Between reality and fiction, (pre)History and stories, harri kanta is a journey to the core of an alternative history of Euskal Herria (the basque country), exploring the idea that it is still inhabited by genies from its forgotten animist mythology. What emerges is a fable that interweaves tales of resistance (to Christianity, industrialization, the French and Spanish administrations, patriarchy, capitalism...), folklore and queer theory.

 The project was built with methodologies borrowed from larp (live action role play). Through a series of world-building sessions, the 7 performers of Basque ancestry co-created the creatures, their magical artefacts and their songs, inspired by their personal experiences and interests in the history and mythology of their ancestors.
 Some characters are rewritings of existing figures, others are pure fiction. The images were filmed in Xiberoa (Iparralde, France) and Gipuzkoa (Hegoalde, Spain), living and hiking together for a week, sliding in costumes and embodying the creatures staged in improvised scenes lasting 5 to 10 minutes. The songs, the artefact and the landscape were a set of tools to guide spontaneous actions and conversations, performing for and with each other, the land, the genies of the mountain. The sequences are extracted from these short footages offering real time immersive encounters with the creatures. This results in a strange fantastical audiovisual universe, at times comical or clumsy, suddenly profound and poignant, revealing an interconnected and interpersonal invisible world that calls for resistance and care.

 Visitors can explore different possible timelines to encounter the creatures in the form of a first-person “video-game”. The characters’ magical artefacts become a controller, interactions with them activate different versions of the experience. The installation is operated with an open-source infrastructure and installed in an immersive scenography.

 A first version of the project was shown at Overkill Festival in November 2024.

 harri kanta is orchestrated by Juliette Lizotte and made possible with a network of collaborators from Euskal Herria & the Netherlands:

 .°· world-building and performance: Maider Aldasoro as Maider * Izaro Ieregi González as Ipari Suri * Ane Sagüés Abad as Xarma * Jon Regueiro Martin as Tartalo * Juliette Garms as Mairu * Noah Cohen as Oxik * Juliette Lizotte as herensugea .°·

 .°· pre-production: Maider Aldasoro (costumes) * Lucile Oxibar Irigoyen (assistant costumes) * Noah Cohen (scenographic objects) * Andoni Zamora Txakartegi (script and performance development assistant, songwriting, translation, costume assistant) * Juliette Lizotte (art direction, script, character development, songwriting, costume assistant, production) .°·

 .°· audiovisual production: Maider Aldasoro * Izaro Ieregi González * Ane Sagüés Abad * Jon Regueiro Martin * Juliette Garms * Noah Cohen (performers) * Juliette Lizotte (performer and director) * Adèle Grégoire & Antoine Vazquez (image) * Fabian Reichle (sound) * Andoni Zamora Txakartegi (assistant director) * Fanny Spano (production) * Lucile Oxibar Irigoyen (stage management) .°·

 .°· Installation: Noah Cohen (sculptural scenography) * vo ezn (technical infrastructure) * Jules Durand (typography & titles) * Andoni Zamora Txakartegi (translation) * Juliette Lizotte (art direction, post production).°·

The project is supported by Stimuleringsfonds, La Fondation des Artistes, Sickhouse and the Overkill Festival.

Special thanks to Centro Huarte for hosting the pre-production for the making of costumes, magical artefacts and songs, to OKAY CONFIANCE for production support during the filming, and to Carlotta de Torregrosa for her unconditional support in the many phases of the project.

  … ?! how did you get here? .°· you must have walked for hours·.° your vision is hazy.·* everything is vibrating..· as you reach a plateau, in between the rocks, you are struck by a presence.
 ~ *· . ° herensugea the seven headed snake appears to your eyes… they are redistributing souls, moving them from one side to the other, from one shape to another with arimen arrautza {he egg of souls}… if you let yourself be swallowed you may briefly witness the world of the invisible and encounter some of the other creatures that inhabit the land of Euskal Herria… their magical artefacts ground them in the physical world, activate them when needed and you may meet…

