Multimedia and extraterrestrial experiences : The brand new exhibitions in the southern region

There’s two words to describe the new exhibitions in September and October: varied and unexpected. From a multimedia study on the lives of French cross-border workers to the future colonisation of the planet Mars, you’ll have all kinds of exciting experiences that will stimulate all your senses.

The project Frontaliers. Des vies en stéréo. is the result of a sociological study that was launched back in early 2020 by documentary filmmakers Mehdi Ahoudig and Samuel Bollendorff. The two audiovisual artists have already been working together on a regular basis since 2010, exploring the dialogue between image and sound.

In the neighbouring Lorraine, they have spent two years trying to find out what actually characterises the typical cross-border worker and they present their encounters with some of the remarkable people from the French border region, their concerns and their experiences, through a number of different media. This gives them the opportunity to give a voice to a group of people who usually don’t get a lot of media attention.

The exhibition “Frontaliers. Des vies en stéréo.” is an immersive acoustic and visual experience that invites the viewer to engage with all their senses. A chronicle was already published on the Esch2022 website in August and invites the viewer to share its short video formats on the internet and make them go viral. And finally, the film “Il était une fois dans l’Est” presents a long-format narrative about the region where the fates of the cross-border commuters unfold.

Film screening
21.10.2022
L’Arche (Villerupt)
1 Esplanade Nino Rota
F-54190 Villerupt

Exhibition
22.10.2022 – 05.02.2023
Massenoire
3 Avenue du Rock’n’Roll
L-4361 Esch-Alzette
Closed on Tuesdays

Actually, 2022 should have been the year in which the first colonists landed on Mars to found a new society. Although this date had to be postponed, there are already numerous projects underway, such as Blue Origin, Space X or the founding of a colony by the United Arab Emirates. China, Russia, India and Luxembourg are also involved in this race to colonise and exploit space.

Most of these missions aim to create an alternative habitat for humans, making them a multiplanetary species. But how might such a future affect our coexistence and what impact will the colonisation of space have on our civilisation?

It is precisely this kind of question that the artistic team from the Eddi Van Tsui company is addressing as part of the project Esch-Mars. De terres rouges en terres rouges. project. In several stages, they deal with the colonisation of the planet Mars as well as various social utopias.

The project consists of four parts: First, the team will meet with a number of different scientists and researchers to gather facts about the possibilities and preconditions for founding a civilisation. In a second phase, they will then discuss this topic with interested citizens and various socio-cultural actors from the region. After that, they invite eight artists working in different disciplines (photography, installation, architecture, video…) to each create an artwork based on the information and themes collected in phases 1 and 2.

Finally, in a last phase, these works will be exhibited in the Konschthal Esch and presented to the general public.

Exhibition “New Minett”
08.10. – 11.12.2022
Konschthal Esch
29-33 Bd Prince Henri
L-4280 Esch-Alzette
Free entry

The exhibition L’Heure Bleue, 2022, on the other hand, will be staying down here with us on earth… and right in the heart of nature. This unique open-air installation is inspired by a very specific and fascinating phenomenon: the brief moment in the day when the sky turns electric blue and nature is completely silent.

In order to observe this in a very intimate way, a platform has been erected near the Nature reserve “Centre nature et forêt Ellergronn”. Throughout the year, there will be events and meetings at this site on social and cultural themes such as ecology, history, biology, poetry, music, etc.

For example, on 8 and 9 October, as part of Biology, Geopoetic (geology and poetry), there will be collective walks in the surroundings of the Centre nature et forêt Ellergronn led by microbiologist Francis Martin, author Davide Sapienza and geologist Robert Weis.

8 October 2022
From 2 pm with Francis Martin (microbiology)
Fungi, like porcini mushrooms and truffles, are not independent organisms, but the visible emergence of a huge network of microscopic filaments that grow underground, out of our sight. These networks merge with the roots of trees in a balanced exchange of services, the first of which is better growth. This symbiotic alliance between plants and fungi has not yet revealed its secrets, but the knowledge acquired reveals an extraordinary community of living beings at the heart of an “intelligent” forest.

From 16 years old
Limited number of places
Reservation required
Duration: 2 hours
Language: in French
Registration here

9th October 2022
6.30 am and 6 pm: Walks with Davide Sapienza (poet) and Robert Weis (geologist)
Geopoetics is a theory-practice that combines two different disciplines, one being more scientific, the other more artistic.
Davide S. Sapienza & Robert Weis (authors of ROCKLINES – a geopoetic journey through the Minett UNESCO Biosphere, Ed. Phi 2022) will lead a walk from Ellergronn to the Burgronn lookout, where the spirit of the place – the genius loci – will give us all a glimpse of this geopoetic walk into the blue hour. A carrying of the landscape through our individual and shared perception, a journey of the senses through space and that special time of day, when light and dark become one and we can become more intimate with the landscape, melting into our own shadows.

From 16 years of age
Limited number of places
Reservation required
Duration: 2h15
Language: in English
Registration here