We don’t live in a wilderness
A participatory performance experience in which up to twenty participants are invited to become ecological fieldworks in landscapes characterised by dualisms of waste/value.
The project has been developed as part of the 26-27 cycle of IN SITU Platform programme co-funded by Creative Europe and Lieux Publics and was presented in the immersive residency at Atelier 231 (Sotteville-les-Rouen, FR).
It is currently under development and I am looking for co-producers and partners to continue to develop this project.
Photo: Caroline Bazin
The participants are lead by a ‘highly funded and experienced’ fieldwork guide who assists them in working together to evaluate the landscape using specific scientific measurement devices such as subterranean microphones and bioelectronic sensors.
In groups they assess the landscapes for its current and historical traces in order to build a proposal for the future and imminent development of the landscape.
They then share their proposal back to the group and one outstanding idea will be selected according to a specific set of criteria for immediate implementation after the performance.
The performance plays between authenticity (from my own experience of fieldwork) and absurdity with the fieldwork guide adamant on the necessity to build a monumental 17-storey data centre no matter what.
It therefore aims to explore how well-meaning ecological intentions can be manipulated into causing environmental damage through agendas of ‘eco-modern progress.’ The audience are invited to consider how we are all implicated within these infrastructures and what might be done to return to the landscape differently.