 Ipari Suri, angry mutant dragonfly, ready to smash patriarchy and get justice for her disappeared kin with her alu mailua {pussy hammer}…
 Maider, sassy abandoned girl of the underworld looking for her stolen shoes and permission to be herself, guardian of mirarien giltza {the key of wonders}…
 Oxik, mysterious being, lost between the human world and the call of the stones, shining a light on the invisible with oroitz begi {the eye of memory}…
 Xarma, confused iratxo waking up from a century-long sleep, their body transformed, their kin disappeared and burni putz {the iron blow} grew on their hand…
 Tartalo, one eyed creature with a golden heart, marginalised for their strong opinions, guide of the stray souls with the help of eranztun bilatzailea {the finder’s ring}…
 Mairu, emotional giant moving stones to build shelters, longing for love and connection,channeling their strength with bare uztail {the soothing hoop}…

 living at the edge of the worlds, transpiring through the landscape, disposessed anddesacralised, they find power in each other and will rejoice in your contemplation. Let yourself transported within the guts of herensugea… activate the artefacts and flow through the non linear musical tale of harri kanta (the song of the stone) and see the world through new perspectives...

 The Age of Dust is a commissioned work made in the context of Lava Lines, a group exhibition and public program curated by Leila Arenou and Naïmé Perrette at Biblioteka in London, UK, in October & November 2022.
 The Age of Dust is a world-building session and larp for 12-20 players that transforms a space into a stage for fiction exploration and collaborative storytelling through artefact making. For the Lava Line the sessions were led in character, inviting participants to take part in a 4-hour particpatory performance.

 The Age of Dust had three iterations during Lava Lines, taking the story through three generations of characters. Players were artists, elderly women from the creative writing workshop of the local community center, and highschool students with their art teacher.
 The collaborative fiction that emerged from this first version was published in the Lava Lines publication and in a dedicated podcast broadcasted on Lyl Radio and Ja Ja Ja Nee Nee Nee.
 Participants were Maya, Albie, Leïla, Liv, Naomi, Tom, Charlie, Naïmé, Dan, Louis, Tim, Ruzka, Marie, Celine, Sandra, Glenda, Princess, Arif, Francisca, Maryam, Luana, and Willyn.

 Dusty deep dive in the volcano. A mix of slow melting textures, readings, live action role play recordings and sensor data malfunction. Extracted from the Lava Lines exhibition that took place at Biblioteka in London in 2022 and was curated by Leïla Arenou and Naïmé Perrette.

 The work has since evolved in different contexts, as a single event at Atelier Triphasé in February 2023 in Brussels, as a two-day workshop with bachelor students at Lycée Le Corbusier in Poissy in October 2024, and with Hackers & Designers as an extended hybrid larp and hands-on electronics experience for one day during HDSC2023 and for three days in collaboration with constant in Brussels in September 2023. This latest version combined worldbuilding (imagine characters, collaboratively expand them, their world, and culture), making of techno-magic sonic objects (toy-hacking, experimental audio devices, soldering), and role playing (embodying the characters in their encounters with each other and activate the techno-magical objects). The role playing part was reworked together with Susan Ploetz. The technical part is developed in close collaboration with Loes Bogers (H&D) and Emma Pareschi.

 Generations ago, an extraordinary eruption of the Volcano destroyed most of the world’s life. The Creatures of the Crater survived. They were the offsprings of volcanologists and native beings of the Volcano who were able to predict the event by combining their scientific and spiritual knowledge, and therefore find shelter on time. They tried to warn others but were ignored. Every month at the new moon, when the sky was the darkest, the symbiotic community would come together to commemorate all the lives taken by lava and announce their predictions for the new cycle. During this ritual they could enter in communication with the Magma Spirits inhabiting the Volcano, who sometimes confirmed their predictions. The Magma Spirits were one and multiple, witnesses of deep time, of the wonderful powers of creation and destruction of the volcano. They were holding a mysterious knowledge but couldn’t access it.
 Further away from the Volcano, another community had survived: the Sourcers, survivalist techno witches that had hidden underground in scattered burrows to stay away from doomsday. It was said that some Sourcers could hear the Magma Spirits whispers in their dreams, telling them that a new eruption was coming. But their connection was never proven. All the Sourcers were connected to each other through a technomagical network. This network allowed them to share information, archive history, and organise their survival, although they were not physically together.

