New
Materialism

Absurd beings or a literary experiment - a proposal

The writing workshop will take the form of a participative experiment where each participant will be invited to modify a series of soil animals-related scientific texts in a poetic manner and in their own words. This is a way of sensorially experiencing the problems of transforming soil and considering other possible standard ways of representing nature. Participants will be offered a series of scientific, historical or contemporary texts. The purpose of the workshop is to tell a story of soil recomposition by combining pieces of drama, science and poetry.

Extract from a short essay written by Nathalie Blanc during the exhibit Soils Fictions (2016)

Earthworm
“ (…) I was naked as the earthworm, powerless. The lay of loam that used to cover me most of the time, this authentic monument from antique times, was absent this particular day. Indeed I had been sent through outer space. I was naked, powerless, exposed to daylight, but still completely blind. I am not an animal from the depths, no. I am not a paranoid animal, trapped in light denial. I would like to hide eternally and sub specie, but the power to do so has been taken away from me; I am the earthworm, wandering through space. My future is blurred. I most probably look like a written line, an interrupted piece. (…)”

Keywords: soil, earthworm
Genealogies: neologism

References
Blanc, N., 2016, Nue comme une vere, Multitudes 65 : Dossier « Nouveaux Matérialismes », Paris.

Soils Fictions - an artistic and scientific residency project with artists including: Marine Legrand, Anais Tondeur, Alain Vergnes, Yezenia Thibault-Picazo, Germain Meulemans, Loic Fel. For further info see here