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BOHEMIAE ROSA 1997 -- SITE / BODY EXPLORATION II

An International Interdisciplinary Open-Air Workshop

STRELA RIVER VALLEY / PLASY MONASTERY

3 - 17 September 1997

Organized by

Bohemiae Rosa Project

Hermit Foundation and the Center for Metamedia in Plasy

Moving Academy for Performing Arts

 

EXPERTO CREDE:
ALIQVID AMPLIVS INVENIES
IN SILVIS QVAM IN LIBRIS.
LIGNA ET LAPIDES DOCEBVNT TE
QVOD A MAGISTRIS AVDIRE
NON POSSIS.

St. Bernardus, Epist. 106

 

"Believe the experienced: you will find more in forests than in books,

the stone and the wood will teach you what you won't hear from your teacher."

(A contemplation by St. Bernardus on the cascade of a forest brook,

recorded in a fresco in his chapel at the Plasy monastery.)

 

In September 1997, the Academy of Fine Arts in cooperation with the Center for Metamedia in

Plasy will hold an international interdisciplinary open air workshop "Bohemiae Rosa". The workshop

will be held for the second time. The first workshop was realized in Mseno, 50 km north of Prague,

and the project's aim, originally a wider understanding of architectural education, was substantially

enriched by the participation of students and teachers of dance, creative art and music, as well as

architecture.

The objective of the workshop is to explore the relationships among the body, landscape and

architecture. The three disciplines would intersect in their focus on the human body as a part of the

atmosphere of a place.

Infinitely diverse landscapes and their architectonics exist within our body, and nature can be

readily described in physical terms, such as blood resembling a river, to be grounded like a tree,

thoughts passing as clouds. Likewise in architectural terms of we can speak about a landscape in a

human palm, of the interior space of the heart, or the bodies of towers.

We will work with a group of up to 20 students of different disciplines, both from Czech

Republic and abroad, and hope that their different views on the topic would lead to new insights on

the intermingling of Body & Landscape & Architecture.

The monastery in Plasy, with the adjacent valley of the Strela river, was chosen as the location

for the event and the residency. The valleys and stone quarries in the Strela spring area and

monastery’s structures are an ideal place for spontaneous experiences and a deeper understanding of

the ancient relationship between human beings and the landscape. It is also a place which typifies the

combination of architecture, landscape and spiritual history. This type of workshop is an ideal

opportunity for encounters among people and their active participation in the research of new

methods in teaching landscape cultivation as another creative art discipline, with the approach of

other disciplines of art and science.

Various tasks should be assigned to the participants, such as exploring the land, engaging in

special physical exercises and mental exercises for concentration. These should result in the

realization of projects or events sharing characteristics of theater, performance and creative response,

but primarily they should stimulate creative interdisciplinary discussion and exchange.

Documentation of the works, events and exercises, along with presentations in lectures and a

catalogue, will help to publicize the project.

The workshop is for participants of any specialization and no age limit applies. We will work

for a minimum of 6 hours a day at different times of day and night.

The workshop consists of:

M.B. (mind / body, muscles / bones), an energetic, dynamic and rhythmic movements work-out

to develop strength, flexibility and grounding.

A series of "manipulation", done in pairs, concerned with breathing, stretching, relaxation and

alignment.

A great variety of exercises (isolation, work with images, "blind" movement, improvisation and

composition), all designed to explore and expand the movement vocabulary.

Mental topography of a location and its history.

The landscape scale of human.

Metamorphosis.

Colors / structures / textures (exercises to improve the relationships between self-perception as a

body and the surroundings, records, sample collection, demonstrations).

Process exercises (working with time, peripathetical records, immediate contact with the elements

of the landscape, the present moment in time and a memory, traits of processes).

Improving general visual and tactical sensitivity through exercises (a silent walk, pilgrimage and

exploring a landscape by day or by night, contemplation of one and the same place).

 

Workshop leaders:

F r a n k v a n d e V e n lived and worked for a number of years in Japan, and was a full-time

member of Min Tanaka's group "Mai juku". Now based in Amsterdam (Holland), he gives regular

dance workshops all over the world, and is actively involved in dance and performance work.

 

M a r t i n  B u c h n e r lives and works in Berlin (Germany). As an engineer architect he worked

for the Architect Offices of Santiago Calatrava (Zurich), Alfredo Arribas (Barcelona) and Daniel

Liebeskind (Berlin). Currently he works on the relationship of architecture, philosophy and religion,

gives lectures and realizes projects in Europe, most recently at the College of Applied Arts in Prague.

 

M i l o s  S e j n works and lives in Jičín and Prague (Czech Republic). His activities, following the

study of creative art, aesthetics and art history, focus on the relationship of human beings and the

landscape. Currently he works as a teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. He works in the

fields of process art and performance work and conducts workshops, such as Bohemiae Rosa.

 

BOHEMIAE ROSA 1997 -- SITE / BODY EXPLORATION II

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Dates 3 - 17 September 1997, arrival day 2 September

Location Plasy Monastery, 33101 PLASY, Czech Republic

Accessible by train via Plzen (9.00 from Prague, Hlavní nádrazí) by car D5 and E50 to

Plzen, then 25 km on the road No. 27 northbound

Workshop Fees DM 400 (students DM 350),

Czech participants Kč 3,000 (students Kč 1,500).

The fee includes insurance and membership.

Application Send a statement describing your motivation for participation including a

short biography before 20 July 1997 to Hermit Foundation, Kláster Plasy, 331

01 PLASY, Czech Republic, fax 00 420 l82 2l98, e-mail:

hermit@plz.pvtnet.cz.

Accommodation and food provided by Hermit Foundation. Travel expenses cannot be reimbursed.

Fees will be collected upon the arrival of the participants.

Please bring your sleeping-bag, tent, warm and waterproof clothes, raincoat and boots for short-term

living outdoors.

For more information, please contact:

Hermit Foundation / Martina Tomásková & Karel Sidorjak

tel. 00 420182 2909, fax 00 420182 2198, e-mail: hermit@plz.pvtnet.cz

Milos Sejn / Bohemiae Rosa Project: tel. 00 4202 375444, fax 00 4202 375781

Frank van de Ven: tel./fax 00 3120 6842568

Martin Buchner: tel./fax 00 4930 6945269 or 00 4202 541323

 

HOC AEDIFICIVM SINE AQVIS RVET

WITHOUT WATER THIS BUILDING WILL BE DESTROYED

1 7 2 0

 

 

 

 

 

 

from propositions:

 

Every day somebody would be on ornithological, botanical, geological, and meteorological... duty

pictures of the day - from 22 to 23 pm

watching birds, experiments to identify species, especially observe sound quality of the day -

written records and sonic transcriptions, trying to make by human voice

sonic image of the day (chapel of St. Benedictus) - 22.00

founding workshop herbarium

attempts at dialogues among human and plants by any means

working with hidden forms of human voice

smell image of the day (big hall in darkness - prelature) - 22.15

founding mineralogical and colour collection

colour and chemical windows of days

touch image of the day (granary) - 22.30

founding collection of air and water watching

sounds, shapes, movements - identification, records, associations

taste image of the day (court of the prelature) - 22.45

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