 After the eruption the landscape was dark and hostile, but it soon gave birth to luscious bushes and strong trees that blossomed flowers and fruits. The Creatures of the Crater reintroduced native species from seeds and cuttings they had preserved. Life started anew around the resting Volcano, but took hybrid forms, as if patchworked of different materials: the ground, trees, plants and stones would sprout minerals, metals, sometimes gems...
  Popping out of the peaceful black ground, some mysterious lava stones were found to be emiting a strange glow in the moonlight. Raising curiosity and wonder, the shining stones would sporadically puff a red powder when the moon was the fullest. The powder was called "the Dust" and it would magically disappear in the air with a sigh of relief, creating a soothing echo around the volcano. Among The Creatures of the Crater, some saw the blasts as messages, omens, or warnings from the underground, and were dedicated to understand them. They developped rituals around it.

 On their side of the world, Sourcers also discovered the glowing stones and their Dust but their presence was quite rare around the shelters. Finding a way to capture the Dust before its disapearance, they found it to be a rare and precious resource they could rely on for their survival. They needed the Dust to survive. They needed to find more of it.
 Lately the Dust phenomenon has changed behaviour. Bursting more than before, breaking the cycle of the moon, the stones had been springing out, the Dust would not disappear into a shimery sigh anymore, piles of Dust would remain on the ground, leaving everyone bewildered... It was as if the geological process was broken... If it looked like a blessing at first for the Sourcers, they soon realised it had lost its power, so precious for their survival.

 The Sourcers and the Creatures of the Crater are aware of each other's existence but don't encounter each other, the Magma Spirits can appear to both of them.

 Una hissstoria para sssiete voces is a text accompanied by three visuals commissioned by the Spanish magazine CONCRETA.
 Narrated by herensügea, the seven-headed serpent of Basque mythology, this story features seven mythological and historical characters from my recent research, reimagined to become a new constellation that is both timeless and contemporary.
 The visuals are composed of photographs taken during a field trip that took place in March 2023. They are portals to mineral, vegetal, and aquatic worlds...
 This text was a first attempt at shaping the research on my basque ancestry. The narration is offered as speaking directly to the readers to immerse them in the world. Herensügea narrates, and the other six characters come as invitations to emodiement.
The making of herensügea brought me to develop this character further in harri kanta.

Hi… hihi… {malicious} it’s me.. Herensssssügea, the ssssseven-headed sssssnake, the “dragon” of the early worldssss…
Sssome think I’m lying at the bottom of the ssssea,
defeated by a hero, sssson of ssssome lord
that would have won the battle againssst wildernesssss. {cringe}

Please… {pose} look at me.
I sssstand here in front of your very eyes
to rewrite thisss sssstory, Hisssstory,
“hiss”ssstory, herssstory…? {wink}…

It all ssstartsssss with movement,
a primal pulssssation coming out of the darkness
that shakessss every being until this very moment..

I am movement. I am moment.
Even when I am as ssstill as a mountain, I move.
I sssswirl, I twirl, I glide, I flow ~~~
jusssst like water, circulating endlessssssly,
alwayssss and never …
the ssssame.
Deep time,
Dark ages
Soft timelines ~~~~~~~~
parallel universssses?
I’m here to reveal to you: the invisible.

Are you ready?
{giggle}

This alternative time of possiblesss
issss set in our beloved country…
Euskal Herria
In-between the valley, the mountainssss, the shoressss
In the intersticessss, the cracks, the crevices ~~~~

{serious} It’s a story of animated landscapes,
haunting spirits, (but in a nice way I ssssswear!) {spooky laugh},
and forgotten knowledge.

{playful} It’s a fairy/witchy/goddessy tale
through seven apparitions,
and I’m obviously one of them.
Yesss, just like the seven heads that reside on my body ~~~
I’m (g)hossssting thisss ssstory,
I am the story,
and I will not hesitate to interrupt it ssssometimessss,
only to give my humble opinion…

Pleasssse picture me as ~~~~
a sssssnaky sassssssy ssssenssssual diva.
The world revolves around me,
I am the center of this universssse, yessss.

And with these few lines
I can only introduce you
to the other protagonists of this adventure,
the ones you are invited to embody,
and you can choose them all, yesss.
But remember that there is more…

They are sssssymbolsss, allegories, imagessss, ssssseeds
that could and will germ in many mindssss
and grow a ssstrange garden of hopesss.

