Problem Statement:

We need to become judges, lawyers and legislators to enter the symbiocene and invent a new right to transport and move, whether by ourselves – on foot, horseback or bicycle – or by means of air, land, rail, sea or river. It would mean rethinking a right to walk the earth that belongs to humans, as well as to free or rewilded horses, to wild grasses, or even to waters and minerals. Finally, it would lay the foundations for a right to travel across borders, and for the rights of nature.

Challenge description:

In our Western societies, the law is generally thought of as a form of land occupation in which the notion of ownership is strong, and thus goes hand in hand with a sedentary lifestyle. Yet nomadism can be seen as a thrifty way of living on earth, where human’s footprint is reduced to the essential. Moreover, movement is not unique to humans: animals, plants and even water, for example, need to be able to circulate. So, the question of freedom of movement goes hand in hand with the concern to respect nature, its access and its rights.

In order to drastically reduce the amount of energy we consume and the pollutants we emit, the symbiocene will undoubtedly require us to invent new legal mechanisms. At the same time, shouldn’t we regain the right to survey the land, and abolish the new article 226-4-3 of the French penal code creating an offense of trespassing in large private natural areas.

To respond to the need for human and non-human beings to migrate, impacted by global warming and other bio-industrial catastrophes, we need to redefine the rights to travel and lay the foundations for a new cosmopolitan law of nature.

Residency characteristics:

Hexagone Scène Nationale is a multidisciplinary theatre that has developed a research activity that led to fifty residencies combining art and science.

The research of invited scientist Sarah Vanuxem lies at the crossroads of property law and environmental law, with forays into environmental philosophy, anthropology of nature and legal history. In this residency, she questions our right to move and to travel always linked to the rights of nature.

The artist will meet the scientist to define their common interests and a calendar of encounters in Grenoble and/or Nice where the scientist is based. The artist will have access to the stage of the theatre and/or venues dedicated to the creation in order to produce or prototype an artwork or a performance. The artist outcome will be shown at the next edition of EXPERIMENTA the Biennale (dates to be confirmed), organized by the theatre.