This the open call for:
Session 1: EBEN-EZER TOWER, Bassenge, Belgium
Monday July 12 -> Saturday July 17, 2021

The open call for Session 2 in Bidston, UK, you can find here

Description
The aim of the Down Dwars Delà sessions is to collectively assemble and study a tools-not-box (see it more as a jumble of tools than a neatly ordered toolbox) in which we bring together techniques, rituals, protocols and technologies for non-intrusive, non-extractivist, intra-vertical observation with the narrative worlds they make. This compilation of devices would allow us to narrate the two sites according to other criteria and to make space for (un)making sense of the stories formulated by and about the Bidston Observatory and the Eben-Ezer tower. Working and thinking with natural resources as starting point, we take the extractive technologies of colonialism to be a major part of the way we relate to Nature, and to ecologies of nature. Not in least due to these worldviews having produced "N"ature itself. It’s the intention then, to begin from intimate, sentient/spiritual or discursive relations within/to the two (un)natural environments.

We warmly invite conflicted artists, designers, (non)experts in oceanography, geography, dendrology, botany, biology and more to join us. Participants can expect fulfilling collaborative practices, exchanges of knowledge and experience, some time to work on their own related projects (if they have one) and/or finding new threads and relations to start off a new project.

Silex-Museum / Eben EzerTower
During this week we will be hosted in the park around the Eben-Ezer tower. This building was constructed just after the second world war, as a monument against all forms of violence. It is completely built from flintstone /silex, which was quarried in part from the mine on top of which the tower is built. The tower is filled with mythological figures symbolising a quest for peace. The site offers a rich complexity of intertwined histories: local marl stone and flint mining, internationalist pacifism, Christian influences... The tower and its surroundings are situated on an early 20th century geopolitical hotspot bordering Holland and Germany. It was built in reaction to the direct presence of the defensive fort Eben-Emael. For the larger part, the sculptures, architecture, construction and theoretical and artistic framing is the sprout of the imagination and craftsmenship of one person. The tower has grown into a center of attention for so called outsider arts and it’s garden is the home location for the European center for Fantastic arts. The tower and the historic mines that surround it, is in close (stone’s throw) proximity to a large industrial scale operative quarry, the "carriere de Romont", which has a license for digging the area until 2043. It is both an economic source as a threat to environment and heritage.

The week is set up as a collective residency. We will camp on site and conduct collective inquiries that feed into existing or emerging artistic projects. Participants might be interested in thematics such as for example: listening to the stars, observing the underground. Technologies of the imaginary / imaginary technologies. Personal monuments, towerology, feminist geology, ancient (pre)historic signs and symbols. Non-extractive mining. Radio, bats, disturbances, vibrations, and darkness. Natural resources and its dis-accordance with military industry. Rewriting her/his/stories. Revisit peace-earth iconography. Anti-extractive computation.

• Programme: We will construct a common programme in which there is time to inject personal moments. Some ingredients of the weeks programme are /might be: geological visits (local mines, farmers, sites), meeting botanist and bat specialists, museum visits (if we can cross the border)
• We’ll take on the costs of your travel your lodging (we’ll camp on site so please bring a tent)
• Food will be provided/paid for, meals are a mix of group self-catering and catered. Please let us know about dietary requirements & allergies
• If you have small dependents, we can make this work - there will be space to stay as family/kin, and collective sessions where care is taken into account.
• Participation : This is a call for physical participation. Week 1 is open for participants within pragmatic proximity to the location. We will respect local and national anti-covid19 measurements. Regulations will probably different in UK/BE. Check the website of relevant authorities: https://www.info-coronavirus.be/en/. We do not want to get into covid-related policing but we’ll ask to the participants to be mindful before joining the group.
• The Eben Ezer tower has many stairs with no elevator and the terrain is rough. For anybody who has specific access requirements, please get in touch and we can send further text, audio or image-based information.
• Please indicate if these conditions do not suit your personal situation.

Constant’s sessions ?
Constant’s sessions function as temporary collective research laboratories, where different types of expertise come into contact with each other. The sessions are intensive otherwise-disciplined situations to which artists, software developers, theorists, activists and others contribute. During the sessions we develop ideas and prototypes that in the long-term lead to publications, projects and new proposals. This particular session will be shaped in response to our current global situation into which closeness, exchange and togetherness are drastically altered. Work-sessions favour the use of F/LOSS software. To facilitate collective environment, these Guidelines for collaboration apply: https://constantvzw.org/wefts/orientationspourcollaboration.en.html

Applying

• Places are limited. If you are interested in joining, please send an application to: peter@constantvzw.org before 15 May.
• Please explain why this topic is important for you and include a couple of sentences about how this connects to your interests.
• Please indicate clearly whether you are interested in week 1 or 2 and where from you would travel.
• We will confirm participation last week of May.