A Shared Niche
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
Category
Project Description
This project takes place in Lizières, a center for residences and cultural activities in a territory in devitalization, a place which is also home to several species of endangered birds. The aim is to renovate an abandoned dovecote (eco-construction) in order to facilitate the cohabitation of birds, artists and participants, to create a shelter for birds and for participative experiments, notably bioacoustics. The objective is to converge artistic avant-garde and renewed attention to the living.
Geographical Scope
Project Region
Urban or rural issues
Physical or other transformations
EU Programme or fund
Which funds
Description of the project
Summary
Lizières is a multifaceted and evolving project that takes its inspiration from natural edges, which are fertile hotbeds of biodiversity. The objective of this place is to develop bridges between nature and culture, positioning itself as a laboratory, a breeding ground for reflections between the arts, philosophies, life sciences and physical practices through a program made of residencies, participative projects (aimed at fragile audiences) and events (shows, exhibitions, conferences, workshops). These different activities take place in an exceptional domain in the heart of nature, which is home to several species of birds, some of which are endangered.
Since the 1960s (Rachel Carson, Silent Spring), we have witnessed a decline in biodiversity due to the techniques of appropriation of the territory developed by intensive agriculture and human industries. We live in a damaged world, marked by a crisis of sensitivity, where the songs of birds are disappearing, becoming a sign of the uninhabitability of our contemporary world. Going against the prevailing logic of our time, we wish to develop a precursory project, aiming to renovate the abandoned dovecote of the domain in order to propose an interface of cohabitation (a room and a library) and care for our neighbors, the bird.. The renovation of the dovecote will be done in an eco-responsible and participatory manner (at all stages of the realization) and will constitute a perfect matrix to expose and let oneself be touched by animal forms of life and creation. Various experiences will be offered to resident artists and invited audiences: listening sessions and guided walks by ornithologists, field-recording / bio-acoustic workshops, performances, exhibitions, etc. The central stake of this project is therefore to converge artistic avant-garde and new modes of attention in order to re-enchant our relationship with the living.
Key objectives for sustainability
Lizières is located in the domain of the Château d'Épaux, which has been renovated according to the principles of eco-design, after a long period of vacancy (more than 50 years). Such temporary abandonment has allowed the development of a rare biodiversity, particularly noticeable in the populations of birds that inhabit it, filling the soundscape with their beautiful songs. This place is adjacent to a forest, classified as a natural park, for which Lizières is responsible for its preservation and animation. The Bird Protection League (LPO) has discovered a multitude of species, of which 4 are endangered and 8 to be protected. These different elements talk to our sense of responsibility and so we propose a solution to work towards their safeguard and to raise awareness of these issues among as many people as possible.
Eco-sensitization: the whole stake of this project is to re-develop a culture of the living, to re-enchant our relationship with the various beings that we live with. We wish to create an ecological niche, favoring the development of new ways of thinking and acting, turned towards care. That is to say, to dare the bet - eminently political - of the cohabitation. To implement a form, of conjugality, from which the birds will compose.
Eco-construction: we wish to minimize the footprint, the burden, of the human in this enterprise, by privileging the least invasive activities: eco-construction, minimal renovations (by taking care of the already existing heritage rather than building from scratch), frugality, sourced and local materials (salvaged materials, poor materials, with low entropy, biodegradable) As for the birds' habitat, their niches, we will work in a participative way, by reconstituting the boulins in the ceramic workshop of Lizières, using local clay.
Eco-use: Re-use the droppings of the pigeons in a circular way: as manure, for the agricultural part of Lizières, developed in permaculture.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
The building of the dovecote will be an aesthetic and experiential matrix: both in its frugality (which can be considered as an ethical value in our Anthropocene: reuse, DIY, deconsumption); on the other hand, by its function as a place to live (cohabitation with birds as a multi-sensorial affectation device, inviting us to take care of our neighbors by living next to them). This cohabitation with the birds will be an opportunity to slow down, to take the time to meditate on our own ways of thinking about the relationship between our bodies and the territories. Starting with our ears.
