FRESH 2023: The International Event for the Development of Contemporary Circus and Outdoor Arts was back for a special audio-only edition on 20-22 September 2023 to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the network.
This tenth edition of the flagship professional meeting will for the first time reunite artists, programmers, journalists, producers, researchers, and policymakers hailing from both sectors to delve into the topics of care, safety, and sustainability.
Wednesday 20 September: Care
We started the day at La Villette, with welcome words from ARTCENA, Circostrada, French Ministry of Culture, and European Commission, and a twenty-minute keynote to introduce the concept of care and spark some inspiration and reflections during a short, dynamic, and powerful session. A large round table closed the morning, in which six artists and cultural professionals will discuss and share ideas about the relationship between programmers and artists. They examined the question of how we can establish trusting relationships and avoid the power balance usually induced between the programming curator and the artist.
Welcome Words
10 a.m. - 10:10 a.m. CEST (Paris, UTC +2) / 9 a.m. - 9:10 a.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 4 a.m. - 4:10 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4)
ARTCENA, Circostrada, French Ministry of Culture, European Commission
Keynote
10:10 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. CEST (Paris, UTC +2) / 9:10 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 4:10 a.m. - 4:30 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4)
Fabienne Brugère (France), philosopher
In her book L’Éthique du ‘care,' Fabienne Brugère writes about the notion of care and shows us how this philosophy constitutes a real project for society today. By focusing on this "caring," this concern for others, the care ethic poses the question of the social bond in a different way: it places vulnerability, dependence and interdependence at the heart of our relationships. The keynote provided an opportunity to link this philosophical axis with the concerns of the cultural sector and to introduce possible changes in our ways of relating.
Roundtable: Care in Art Work: Understanding the Role of Care in Professional Relationships Between Circus and Outdoor Arts Companies and Programming Organizations
11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. CEST (Paris, UTC +2) / 10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 5 a.m. - 5:30 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4)
Panellists:
Koen Allary (Belgium),
Emilie Buestel (France),
Marie Doiret (France)
Sebastián De la Cuesta (Chile),
Anna Giribet i Argilés (Spain),
Lucho Smit (Netherlands),
Facilitation:
Katie Kheriji-Watts (United States, France)
The word “care” is traditionally relegated to the private sphere and refers to how we attend to the needs of other living beings. This group conversation brings it into the professional art world, offering diverse perspectives on the role that care does and could play in interactions between circus companies and the organizations that program or support their work. What forms of care can we expect to give or receive? What are the barriers to caring—or being cared for—in a sector with limited resources? Is the call to care just another gendered injunction to perform undervalued labor?
Thursday 21 September: Safety
We started the day at Le Plus Petit Cirque du Monde with a twenty-minute keynote to introduce the concept of safety and provide you with inspiration and reflections during a short, dynamic, and powerful session. Two artists continued our journey via a thirty-minute conversation and dig a little bit deeper into the issues at stake for our sectors.
Keynote
10:10 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. CEST (Paris, UTC +2) / 9 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 4 a.m. - 4:30 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4)
Speaker: Guillaume Dupuis,
Associate Professor at Université Paris-Saclay (France)
Artistic Talk
10:40 a.m. - 11:10 a.m. CEST (Paris, UTC +2) / 9:40 a.m. - 10:10 a.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 4:40 a.m. - 5:10 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4)
Speakers: Darya Efrat (Israel) and Osian Meilir (United Kingdom)
This thirty-minute session was led by the artists Osian Meilir and Darya Efrat. They considered what makes them feel safe and how to cultivate conditions that make this possible.
Friday 22 September: Sustainability
We started the day at Village de Cirque with a twenty-minute keynote to introduce the concept of “sustainability” and spark some inspiration and reflections in a short, dynamic, and powerful session. Two artists continued our journey via a thirty-minute conversation and dug a little bit deeper into the issues at stake for our sectors. A large round table closed the morning, in which five artists and cultural professionals discussed and shared ideas about how solidarity and cooperation can foster a more holistic approach to sustainability.
Keynote
10:10 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. CEST (Paris, UTC +2) / 9 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 4 a.m. - 4:30 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4)
Speaker: Eric Lenoir, landscape designer (France)
Artistic Talk
10:40 a.m. - 11:10 a.m. CEST (Paris, UTC +2) / 9:40 a.m. - 10:10 a.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 4:40 a.m. - 5:10 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4)
Speakers:
Marija Baranauskait-Liberman (Lithuania)
and Andrea Salustri (Italy)
This thirty-minute talk was led by artists Andrea Salustri and Marija Baranauskait-Liberman, who explore their artistic practice through the lens of sustainability.
Roundtable: Cooperation: A Platform for Navigating the Complexities of a Sustainable World.
11:20 a.m. - 12:50 p.m. CEST (Paris, UTC +2) / 10:20 a.m. - 11:50 a.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 5:20 a.m. - 5:50 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4)
Panellists:
Danielle Devery (Australia),
Joris Janssens (Belgium),
Théo Mouzard (France),
Olle Salorana Strandberg (Sweeden),
Jin Yim (South Korea)
Facilitation:
Gwendolenn Sharp (France)
To respond to the urgent need for environmental and societal sustainability, many artists and professionals are developing new skills and investing in new projects that integrate these issues and promote the concepts of sustainability, equity, social justice, and ecology. It is therefore essential to ensure that the voices of professionals can be heard, as they propose solutions that are adapted to their own contexts and need to be heard in the face of an increasingly standardized discourse that is very often European-centric and localizing/localist. Each at their own level and in the light of their own specific contexts, the speakers talked about the forms this cooperation can take, how it is currently being translated (or not) in the contemporary circus and outdoor arts sector, and what the prospects are for a systemic change in our sector.
FRESH 2023 is co-organized by Circostrada Network and ARTCENA in collaboration with key partners located in Paris and its region, such as La Coopérative de Rue de Cirque (2r2c), Le Plus Petit Cirque du Monde, La Villette, L’Azimut- Pôle National Cirque en Ile-de-France-Antony/Châtenay-Malabry, circusnext, l'Espace Périphérique, FAI-AR Formation supérieure d'art en espace public, IN SITU- European platform for artistic creation in public space, Le Lycée Avant le lycée, Théâtre Silvia Monfort, Le Moulin Fondu, Centre national des arts de la rue et de l'espace public- Compagnie Oposito; Festival PRIMO 2023, and Le Centre national de la danse.
For this occasion, we want to share with those who cannot be with us on-site. So, with the collaboration of Making Waves and the partnership of HowlRound TV, we have set up live online radio broadcasting during these three days of vibrant debates and exciting exchanges.
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