait le faire d’un maniere efficace. Donc ils souhaitent de trouver des solutions efficaces. Toutes les produits qu’on a crée ils trouvent leur places dans d’autres applications. Par exemple le batterie va maintenent aussi dans des refrigérateurs pour les rendre plus efficace avec moins de consommation d’energie. C’est sont des solutions simples. Mais c’est là où on fais des économies. C’est là où on va changer.
BP : Au Cop 22 il y avait un interêt enorme, c’étais un méssage positif, un message d’espoir. La receptivité des gens sur place étais extraordinaire. Le Maroc a une programme extraordinnaire. Le roi a un but d’avoir 52 pourcent de l’energie vert dans 30 ans. Il va y arriver.
Finalement, dans une année sombre Solar Impulse étais une rayon de lumière.
BP : Ce ca que le médias ont pris – l’espoir.
AB : On veut montrer que les choses impossibles sont réalisables. Notre projét montre que ce qui a l’air difficile et impossible est quand même faisable. Ca ouvre chaque fois le monde quand on discute avec les gens. C’est la plaisir aussi – le chemin pour y arriver étais la meilleure partie de ce projet. ©

Solar Impulse au hangar. La propulsion électrique, le ‘H55’,  est la dernière aventure d’aviation dirigé par André Borschberg.

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Tibet’s realistic optimist

“Dalai Lama spreads happiness..If you think positively when you resist there’s a greater chance that you will succeed,” says Bob Thurman who calls himself “a realistic optimist in the current nightmare caused by leaders that are ignorant, greedy and stubborn”.  Since the early sixties he’s been a close friend of the Dalai Lama. Last year he published the book ‘Man of Peace’ which introduces the Tibetan buddhism to the younger generations.

Despite Tibet’s many challenges, professor Robert Thurman takes the brighter view. China will gain from a good relation with the Dalai Lama. When that happens, Tibet will become the jewell of the Chinese empire. 

By Camilla Alfthan

“THE TIBETANS are the baby seals of the human rights movement, they’re non violent and believe in word peace. But they’re still being crushed. The Dalai Lama told the Chinese a long time ago that even even though they were invaded in the 1950s they do not need independence if they’re allowed their own constitution and if they allow them to have a minority autonomy, they’d be happy to be a part of a Chinese union. But the Chinese are pretending the Tibetans want to separate to have an excuse to be hard liners,” tells Robert Thurman, founder of Tibet House in New York.

As a professor of religion at the Columbia University he has specialized in the Indian and Tibetan versions of buddhism. That religion and international politics are cut from the same cloth was a lesson that Thurman learned as a young Harvard freshman when he first met the Dalai Lama in his Indian exile. The iconic leader who is perceived to be the 14th reincarnation of his predecessor was only 19 when he negotiated his country’s future with China’s  Mao Tse-tung. After several years of failed peace negotiations he fled to Dharmsala where he now functions as the Tibetans spiritual leader while he has handed over his political obligations to the Harvard educated professor, Lobsay Sangay.

Why is Tibet so important today? Tibet is very important because it is a colonial possession of China. And China is a big emerging power in the world trying to convince people that they’re not a threat and so good and great to do business with. They’re cracking down on Tibet along with the Uyghur people of Xian. How can they be believed when they are cracking down on their own people though Hong Kong, Vietnam, Philippines, South Chorea have relaxed their control of minorities? When China controls something they crush them; their culture, their freedom. If they say they have everything under control they’re completely crooked.

The Tibetans are second class citizens so Tibet is a symbol, though buddhism is different in Burma and Sri Lanka.  Buddha is not threatening, it is not jihad. And yet they’re ruthlessly crushing them. So I think its an old fashioned policy of China. They’d like to change but haven’t decided how and they don’t want to make a mistake. In Scandinavia governments have learned that the Chinese are so insidiously trying to control the world media in the same way they control their own media, and have the own version of the press, and the history and future. They’ve realized that the Chinese won’t accept there’s free speech in so called democratic countries, and that they can’t suppress the people, so the do suppress them.

