Learning from the Storks
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The starting point of our investigations was the estuary of the Charente river, in the West of France, and the maritime city of Rochefort, which was for a long time the construction site of ships used by France for the subjugation of a distant and unknown “New World”. During the residency we collectively deconstructed the ship – a tool of Euro-anthropocentric colonization – and built a series of devices that opened up possibilities for new connections with other animals that inhabit the Charente estuary: storks.

Tristan Plot (Specialist in gentle methods of bird training), Christophe Boucher (Bird protection specialist), Anne Lise Capelle (Maritime knotmaking specialist)

The Construction
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Resembling the building of Q’eswachaka rope bridge, a group contribution as a whole is more than the sum of its part in braiding and pulling the ropes tight to create a sturdy structure.

In Southeast Asia, the embodied spirit can be experienced in “gotong-royong”, where collective power of determination and collaboration becomes the force for communities. If one could experience a local event, “Angkat Rumah” (Carry a house) in real life, it can feel like a flashmob with every volunteer involved either taking turn to lift the house or joining the march band to cheer with words of support and encouragement while the tonnes of a kampung house is moved to one place to another.

With COUNTERCURRENT, we enacted the spirit akin to these traditions. We created and built components of wooden ships, masts and bird watching hides to create a public performance. The performance celebrates the interrelationship between humans and storks.

A performance to educate, play and celebrate
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A series of human-stork linking/encountering devices were enacted in a public performance*. During the performance, the locals of the Charente-Maritime came together to experience stories of the stork. We built nest structures, hides, a pulley system, lending the technologies from the maritime. The nest is a place where people gather: for shelter and to celebrate. 

“White storks had all but disappeared from France 50 years ago but today their numbers are increasing, particularly in the west of the country in departments such as Charente-Maritime. In 1974, there were only 11 stork couples left in France, nine of them in Alsace in the east of the country.

Today, Charente-Maritime has the greatest population of these large migrating birds, with around 636 couples and over 900 babies seen in 2020. Alsace used to have the most white storks, but today it is the area with the second-largest concentration in France.”¹

With COUNTERCURRENT, our hopes soar to send a message to the public on the importance of continuity to conserve the nature and to help more storks to settle in the marshes of Charente-Maritime.

WATCH TRAILER ⭢

The Construction
•

Resembling the building of Q’eswachaka rope bridge, a group contribution as a whole is more than the sum of its part in braiding and pulling the ropes tight to create a sturdy structure.

In Southeast Asia, the embodied spirit can be experienced in “gotong-royong”, where collective power of determination and collaboration becomes the force for communities. If one could experience a local event, “Angkat Rumah” (Carry a house) in real life, it can feel like a flashmob with every volunteer involved either taking turn to lift the house or joining the march band to cheer with words of support and encouragement while the tonnes of a kampung house is moved to one place to another.

With COUNTERCURRENT, we enacted the spirit akin to these traditions. We created and built components of wooden ships, masts and bird watching hides to create a public performance. The performance celebrates the interrelationship between humans and storks.

Production stage

The Materials
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In order to symbolically deconstruct the vessel, we worked solely with materials traditionally used for the construction of sailing ships; locally sourced hemp ropes, linen textiles and wood (oak* and pine).

The local material culture, landscapes and histories helped to navigate and define our ideas to create the connection to the stork.

* Note: Oak wood is the one most commonly used for the construction of seagoing vessels: one absolutely cannot do without it; it is to be preferred to all the others, because it is harder, and more resistant to bad weather: moreover, it is very common, although it takes a long time to grow.” – Louis Joseph Marie Achille Goujon, Des bois propres aux constructions navales, manuel à l'usage des agents forestiers et maritimes, 1807.

A performance to educate, play and celebrate
•

A series of human-stork linking/encountering devices were enacted in a public performance*. During the performance, the locals of the Charente-Maritime came together to experience stories of the stork. We built nest structures, hides, a pulley system, lending the technology from the maritime. The nest is a place where people gather: for shelter and to celebrate. 

“White storks had all but disappeared from France 50 years ago but today their numbers are increasing, particularly in the west of the country in departments such as Charente-Maritime. In 1974, there were only 11 stork couples left in France, nine of them in Alsace in the east of the country.

Today, Charente-Maritime has the greatest population of these large migrating birds, with around 636 couples and over 900 babies seen in 2020. Alsace used to have the most white storks, but today it is the area with the second-largest concentration in France.”¹

With COUNTERCURRENT, our hopes soar to send a message to the public on the importance of continuity to conserve the nature and to help more storks to settle in the marshes of Charente-Maritime.

WATCH TRAILER ⭢