It all ssstartsss with water and ssssstonesssss (of coursssse).
As eguzki (the sun) kisssssses everything with her rays,
a lively melody catches your attention…(*<~~


By the side of a small pond, halfway in the heart of the valley. Here you are

You are a joyful, nomadic, dynamic traveler. You collect seeds along your way, and recognise birds by their sounds. You always pin an eguzkilore on your walking stick to both connect you to the world of the invisible, as well as to widen your reach when you make an improvised txalaparta with found wood you hit with your stick to communicate through rhythm with other artzainak and whoever else hears your messages. You sing while you walk and take long breaks close to water points where you play the flute to your sheep herd and take restful naps. In your dreams you encounter mythical figures that inhabit the landscape, they often nest in you, and you carry them around like a talisman, they become part of you, you become part of them. Dreams bleed into reality, and the other way around. Some could say it’s the consequences of your solitude, but you never feel lonely, you are human but you mostly feel like you’re part of the mountain, sometimes you feel like a sheep too, or like the water you sleep close by to, or the pottoks you meet … In a recent dream you had, you touched a tree and you noticed the bark was actually made of scales instead of wood: snake scales. Suddenly the tree was starting to move like a snake, and you felt your body elongating and swirling, and you coiled together like an infinite rope as you went up up up up, and where your twirl ended: a flower of light blossomed, with many long petals that waved like tentacles. Your protective eguzkilore was shining upon you a radiant light that was charging you with the greatest hope…

I’m glad you are not dreaming that I devour you ssssweet artzaina.
That’s what the common opinion expectssss of me
but I’m better than that…
{loud} No, I will feasssst on no animal or their by-products!
I actually follow a strict plant based diet in casssse you wonder! {laughs} That'ssss breaking
news I know…
So many missssconceptions about me…
BOOOH {scary face, roll eyes}
Is it the moment I ssssing about
how wonderful it is to eat plants? …(*<~~


Vibrant green grass on the slope of the mountain. Here you are

You are a herd, a happy collective of many different bodies and minds, but you are highly co-dependant. You enthusiastically walk up and down the mountain, run around the valley, always looking for the freshest grass. You have a companion that guides and protects you: artzaina. You are nomadic but you feel very connected to the ground and the other beings you encounter. At the full moon when the celestial light reflects on your luscious wool, you shapeshift into Ilargi (the moon). Then with your long coat of fluff you wander around the land to get a sense of what life on earth feels like. You meet all the nightbirds, the creatures, and spirits that only reveal themselves at night when others are asleep so they stay protected from unwanted gazes. They tell you about their lives in the dark, about the magic they hold within themselves, their past, their dreams… They come to you, sometimes pray and sing to your name, you listen, you cry, you dance with them until the first ray of light shines through to remind you to run back to your beloved artzaina before she wakes up and starts looking for you. And by the time she opens her eyes, you turn back into the herd full of lively memories, and awaiting for future ones at the next moon.

A wise lessssson to learn, not to judge by appearances…
What do these sheep know we don’t?
And how to accesssss that knowledge?
What does our ancient ssssisssster Ilargi,
the familiar and reliable moon we all sssssee,
prepare for all these lost ssssouls?
Well I know actually…
But I won’t tell… {hush}
Are these night gatherings the infamousss ssabbath
that got demonized?
Why is the darkness always attached to fear and sorrow?
Look at how nice I turn out to be! {wink}
{serious} Who told the sssstories we know so well?
Obviously not me, or we won’t be here today…
Your ancesssstresssssessss lived in another world.
One that encompasssssed the visible and the invisible…
they were in touch with immortal beings that could
enchant or terrify their persssonal universssse…
{giggles} Jussst like me indeed!
But that’s what we’re trying to get inssspired by here!(*<~~


On the rocks by a cold waterfall in the heart of the forest. Here you are

You live in a commune of womxn and lamiax working with textile and plants by the edge of the woods. Your house also serves as a shelter for beings smuggled across the border. Your ancestral knowledge of the land is a great contribution to the community. In the early mornings while everyone is still asleep, you come here to connect with the forest. You take off your socks to release your webbed feet and bathe them in the water. You brush your hair with a comb talisman made out of shells. When your hair is done, you thank the comb and with a crystalline voice as pure as the water of the stream, you sing to your siblings chimeras, and they echo your chant from afar. That blissful choir calls all the beings of the waterfall out of their stillness: insects come buzzing around you, small fishes wave to your feet, and all the toads come out and croak to the rhythm of the water splashing. This daily ritual reminds you of your past lives as a trickster of the waters and the woods, a builder of bridges and opulent houses. Now you spend your time threading, weaving and knitting, you dye with colorful plants, and brew psychedelic mixtures with some others. And you do so with the same humor and mischief you are known for: hiding secrets in-between the threads, preserving stories of the smugglers you meet, and weaving long-life connections with all your partners in crime.

