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Rencontre des possibles, Bournazel, 11 to 14 august 2014, second édition

 

It's the heat of summer, right at the heart of the green valleys of the Tarn, the scene takes place a few miles away from one of France's most charming villages.

The citizens, association members and other people curious about the ecological transition are gathered for a friendly event to discuss modern society's choices.

Main themes for this second edition: Greece, exchanges and the Do It Yourself movement.

From your first step into the festival, the mood is set: smiles and cheerfulness from all over, people greeting you in french, English or Greek to give you all the practical I: where to park, where to grab a bite, the schedule for concerts and workshops on the various venues scattered around a farm that is being restored.

We get used to the fact that we won't be able to do, see or listen to everything: this festival boasts an impressive number of workshops, the program is dense and everything sounds appealing: practical workshops, talks, debates, projections, artistic initiations... Our tight schedule for the next 4 days reminds us of school-days!

The opening event is dedicated to the various organizing associations who thrive to make Foucault's idea of Heterotopia come true, which we will be questioning all along the Rencontres.

From there, all our group scatter, looking for discoveries and answers, the head full of dreams.

Over there under a shed that was filled only a few days before with hay, farming tools and heaps of wood, we experiment 3D computer-designing and printing of an object and we discuss the implications of a tools such as the 3D printer on our consumption pattern and our capacity to fulfil our needs with creativity. We quickly reach the topic of the mass retail logic and it's consequences in our everyday lives. The participants' mind gets sharper and sharper as the workshop goes on! A few meters further, somebody introduces us to compensatory currencies and what they can bring to the local economic system, giving multiple examples including several only for the Midi-Pyrénées region.

Now, we talk Food: Why? What for? Allergies and intolerances are adresed in no time, as well as agriculture-related questions, backstage from our plates and hence our Health. Several films on those topics will be displayed all along the festival.

We then spend some time meet ing our neighbors at the bar, around a fresh beverage, a bier or a local wine, or a colourful plate showcasing local products or Greek specialties. There, we come across colleagues or old friends, debate, share our impressions of the last worksop... This catering has fulfilled it's mission!

In this restaurant, where the group will meet tonight and the next nights to the waltzing accordion, so we can have a debriefing of our impressions, our favorites and our encounters, such a rich day. The talk could last forever but it's now time to celebrate this first day of "Rencontres" at the concert! Libertalia strike their first bass rhythm and tin whistle melodies and it's on : tonight even the stars must have danced.

The next day is focused on the Greeks, but not before an early morning session of Capoeira to wake body and spirit. Shared perspectives of France and Greece on the crisis, displaying several emerging citizen-supported alternatives, revolving around public space and common goods: natural areas, farmer seeds... And how could we celebrate the Greek identity without having a

Last but not least, the last day is yet another opportunity to spread the range of possible outcomes and transformations: a workshop on transformative communication attempts to question our relation to the Other and experiment solution to ease and make our relation more authentic. The projection, followed by a debate on the Calandretas helps us understand what is at stake in an educational program including the study of Catalan and a Freinet teaching method. But for those who's rather be outside, they can may experiment candy-making, or wild-plant recognition during the ethnobotanic stroll, or the use of seaweed as an original yet very efficient nutritional supplement.

As the sun is setiing, the last workshops end one after the other to free space, one last time, to the accordion's warm and silky melodies. Surprised by the sudden lack of activities, some participants take this chance to pay a visit to the barter/free space or one of the numerous exponents for the thrill of discovery. Those who don't meet at the bar wander around under the late sunbeams, a group of kids runs looking for pepper, all pumped up after an improvised booth introduced them to new science games.

Then, as one last concert is celebrating the end of this event, the last participants meet around the braseros and take a moment to admire the beautiful, wll-build wood structure that was build during this very practical and timeless Heterotopia.

We leave with our head filled with ideas to explore, a step further into our personal collective thinking and fit and ready to continue our passionate journey with extra excitement.

"We get used to the fact that we won't be able to do, see or listen to everything: this festival boasts an impressive number of workshops, the program is dense and everything sounds appealing: practical workshops, talks, debates, projections, artistic initiations..."

 © 2015 by An Oasis In The Crisis.

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