Girl playing on the Roof of the World – photo Kevin Frayer for the Washington Post.

Will that change? I think I’m one of the rare people who think things will get better soon. Because China wants to function on the world stage, they will get public relations advice and probably think they’ll get a dictator’s advice on how to lie. But instead they’ll learn that the best way to show that you’re nice is to be nice. Especially when you can, and they certainly can with Tibet.

There’s a very foolish fraction now in the politbureau who are crushing the muslim people of Xiang. They have to retract the angry, jihadist type by creating such a a harsh suppression. Tibet is way down the list, and has been since the 2008 Olympics. They cracked down on them very harshly, but it paled in comparison to other countries.

The Uyghurs are in a terrible state. A million people in detention are being educated to be good people and communist Chinese citizens, instead of being muslim.  It never works, they’re very resilient. I think the president Xi does recognize this, but you can’t change suddenly, they don’t want to make a mistake and continue the Chinese way for colonial centuries, not realising that they can make public relations out of a good relation with the Dalai Lama.

“Tibet would be a test page of how you can support people who are non-Chinese and not crack down and chew them up as citizens in a nation machine”

Tibet would be a test page of how you can support people who are non-Chinese, and not crack down and chew them up as citizens in a nation machine. This would put people at ease in places such as Hong Kong and Taiwan tremendously.  I think he realises that, President Xi  – I call him Emperor Xi at this point, almost. People don’t realise that even emperors don’t have absolute power and that it takes time to change policies.

When could it happen? I’m very optimistic that this will happen soon and within the lifetime of the Dalai Lama. He’ll be 84 next year and there will be many headlines, I think, when they make the conditions appropriate so that he could visit his people in his homeland. They have to persuade him that he can go to see his people, that he won’t go to prison. He can only go there when China says publicly that they will change their attitude about him and about the people and about buddhism. President Xi said they need ancient culture, that there’s a need to rehabilitate Confucius, and his family is interested in buddhism. I have no doubt there will be change, but when? That’s always the question.

The Tibetans survived the cultural revolution, and prior to that the Great War of the fifties when they quarantined hundreds of thousands and they turned everything upside down with their class struggle reforms and the gulag. They survived all that and they’re still Tibetans and they’ll survive anything else, so I’m optimistic about the future.

There’s a terrible trend on the planet now that our government here is mostly amending by the partnering with dictatorships, and this is an unfortunate thing.  Therefore the Chinese and their Communist Imperium might be interested – because of the resources in Chinese culture – about what a responsible emperor is.

They were buddhists for 1,000 of years,  Confucius made a very honorable thing about being emperor. Things will turn around, and even here in the US.

It’s important that people are aware of it, and familiar with it, because a human rights revolution is different than a communist revolution or any violent revolution – it’s a revolution that speaks against oppression. It’s very important that Tibet’s claims will succeed,  as it will provide an example for many other minority issues; that violence is not the solution, but that actual dialogue and mutual support is the way forward.

There’s so much going on in the world of today. Are people less interested in Tibet? No, Tibet is going way back to Shangri-La, Wakanda, the magical roots of the world, Alexandre Davide Neil; the great French explorer in the 20th century. It goes way back. That’s why the Chinese are trying to keep the Dalai Lama from going anywhere because he is so photogenic; people like him so much. He fills stadiums even if he’s not trying to turn anyone into a buddhist, he just wants people to have a better life. He specifically does not want them to shift away from their religion. In polls, his popularity is right up there with Pope Francis. It’s died down a little in terms of activism, but it’s still very strong.

What has Tibet given you in your life? I love Tibet, it’s my intellectual home. The home of the scientific mind and psychology. I’d been looking to Freud, Wittgenstein and through that the original Indian enlightenment book about the Buddha. I was not a very religious, and I’m still not.

