What happens when brilliant youth take on PhiloQuest missions? We get beautifully insightful and creative projects, like postcards telling the story of their adventures! Discover the philocreation work of some of our Philoquesters in this special album featuring participants ranging in age from six to eighteen years old. From drawing and comics to poetry, stories and design, these projects reveal how philosophy can get us in touch with the concepts that matter to us most, through times of difficulty and moments of great solidarity. Happy discovery!

MISSION: The symbol of independence

REFLECTIONS. "The person looking into the horizon is alone and has nobody helping them. Or maybe they do have help? Their helper(s) could be in the black circle or maybe the person got help or advice before walking? But even if they have all this help, are they independent? After all they could choose to not follow that advice... in the end, nobody cab be 100% independent." Check out the activity!

MISSION: The rummage for refuge

REFLECTIONS. Alice: "I set myself up in my refuge with my hamster Dumpling and a big basket of snacks. I even slept there the whole night with my little four year-old brother, and I used it to read my book. Since I felt safe, I felt like I had privacy." Jules: "I built a fort with my mom in the basement. I spent two calm hours in my secret refuge, far from my big family. I realize I feel good alone—I rarely get to have solitude!" Check out the activity!

MISSION: Monotony's neighbourhood

REFLECTIONS. "Are monotony and repetition bad things? Can they be positive? Upon reflection, I think it really depends on the context. Right now in lockdown, I feel like my life is really monotonous... but I remember many certain moments in my life when having a structure and a rhythm were really reassuring for me. And I thought of a specific moment that I think many people experience when, for example, you go on a three-week trip and then you get back to find your bed, your routine—there's a kind of satisfaction, a feeling of 'Oh, wow, I’m home!' Or just the feeling of going back to your parents, seeing your mom, finding something familiar again... I think these are moments when repetition and monotonous things can be really comforting. So I don't think that having a routine is necessarily bad... I even know people who live routines all the time and love it! And they are ready to overcome anything because they have such a fixed routine." Check out the activity!

MISSION: The anti-solitude machine

REFLECTIONS. "Solitude sometimes leads to sadness or comfort, depending on our thinking. After a fight with a friend, loneliness allows us to reflect and calm down by figuring out a solution to the problem. My machine is aimed more at people who are sad and depressed. A person can feel lonely if no one speaks to them, like at an event, for example. They can also feel lonely if no one is interested in them, say, when others forget their birthday. At the beginning of the project, I had thought of an object for each economic class. Realizing that it was discriminatory towards the poor, I decided to make an object that would suit everyone! My machine meets the needs of those who no longer want to be alone, not those who are trying not want to be disturbed. But loneliness should not disappear because sometimes you isolate yourself to calm your rage or sadness—it's a moment to be only with yourself and reflect. My goal is to help people who are sad or depressed because of their loneliness." Check out the activity!

MISSION: The anti-solitude machine

REFLECTIONS. "My anti-solitude machine looks like a round mini laptop with different functions. It can open portals, show holographic images of live animals and reproduce good memories. Its screen is like a human—it's intelligent and makes you feel less lonely. My machine helps to fight loneliness because it allows you to make holographic calls, to meet someone faster through the portal and it also allows you to touch a live animal. My machine eliminates loneliness because it offers a variety of options that make the person feel better: images, memories and pleasant smells. It works well in all contexts thanks to its very powerful universal antenna, fan and heater. I could change its size so that it can be carried in a pocket. I have learned that loneliness is not a physical sensation but an emotional state that can be fought with tools. I don't believe that loneliness should disappear because it's just as important for human beings. Indeed, it is important to calm down, to reflect and to think about creativity." Check out the activity!

MISSION: Images of beauty

REFLECTIONS. "For me, beauty is many things. It can be something that is pleasing to the eye. It can be the emotions that someone feels. It can be anything that's infinitely big or infinitely small. It can be seeing someone realize themselves and be what they want to be. It can be concepts that we can't really explain, like love or life. It can be a lot of things, but I think it really depends on how you look at the world from your perspective." Check out the activity!

MISSION: The crime of being unique

REFLECTIONS. "If I lived in this world, I would probably try to hide my uniqueness from everybody. People could make fun of you and leave you alone because they are afraid of your uniqueness, so you might feel left out and  very alone. There would also be a lack of freedom: People could try to change you and repress your ability to express your true self. But there may be some positives too: You could become their leader by offering the group new ideas and opportunities. But I think that if this world existed, our humanness would be eliminated. I feel even certain that even if we were all the same as each other, as long as we were still human, we would find differences in each other. It’s a very human trait to always look for differences. Our view would be very limited and all of the things that inspire us to make a difference in this world would be diminished and we would never grow or evolve." Check out the activity!

MISSION: Creativity's home

REFLECTIONS. "Creativity doesn’t walk very well, it just tumbles down, so it makes accidental art on its piano stairs! The stairs to get in the house are a piano staircase, and every step you take there’s a piano note. There is a bedroom with a double bed partly flipped over: half of it represents the queen of hearts and the other half is the king of spades. In the bathroom, there is comic toilet paper. There is a room just with mats to jump around everywhere. There is also a laser quest hallway and a dance floor hallway. In the kitchen there is a red button: when you press the button it gives you all the ingredients you want. There is a movie room with a comfy couch and just a normal dining room to have nice dinners. There is also a virtual reality room and a game room with a pool table and other games. There is a balcony and a big outside garden." Check out the activity!

