By Cedric Bregnard
PARTICIPATORY ART
From 6th to 11th March 2023
10am-1pm & 2.30pm-5.30pm
Come and draw the Banyan Tree with us.
It is to meet a tree that Cedric Bregnard returned to Auroville.
10 years after his first stay, the Swiss artist has an appointment with the monumental banyan tree that reigns in the gardens of the Matrimandir.
For years Cedric has been immortalizing trees around the world, ancestral specimens of different species, of these sacred beings that border on immortality.
What started as an individual photographic project has evolved over time and circumstances into a collective performance. With Cedric’s guidance, the public is invited to give back contrast to a monumental photograph of the Banyan by intervening with black ink on the half-tone image. The artist becomes the initiator of an almost alchemical link with the matter.
During the next few weeks, Centre d’Art gallery will host the performance entitled Roots from the Sky ⵣ.
On its walls, like an immense fresco, a photographic panorama representing the banyan tree in shades of grey will welcome the public who will be invited to participate.
All those who want to (no need to be an artist, we are all creators, says Cedric), will be able to enter a particular space/time where they will have to, by “writing” on the image of the tree, restore it in all its presence.
“It’s a physical encounter – explains Cedric – the spirit of the tree remains imprinted on the film. By intervening on the shadows, we bring out the light, by getting lost in the infinite details of the texture of the bark or the leaves, we bring it back to life, out of time.”
You will enter and leave your worries and fears at the door.
You will be in a non-mental attitude.
You will be given a brush/pen and will be assisted in the expression of your personal calligraphy.
You will be alone and in the midst of others.
Your gestures will become a spontaneous dance in communion with the tree, a tribute to the living.
When you look at the results of previous performances, what strikes you is the surprising beauty, the homogeneity of a work done by so many different people.
According to Cedric this harmony comes from the inner attitude of the participants.
Everyone participates with a common and respectful intention, in a personal gesture without judgment.
Now, beyond the symbolic implications of this performance and the importance of the banyan tree for Auroville, this is a unique project, to which you are invited, a total art project, in which you will be the author and the beneficiary of the experience, and he, the giant tree, face to face.
Dominique Jacques / Centre d’Art
The artwork will be donated to Auroville Art for Land.
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