The allure was more of a scientific and cultural side. You really find many things that are very deep in the Indian philosophy and science, especially in mental science, how you change the mindset, and how you deal with it. That’s what I found there, after Harvard : Great psychology and modules about the rules of relativity, biology with a soul and a mind instead of this ridiculous idea that everything is just atoms and molecules; where we’re trapped in the West at the moment.

So, I have a gratitude to Tibet’s cultural and scientific gifts to me. The Dalai Lama was my friend since early sixties, the pre-hippie days. I worked to let people know about it. It was a cultural level for me, not so much a religious or a political level, so I’m very happy for that. I feel Tibetans are incredibly endurable and very strong.

“Tibet will become the jewell of China when they start caring about the Tibetans”

They resisted for over sixty years – reforms, class struggle and a kind of brainwashing they did really intensely. When there was a brief window in 1983-87, when China was trying to show nicer things, they started to rebuild their temples and their technical skills were amazing despite the fact that they’d been criminalizing this for thirty years. They just want to be Tibetans and have their culture.

Tibet will become the jewell of China when they start caring about the Tibetans.  They made some stupid decisions when they moved Chinese people and factories there to develop the area. The Chinese took all the benefits and they wrecked the environment, they looted it.  Destroyed the rivers and now they have a big water problem. You can’t bite of your nose – you only have one. They’ve realized this at the very top leadership level but the implementation is complex, they have to figure out how to do this in terms of logistics and the ministries that are involved.

Photos Nicoline Patricia Malina for Harper’s Bazaar.

But they will do it and then Tibet will be a jewell, like Switzerland, and they’ll make a lot of tourist money. In the eighties, they had quite a good tourist income there. Then they started their crushing business by the late eighties, and they lost the foreign tourists and got Chinese tourists. But that does not bring in money, it just circulates it. The point is; they’d make huge amounts in mountaineering, hiking, winter skiing, and the health industry – it could be a huge industry.

The Chinese are not really communists. The politbureau is the imperial committee. And now their president has a lifelong period -the envy of Mr Trump. They will continue with socialism. Confucianism was also that, where everyone had their little land of 9 acres and paid one ninth of taxes to the state.

There’s the religious cult, Dolgyan Shogden opposing the Dalai Lama.. Everyone has to counterforce everyone, but it doesn’t work. No-one is winning a single war anymore. The information is too widespread and the weapons are too powerful, so you can’t win wars any longer.  The decolonisation of the 20th century was not out of the good will of Churchill, it had to do with the impossibility with the modern technology and economy of oppressing people. It doesn’t work. Some always survive and then they’ll get back after you, that’s the way it is. Now we’re forced into a new global society and hopefully there will be a law abiding nest. If anybody is a pioneer it is the Scandinavians. They are the ball, the middle way between…

Photo Standard Architecture 

What are your thoughts on the Chinese architect, Zhang Ke who won a prize for his buildings by the Niyang river? He looks like a great guy. He did a great job, and as an artists I’m sure he appreciates Tibetan architecture and culture, and he made a modern version of that.

A lot of Chinese love Tibet, actually, a lot of communist party members have the Dalai Lama in their little closet there, they do! And it’s just a matter of time before they kind of deal with it. Then they have to deal with the integration of the Chinese buddhism and Tibetan buddhism because they are different. The popularity of Tibets buddhism makes some of the Chinese teachers a little worried. There will be dialogue. It will all work out, I’m pretty sure.

I get lots of Chinese students at Columbia, many undergraduates. They’re dying to learn about buddhism, they particularily love Tibet, the young ones go hiking there, they have Tibetan boyfriends or girlfriends. They go riding there, they like the colourfulness of the culture and don’t want to see it  marginalised. It will all work out…

The Dalai Lama once said at at dinner party to people who had helped Tibet, “Thank you very much. But I want you to know that in the long run, if you want to help Tibet, help everybody else, too”. So that’s the attitude.” ©

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