Tuvok, 22, challenges and promotes good humor in the streets of Toulouse
Through Quentin Marais
Published on
You may have seen him turn sketches in the streets of Toulouse, or take a walk with your a basket basket. This young man is Tuvok Vassenberg, better known under the pseudonym “Tuvok12”. It is with this name that he is illustrated on Instagram, Tiktok or even YouTube. And as much to say that his ideas hit the mark!
The big jump
To understand this strong link between Tuvok and video, you have to rewind. Born in the Netherlands and arrived in France at the age of 7, he lived in the Gers, before packing up in Toulouse, three years ago. 22 candles on the clock, an overflowing imagination and a “real kiff for videos for a long time“.
During his middle-high school years, Tuvok described himself as “the fun-loving guy, but not by being insolent with the teachers. In the end, I manage to make them laugh, I have always tried to be in this benevolence ”. First at boarding school with friends, he finds himself alone at university. “It gave me a slap. »Before the big jump.
In April 2019, the video enthusiast decides to “ do something that marks a turning point “. From Place Saint-Pierre, he sets off on a bicycle and throws himself into the Garonne. On Instagram, the video totals more than 44,000 views and symbolize a real springboard.
When I made the jump in the Garonne, in my head, it was “ok, either it works or it does not work, but at least I would have tried”. There were four friends with me. They’ve known me for quite a long time and knew deep down that was what I loved doing. They preferred that I end in beauty! So they let me do it, and the jump went pretty well.
From foot to basket
This ordeal boosted Tuvok’s confidence, which then tested itself. “I started with delusions, jokes to be comfortable in public“, Details the one who, already at the time of high school, had joined a cinema club opened by a supervisor.
Then comes the month of March 2021, when the native of the Netherlands goes to the streets of Toulouse, soccer ball in hand. “I thought to myself that it would be funny to put down a bottle and that, if the person manages to drop it with the ball, on him make his best moment live with ten friends! ”
We shot the first video like this, and we absolutely loved it. I didn’t think it was going to go that far … People, when you jump around them, they don’t expect it, but they have the energy that comes in and it makes you smile again. I realized it was a bubble of positive energy.
Always anxious to illustrate himself with the camera, Tuvok decides, during the summer, to come back to the outskirts of the Capitol and its station with… a basketball hoop. “I wanted to change football and I didn’t want to do things halfway, so I bought the maxi basket, ”the young man still smiles.
The videos are a hit on the networks, and in particular on Tiktok, where they have totaled tens of millions of views. But the numbers take a back seat for Tuvok. The latter sent himself invested with a mission: that ” to give a smile“.
I make the videos on the basket to give smiles and good energy to as many people as possible. When I arrive home in the evening, tired because I have lugged the basket all day, called and in short everyone for the shoot, my body is rested. It’s like I did what I had to do. It’s fatigue, but good fatigue, so I feel good.
What about rugby?
This sporting parenthesis obviously cannot end without paying tribute to the world in which the Pink City stacks up the sacred: rugby ! Will the rest be written in an oval? “I would like to,” Tuvok replies. But if I do, it’s real, big! “
I looked on the internet, I found inflatable rugby poles. But they’re the same size as the basketball hoop, so it’s big, but it’s not as impressive. But why not contact the Stade Toulousain, and see with them if it is possible to have a construction with their emblem on it …
The stage is already set. “People would come from Zara, on the side, and we would come from Jean-Jaurès, on the long alley that leads to the Capitol. They would then see big poles to get in front of them, it could be really not bad. “Filled with enthusiasm, the young man also said” that we have to organize ourselves well“.
But, a detail that is important: Tuvok can count on inhabitants who lend themselves to the game. “Here, they are receptive and welcoming. When I left to Paris was not the same. It was very rude, ”sighs the Toulousain. Who seems free of any hesitation when choosing between the Capitol and the capital …
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