“Ce jour là…” Motus Terrae’s collaboration with Cantieri Meticci and the people of Calais
Time is flying as our days are full of meetings, new people and unique experiences. On the first workshop, we welcome our young participants, students of Collège République and an amazing journey starts, short but intense, where along with the youngsters we start exploring everybody’s daily routines, realizing how similar or different our realities are. Our second group of friends comes from Appel d’Air, a collective of exiles of Calais and inhabitants, that fight for the re-appropriation of the right of speech and support, of the population in need in the area. Everybody is willing to share their experiences and contribute with their testimonies to the creation of the audio archives, that will become a few days later, the voices we will be sharing with the audience, in our collective performance-installation “Ce jour là…”, taking place within the frame of the event called “La Saveur de l’Autre”. During our conversation with Francis, director of Le Channel, I will learn why “A Taste of the Other” is not a festival, but more of a manifestation, aiming mostly at bringing people together. Our work continues on the same crazy rhythm. For the second workshop, while Davide, Edouard, Erato and Aliki are working on the construction of our hybrid boat Louvirous, Pietro, Sarah and myself, accompanied by Emilie Da Lage, go to a small place near Calais, to visit Savi de Condette, a welcome home for children and adolescents, run by the association La Vie Active.
There we will meet another group of youngsters, some of them asylum seekers, some others unaccompanied minors. We are exchanging stories with the guys for a couple of hours and while we talk, the group will create with Sarah, some more elements for our boat’s fishing net. In our regret, we realize that since it is Ramadan period, most of the Muslim guys won’t be joining us and the few who do are very quiet, as they try to talk as less as possible to preserve their energy. I wouldn’t be lying if I said that this workshop was overwhelmed by the presence of a young rapper from Sierra Leone, who goes by the name MC Sarko-G. He’s rapping, he’s talking, he’s sharing and is winning us by the second. Nature’s creative force incarnate! We leave the place full emotions and Sarko G’s music. He shared his songs to be part of our audio archives that will be played during the performance. As we part ways, we renew our appointment for the concert of Tiken Jah Fakoly, taking place at Le Channel, during “La Saveur de l’Autre”.
Anchors Aweigh!
After a week of intense preparations, workshops and rehearsals, our performance is ready to meet the audience and for Louvirous our ship, to sail in the concrete seas of Le Channel’s grounds. The weekend of “La Saveur de l’Autre” begins and in between our interventions, I have a little bit of time to walk around and meet some people. Alas, the actions are so many and my time is not enough… I manage to sneak in Mano à Mano corner, where we discuss with Momette about her project and her collaboration with Emilie Da Lage, within the frame of Atlas of Transitions. Our academic researcher and friend Emilie is there and will explain to me the concept of another initiative happening in Le Channel throughout the weekend, “The Politics of Refuge”. Always in a hurry, I have to run back to my fellow sailors for another intervention. The crew is in place and we start crossing Le Channel, inviting the audience to come and see the wonders and treasures, Louvirous has brought them from the oceans’ depths. The crowd invades our installation and discovers among other things, the painted bottles hanging from our gigantic fishing net, carrying the messages of the people. A mix of languages and cultures are our wonders. A variety of different realities and lives are our treasures. After our intervention, Dristan, our young captain, will share with the group that this was the best day of his life and to my knowledge, in kids’ language this means he had a really good time… This is already a great compensation for our collective effort in Calais. Here follow a few words from Pietro on our experience there.
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