IMMOBILISE to Re-mobilise! The French Institute welcomes the innovative Belgian artist, Anne Dolorès Marcélis, to present her exciting planting project as part of the ‘La Tête et les Jambes’ programme!
With the support of Wallonia Brussels International, the ‘Plantaisons Collectives’ is an unique urban-human-green-performance open to the public.
On 21 and 22 April, Belgian artist Anne-Dolorès Marcélis brings her original and interactive public spaces performance ‘Plantaisons Collectives’ to the city of Edinburgh.
The experience, premiering in the UK, is open to everyone and attempts to reassert our connection with the earth. Positioned directly inside a pot, the planter/performer is invited to put his/her feet into the soil and to stay still, ‘not doing anything’, for an indefinite amount of time.
Literally, to plant oneself into the soil
In a pot or in a field, after digging out one’s own hole
To feel attached to the ground, tied to the World,
And, like a plant, to have nothing to do but to be.
Then the landscape around us changes.
From the feet, we start contemplating.
The Edinburgh official performance of ‘Plantaison Collective’ will be held on Sunday 22 April afternoon, preceded by an experimentation workshop on Saturday 21 April (2.00 pm to 4.00 pm).
This ‘Natural collective planting’ workshop will take place in the Princess Street Gardens and will allow participants to try out the ‘feet put into the soil’ exercise at one’s own pace.
Taking advantage of the physical, meditative, personal or shared practice, planters will have the opportunity to experiment with an immobilising stillness, a feeling that gives full force to the concept of ‘Human mobility’.
On Sunday 22nd April (11.00 am to 1.00 pm) the ‘Social Collective Planting’ will be held at a secret location. The performance will take the form of a street installation in which participants, positioned in pots and before an audience, will experience the feeling of being awkwardly exposed, ‘empoté’.
Budding planters are encouraged and invited to participate by contacting the French Institute by telephone or e-mail: 0131 225 5366 or accueil@ifecosse.org.uk.
Admission is free. All participants must sign-up before Friday 20 April.
Born in Santiago de Chile in 1970, Anne-Dolorès Marcélis now lives in Europe.
She combines her experience as a researcher (she has a PHd in History) and dancer (Contact Dance technique) to perform as a community Historian. Her work blends elements of the city, history, nature, writing and dance.
The ‘Plantaison Collective’ performance (Canvas Collectie-La Collection, Bozar, May-June 2010) has grown tremendously in popularity and has been showcased at a variety of events in Belgium and around Europe.
Anne-Dolorès Marcélis has published a number of studies on the history of society, as well as many dance performance publications.
In October 2011, she founded the ‘Camping Town’, a creation and hosting space for artists composed of individual tree-houses, located in the centre of Brussels.
For interview requests and for HD photos, please contact us: pr@ifecosse.org.uk
Listings information
Natural Collective Planting
Date: Saturday 21 April 2.00 pm to 4.00 pm
Venue: Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh
Admission free
Registration before Friday 13 April: 0131 225 5366
Social Collective Planting
Date: Sunday 22 April 2012, 11.00 am – 1.00 pm
Venue : Secret Location !
Admission free
Registration before Friday 20 April: 0131 225 5366
Notes to editors:
About Wallonia-Brussels International
Wallonia-Brussels International, the public body representing Francophone Belgium abroad, is in charge, among other duties, with Francophone Belgian international cultural policies. Through its delegations and permanent centres worldwide Wallonia-Brussels International promotes Francophone artists in collaboration with local agencies from the public and the private sector.
In addition to a network of almost a 100 Walloon economic and commercial attachés and cultural representatives covering the whole world, Wallonia-Brussels is represented abroad and within the organisations of the European Union through its Delegations in 16 countries.
Its presence in Avignon is embodied by Le Théâtre de Doms, a venue dedicated to Belgian Francophone artists now well established in Europe.
www.wbi.be
About the Institut français d’Ecosse
The Institut français d’Ecosse exists to promote French language and culture in Scotland, by providing French courses and organising events (film screenings, talks, exhibitions, concerts, etc.). It is also its aim to encourage cross-cultural exchange between France and Scotland, in cooperation with Scottish Francophile institutions.
After a year of cultural exchanges between Brittany and Scotland in 2011, the Institute surfs on the Olympics wave in 2012, giving a sporting flavour to its cultural events. Entitled ‘La Tête et les Jambes’, this unique programme features alternative artistic performances mixing artistic purposes to questionings about man’s connection with his body.
www.ifecosse.org.uk/Head-and-Legs
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Contact: Vanessa Bismuth
Phone: 0131 225 5366
Email: pr@ifecosse.org.uk
Website: http://www.ifecosse.org.uk
