The Trial is a site-specific court-case performance, which investigates environmental justice as an artistic proposition. The piece deals with ecocide, and the possibilities of creating a new proposal for the justice system as an answer to the current vacuum in the environmental crime system. It explores the interconnectedness of a conventional court, restorative justice and transformative processes as a way to unveil the hidden stories of traumatised environments and their correlation to colonialism and power. In our trial, we propose a new type of 'verdict', one in which we search for a new collective language focused on interbeing, intersectionality and restoration.
The trial is made up of seven attempts that weave together personal stories and documentary and speculative fiction, slowly bringing the audience face to face with their own complicity in ongoing ecocide. The entrance to the light design was the idea of activation of a working space in which the public can engage with the performace. It proposes a do-it-yourself mentality, making use of the building's lighting system, and placing working lights in the space to create a heightened working space. Fluorescent tubes were placed and moved in the space by the performer, creating a different perspective for each attempt. During the upcoming touring performances we will continue to experiment with using the mobile phones of the public to light the performance, giving the audience some degree of agency in what and how the performance is lit.
Concept and direction: Maria Lucia Cruz Correia
Dramaturgy: Ingrid Vranken
Performance: Caroline Daish
Sound Design: Joao Bento
Light Design: Vinny Jones
Video: Mark Pozlep
Costume Design: Anne-Catherine Kunz
Technician: Alain Decoen
Production: Tineke de Meyer
Intern: Maíra Wiener
Systemic Constellation Navigator: Luea Ritter
Research contribution: Sébastien Hendrickx
Advice: Jeroen Peeters, Starhawk
Legal fact checking: Hendrik Schoukens & Juan Auz
Restorative Justice collaborator: Brunilda Pali
Research documentation: Mark Pozlep & Hana Vodeb
Photography: Mark Pozlep and Stephanie Vandevelde
With the support of the Flemish Community, Imagine 2020, and Creative Europe Culture.
Co-Production: Vooruit (B), Kaaitheater (B), Bunker (SL), Workspacebrussels (B), Het TheaterFestival, t-heater & Circuit X (Roel Verniers Prijs 2017)
Produced by FoAM
Premier 1st March, 2019 on location Gent Appeals Court, SameSamebutDifferent Festival /Vooruit, Gent, BE.
