Details

Available until december 2023


Price : Free


Organizer

Esch2022

Location

Réserve naturelle de Schifflange
Luxembourg

Start : Jean Jacoby stadium car park


10+ years old

Duration: 60 / 90 min

SCIENCE-FICTION . BIOGRAPHY . RADIO ASTRONOMY

10+ years old

Duration: 60 / 90 min

Look into the distance. You see the inexpressive mass of the Belval Springboard. Its articulated tentacles erect vertically, like the spikes of a sea urchin foraging the sky, the vertebrae of a brachiosaurus. The Springboard. Our pride in glass and steel.

Ruby is the brainchild of author Luvan and composer Charo Calvo.

The story is directly inspired by the places: the red earth similar to the plateaus of Australia, the thousand-year-old plants, the view of Belval, the remains of mining operations… and takes us to discover the exceptional destiny of Ruby Payne-Scott, an Australian radio astronomer with a passion for botany, who would have been perfectly at home in this setting.

The text, punctuated by scientific references, leaves plenty of room for science fiction elements, inspired by the striking, ‘extra-human’ view of Belval.

Ruby was created as part of the In the field project, for Esch2022, European Capital of Culture.

Read more

A land of extremes, both an ancient fossil quarry and a place of renewal, of lichens, mosses and orchids. A place of extraction and exploitation, but also of rebirth. Scientific references are present throughout the text. It also includes biological and naturalistic principles.

All these themes are dealt with in parallel with the theme of borders. These are numerous: between the earth and the cosmos, between the past and the future, between the surface and what lies beneath. We also explore the frontier of reality: what if there was another Earth? What if the Schifflange Nature Reserve was where two dimensions intersect?

Luvan is an author. Her work focuses on the development of complex imaginary places, both utopian and dystopian, allowing her to comment on and anticipate current events. For her, fiction is a tool for social and political reflection. Passionate about sound and traditional oral materials, she also writes plays, performs and makes radio productions. She is an active member of the science fiction writers’ collective Zanzibar alongside, among others, Sabrina Calvo, Alain Damasio, Catherine Dufour and Léo Henry. A historian by training, luvan (real name Marie-Aude Matignon) lived in Africa, the Pacific, France, China, Scandinavia and Belgium before moving to Germany.

Electroacoustic composer, sound engineer and teacher, Charo Calvo is originally from Spain and currently lives in Brussels. After performing as a dancer with the Belgian company Ultima Vez, she studied electroacoustic composition at the Brussels Conservatory. Her work is developed through different media, and is broadcasted at international events. She has received several awards, including the Marulic Prize 2018 Croatia and the Grand Prix Nova Bucharest 2019. She was selected to represent Belgium at the ISCM 2020 World with her work ‘The Grass’ and is the winner of the Phonurgia Nova 2021 Prize with ‘Vagues de Chaleur’ (‘Heat Waves’).

With the support of Esch2022, European Capital of Culture, as well as the French Ministry of Culture, the DRAC Grand Est, the Région Grand Est, the Centre National de la Musique, the Collectivité Européenne d’Alsace, the Département Meurthe-et-Moselle, the Ville d’Esch-sur-Alzette, the Ville et Eurométropole de Strasbourg, LISER (Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research), the Musica Festival and Puzzle Thionville.

In partnership with Residhome Luxembourg and the Cottage Luxembourg.

Credits 

Text: luvan

Music: Charo Calvo

Sound recording: Marc Namblard

Illustration: Valérie Etterlen

Voices: Florine Chevrolet, Nelly Henrion, Agnès Sternjakob, Matëo Granger (French version), Florine Chevrolet, Nelly Henrion, Julia Whitham (English version)

Voice Studio: Innervision

Artistic Director: Gaëtan Gromer

Production: Les Ensembles 2.2

b: Laura Daco of the Musée National d’Histoire Naturelle de Luxembourg, Laure Caregari of the Schungfabrik, Marieke Jarvis of MUAR-Musee vun der Aarbecht Luxembourg