The Stronghold – Regenerative Hydrology: For a Landscape Written by Water
Lot et Garonne
This project is part of the development, on the estate of the Château de Monbalen, where La Maison forte is located, of a large-scale cultural project dedicated to ecological, social and cultural transitions. It aims to carry out a process of regeneration of aquatic environments adapted to the particular territory of the springs of the Masse d’Agen which flows at the bottom of the estate. To do this, artists and scientists will work with residents, experts and users to make the various issues visible and better known: contamination, biodiversity, importance of water, presence of nitrogen.
L’Avant-Scène Cognac – (Agri)cultural activities in the Charente area
Charente
The project consists of meeting farmers who practice agriculture that respects water cycles and is conducive to its preservation in order to collect their perceptions and knowledge, empirical and vernacular, to highlight and share them in experiential artistic forms. The aim is to debate and share knowledge that is invisible to industrial agriculture, to show its relevance and relevance in facing the ecological challenges of the twenty-first century and thus changing the way we look at the role of small producers and the way in which their sensitive link to land and water can respond to the emergencies and expectations of society. The project is organized in 3 cycles, each with different times: a time of surveying the territory, a time of companionship and collection of testimonies, a time of shaping and a time of public restitution.
C.A.M.P – Inheriting water, probing our landfills to relate to the invisible
Morbihan
The project will be a unique variation on the artistic and cultural project of the Maison Germaine Tillion (Resistance fighter and ethnologist), which is based on 3 axes: inhabiting vulnerable environments; welcoming otherness in an open space; transmitting and sharing knowledge in all its diversity. The project will combine two actions: the activation of the scientific tool “Trajectoire Eau et territoire”, a kind of serious game, which mobilizes collective intelligence to understand how the hydrosystem and water cycle of a watershed function; and the hosting of 3 artists in residence for 3 months. The entire project will also be the subject of a publication, the “cahier dramaturgique”, and a documentary film.
ChoréACTIF – The Water Carriers
Puy-de-Dôme
ChoréActif wishes to awaken the ecological awareness and commitment of participants in sustainable water management. The aim of the artistic project Les Porteuses d’eau is to help raise awareness among beneficiaries (schoolchildren, residents, the general public) about water conservation through courses of reappropriation of knowledge. The association chooses to recall the link between the living, water, and the fundamental role of water carriers in communities. To do this, creative mediation actions will be carried out over 3 years, to rehabilitate the cultural, poetic and emotional dimension of water: reappropriation of stories, myths and local stories, sensory and artistic explorations. The project will rely on local associations, residents and researchers to enrich this collective and sensitive approach.
GRAOU – Atlas of invisible ecologies
Guyana
Through the study of a diversity of Guyanese gardens in several districts of Cayenne, the Atlas of Invisible Ecologies project aims to reveal a culture of water forged by the experience of risk, abundance and scarcity. It will make it possible to record gestures of care, agricultural gestures, adaptation techniques, stories and practices specific to humid and unstable environments. This collective work, carried out with residents, scientists and artists, intends to bring these informal and invisible practices into existence in the debate on climate adaptation and resource management.
Excideuil Town Hall – L’Eyraudie
Dordogne
The Eyraudie project is a sensitive, physical trail that follows and reveals the underground rivers and karstic vein. The water’s path has been modeled by the scientific team (including the hydrogeologist from BRGM – Service Géologique National) and SMBI – Syndicat Mixte du Bassin de l’Isle. The idea for the route came from citizen workshops organized by the Excideuil town council. The route will be marked by karstic rock sculptures taken from the collapsed cliff. In the longer term, thanks to the involvement of local residents, scientists and artists, as well as technicians from the communauté de communes and the syndicat mixte, this route is intended to be a precursor to other water-related developments in the commune, with the participation of local residents.
Rural workshop in Roya – Roya Open Sources
Alpes Maritimes
The Roya Open Sources project is a cooperation project between local artists, inhabitants, associations and researchers in a mountain territory bordering Italy, the Roya valley. In 2020, the latter suffered from storm Alex, causing exceptional destruction, a lasting change in the riverbed and the mapping of the many springs. Residents have lost access to water and are now threatened with shortages. An interdisciplinary scientific team is currently studying these upheavals, taking into account local and popular knowledge of the water heritage. This connection is supported by the creation and mediation actions on the water carried out by a collective of artists living in the valley. The aim of this project is to strengthen the emerging synergy between these actors for a collective increase in skills that will give residents the opportunity to engage in water management alongside institutions. The challenge is at stake in citizen mobilization, the popularization of scientific knowledge and artistic creation as a link between all stakeholders.
Ricochets on the cobblestones – La Vieille Mer
Seine-Saint Denis
Supported by Des Ricochets sur les pavés, a structure specializing in cultural urban planning, with a track record of working with water as a “common good”, the project aims to accompany the construction and renaturation of the Vieille Mer, part of the Département’s proactive policy to restore Seine-Saint-Denis as a water territory. Regularly in residence over a 3-year period, the Compagnie du LUIT will work with local residents to co-design participatory creations, in interaction with a geographer and researcher specializing in small urban rivers, to enable a “poetic resurgence” of this 6 km-long watercourse on the outskirts of Saint-Denis, which has been buried for 60 years.
Morula – Ch(e)aux must go on!
Jura
CH(E)AUX MUST GO ON! is an in situ laboratory bringing together scientists (hydrologists, soil scientists, ecologists, philosophers), artists (dance, sound creation, performance), institutions (ONF, OFB, water management unions), schoolchildren and citizens to: produce “communities of attention” to living things and water; experimenting with devices combining artistic creation, scientific transmission, and participation; To achieve a polymorphous restitution: public events, publications, podcasts, choreographic hikes, etc. The objective is to transform representations, promote eco-citizenship and support the effective local management of issues, in the heart of the Chaux forest.
FRAC Poitou-Charentes – Castor Medicine. For inter-species alliances in the face of climate chaos
Nouvelle Aquitaine Region
The project led by the FRAC Poitou-Charentes and its partners aims to contribute to the reflection and impetus of structural changes to better protect rivers and regenerate biodiversity, via “beaver mimetic dams”. The aim is to promote participatory projects aimed at restoring rivers by drawing inspiration from the techniques used by beavers. Projects will be carried out as part of a local approach, involving as much as possible all the stakeholders in water management and use. The primary objective of the projects is to restore the riverbeds, and thus create areas for the regeneration of biodiversity. Activities carried out: participatory projects to create dam areas according to the know-how of beavers, scientific and artistic mediations, creation and dissemination of contemporary works of art and artistic trails, production of scientific knowledge, dissemination of the results of the project during events and meetings.