The main focus of the aesthetic character of our project is the song of the birds. We think that it can be a vector of wonder, leading to an awareness and then to ecological action, in connection with the concept of Phonocene developed by Donna Haraway and Vinciane Despret, inviting us to pay attention to the sounds of the Anthropocene, of our damaged world. This approach by the sensitive allows us to remember that what surrounds us, what touches us, is significant. We therefore wish to implement moments of listening, of sustained attention to these wonderful sounds, and of bio-acoustic creations on the occasion of workshops accompanied by artists/musicians. The dovecote will then be considered as a focus of attention, radiating onto the surrounding territory on the occasion of guided walks by ornithologists.
Finally, the last dimension concerns artistic creation. We will invite the artists living in Lizières to let themselves be affected, to expose themselves to this ecological life niche that we will create and that will be a motor for new artistic creations that are socially and ecologically committed. Several restitutions are planned, in order to share these experiences with as many people as possible. In the same way, several external artists will be invited, like Luc Petton, ornithologist and choreographer, combining dancers and living birds in his creations.
Key objectives for inclusion
Lizières is an exemplary center for artistic education. One of the strong points of Lizières Center's cultural project is the development of actions in favor of artistic and cultural openness, with a stated desire to break down the barriers between disciplines while questioning the boundaries between art and education. Lizières not only proposes artistic actions but also develops cultural contents in order to allow everyone to find their bearings in a changing world and thus create scales of value to acquire intellectual and structuring tools. Several projects have already been undertaken with a variety of audiences: schools (primary and secondary schools in the region), students (in collaboration with art schools), prisons (Château-Thierry’s) and specific medical facilities (retirement homes for the elderly, the psychiatric hospital at Château-Thierry). In addition to the various free public events which are regularly attended by the local population and by people traveling from other French and international towns.
This project will be a continuation of these already built links, by proposing modes of participation at all stages of the project:
- Co-designing the project through visits and preliminary discussion sessions
- Co-construction of the dovecote, through a participatory workcamp to clear the ruins, build the wooden structure, and a participatory ceramic workshops to make the bolts
- Listening sessions and walks supervised by ornithologists
- Workshops of bio-acoustic creations
- Sessions of visits and workshops about birds, their way of life, their relationship with the territory and the community
- Co-creation of exhibitions and performances, which combine professional and amateur artistic practices
All these events will be offered free of charge and volunteers working on the restoration of the dovecote will be given meals for their help.
Physical or other transformations
Innovative character
Sustainability, aesthetics and inclusiveness are the key words of our project and these notions intertwine and resonate in a synergistic way. It is first of all by the sensitive that we were touched, by the listening of these surprising and delicious songs, by these aerial choreographies and the spectacle of these vivid paintings, with shimmering colors, which the birds offer us. The hypothesis of their disappearance - a movement already well underway - is unbearable for us and is the driving force behind our motivation to counteract the modern dynamics of destruction and enslavement of the living. It is thus from the sensitive experience that our ecological determination was born, it is the sense of responsibility which inhabits us, that we wish to share with the greatest number.
We are convinced that aesthetics is a vector of awareness and action, as it has been the case in our experience. This is why we want to create this interface of encounter between different audiences and the birds that populate Lizières. In our conception of the world, the ecological revolution cannot be dissociated from a social ambition and this is why we wish to include, at each stage of this project (co-design, co-realization, co-experimentation) different publics and in particular the most fragile (people suffering from psychic diseases, socially deprived, among others). We are aiming at a concrete ecosophy, at the same time environmental, social, and mental. A collaborative, inclusive and voluntary movement, which works towards a virtuous cohabitation with the living; and this by the sensitive, by the participative and eco-responsible renovation of an abandoned place, in order to make it a matrix of sensation, of listening and attention to the living. So that our world in the era of the Phonocene does not become unbearable and silent, it is necessary to compose a singing environment, where the voices of birds, artists, fragile people and the curious resonate in harmony.