MISSION: In the brain of boredom

REFLECTIONS. "It’s a crazy, fun and dangerous ride—the opposite of boredom! It turns around, it does lots of loops and goes into empty spaces. It spins and it turns upside down, it goes super fast. It’s very exciting. It’s very colourful. Boredom is when you have nothing to do and all you can think of is that you want to annoy your brother. You just lay on the couch and stare into empty space, looking at nothing, yawning, hanging out with the cat, randomly drawing. So this ride shakes things up!" Check out the activity!

"I don’t think boredom would be a big ride, it would be just a little slide. If boredom were a ride, it would obviously be very boring… slow and like nobody would really be enjoying it. I imagine it as a super duper long ride, like the longest ride ever... It would go all the way around the amusement park, but it would have a horrible view, with just a bunch of walls around you, and it would go really really really slow. And you have to ride it all alone.  Everyone would fall asleep on the ride because there is nothing to look at and it just goes straight. And on top of it, there is a super long line-up to get on the ride, because that’s boring." —Aoife, seven  Check out the activity!

MISSION: In the brain of boredom

REFLECTIONS. "Boredom, it’s when you are tired of doing something and your mind thinks that there is nothing else to do. You kind of feel tired, but if mom asks you to do something you say no sometimes because part of your brain feels comfortable being bored, because boredom is the opposite of motivation. If boredom had an outfit, it would wear a a lot of the same kinds of grey onesies from the fashion line 'Grey is yay!' If boredom were a ride, it would be new ride—and not the only ride of its kind! You can look out the window and find grey landscapes. In fact, you can look at it for as long as you want because it never goes anywhere. It’s just you, so you have the whole ride to yourself and no distractions." Check out the activity!

MISSION: The comedy of the everyday

REFLECTIONS. "We have this conspiracy theory that whenever we organize the drawer and close it, the clothes fight overnight to be on top so that we’ll wear them! So our stand-up is inspired by that: Have you ever noticed that when you organize your drawer and then go to bed, your clothes get all disorganised because they are fighting to be the clothes you wear the next day? Have you ever wondered what the squirrels in your backyard are thinking when they look inside your window and see you picking your clothes, or maybe having breakfast or cooking in your kitchen? Have you ever noticed how time passes fast when you are watching TV, and it goes so slow when you are doing homework? The everyday can be really funny and weird!" Check out the activity!

MISSION: Interviewing strangeness

REFLECTIONS. "I interviewed my hat! It is now a voluntary soup bowl. I asked it if it was good at its new job, but it isn’t really... because it’s a straw hat so soup seeps through it very often. It's not the best of soup hats! But he still wants to be a bowl instead of a hat, because it’s easier to have something put in you than protecting people’s head… which is more painful! Although being a soup bowl might be painful too, depending on how hot the soup is. Here's what I asked him:

Check out the activity!

MISSION: Apathy the anti-hero

REFLECTIONS. "Apathy is the arch-nemesis of Empathy. They're not really people, more like presences that influence people. For example, a doctor with the help of Empathy is able to understand what a patient feels, but with Apathy, he just can't put himself in her skin... he can't understand, he can't care. But watch out! Apathy is not necessarily a negative character. He's rather neutral. A vibe of "I don't care..." Just because he can't put himself in people's shoes doesn't mean their feelings aren't important. He doesn't do bad things, he just keeps a distance, and that's important sometimes, to keep his distance, and not to get too involved." Check out the activity!

MISSION: The vacuum o' worries

REFLECTIONS. "My machine looks like a vacuum cleaner. It's got a bacteria vacuum cleaner so there's no more sickness. It has a friend blower to play with me. There's a clip to collect DNA to breed animals and a button to protect animals. Also, the vacuum cleaner has a flower planter to treat boo-boos. It can be transformed into a car and a robot dog, to travel and accompany me!" Check out the activity!

MISSION: The art of squiggle sketches

REFLECTIONS. "Here's Grimassou, the compost superhero who bathes in the mud and eats bad food to help compost naturally! Is this art? No... it's an idea! A bit like a drawing I made up with doodles, which gave me the idea of making a pig shape, and gave me other ideas. The idea appears as an image... from my imagination to the drawing! It's not art because it's not the most beautiful drawing and it's a dirty nonsense! An artist is a man or a woman who makes paintings, all that, sort of drawings, and, who goes to a museum of paintings so that people can observe them." Check out the activity!

MISSION: Resilience, part of the furniture

REFLECTIONS. "If Resilience had a song it liked to sing at karaoke bars, he would be hot and tired from trying so hard. He might try a duet with the concept of Courage because he needs him to keep going. This would be the lyrics:
You take a break and you keep going.
You are at school and you don’t have friends.
You keep on trying to find friends.Keep on trying
Keep on trying
And I finally get it.
Rhythm is fast with energy!"
Check out the activity!