What an interesssting life for a lamia!
{sassy} When their reputation is truly preceding them:
well known for kidnapping shepherds,
and tricking humans with sssstrange dilemmas
to protect their treasures.
What kind of blisssssful co-living is this?
Sssome of these practices sssurely were looked down
or conssssidered illegal sssomewhere at ssssome point.
How wonderful that it’s not in the casssse in this story!
But where are the ssssmuggled ones going?
What are they running from?
Who are they?!
And… Is the commune getting the wool form artzaina?
But mosssst importantly…
{serious} Are lamia and artzaina lovers?
{mimicking screaming} So much to discover! (*<~~


In a clearing by a megalith. Here your are

You are a tall and hairy woman born creature. You lived in the woods for generations in an underground burrow of the size of a large castle, with its own underground river. But you were forced to leave, because the forest that had been your home for an era got razed to the ground to grow corn for cattle. So you had to escape when they started digging. You couldn’t take much of your belongings. Your treasure will rot under this cultivated land. You have been traveling with pottoks for the last few years and they brought you to a new forest. You brush their hair whenever you do yours and they hide you when human sight comes too close. With your curvy and innocent large body, you represent a state of nature they want to dominate to affirm themselves superior. You are not looking for their company, as too often in the past you were hunted and attacked… most of your siblings have gone missing from their hands. It’s not well perceived to be so tall and hairy, when you almost look like them. You come often to that specific megalith in this clearing, that reminds you of times where you were more respected. You sense invisible presences there, spirits of the forgotten, the land is full of those, somehow you may be one of them too. But you don’t want to live in the past, so you are looking for clues to move forwards.

… And to think that basandere
and their kin shared the knowledge
of agriculture with humanssss…
How ironic to get dissssplaced
for an invasive monoculture!
{serious look} Humans used to ssssay
that for one to kill a basandere
you need to massssster their protector,
which issss … me!
A rumor sayssss
that a hare lies insssside my sssstomach
(imposssssible as we know, right!?)
if one would catch that hare
before they would sssstart running away…
They would find a dove in that hare’s sssstomach
and would need to sssssteal all their eggs.
Finally with one of these eggssss
one could hit the basandere
to provoke their death.
{clears throat} Excusssse me, what?!
{scary eyes}(*<~~


By the serrated shore of the ocean, on a cliff. Here you are

The wind blows in an unusual way and the drops of water of the waves crashing violently against the rocks are giving a shape to your hoovering spirit. You rest here peacefully, cradled by the wind and water like you used to feel when you were flying high. Your story is a dramatic one but it belongs to you. You used to organize gatherings at night, every marginal of the region were meeting you with more or less frequency in a large cave that was also used to hide smuggled goods and people. The cave was some sort of sacred place for anything and anyone that was refusing the common order. These gatherings were more or less agitated, they could last for days, depending on the plotting that was made, the food that was eaten, the drugs that were ingested, the music that was playing, the trance that was induced, the spirits that were summoned, the sexual and sensual encounters… At the end of the gatherings, you would end up by the shore with the remaining guests to send a last prayer to the genies that were protecting you. And they would thank you by bringing a spectacular storm with thunder and lightning. When others started to fall for practicing different obscure activities that got associated with a certain devil by the ruling order, you refused to stop your gatherings. Less and less people were joining, they were dominated by fear, or arrested in the meantime. So eventually when you got denounced by your peers, and witch-hunters accompanied by soldiers and priests came to get you, you were only with a few of your accomplices. You had just finished your ritual and you peacefully welcomed them with an unsettling speech. Some said you all flew away in front of their terrified eyes. From above you noticed the sharp rocks drawn by the brutal ocean were so refined they reminded you of bones. Sacred bones of a gigantic creature to protect.

Are you talking about me?! {blushes}
Actually this one always makes me pretty ssssad.
Not that I always want to bring it back to me
but it reminds me of how I got asssssociated with evil.
Maybe that’sss the power of imagination and fear,
you can’t essssscape being ssssomeone else’s monster…
Or can you? {stare}
Most of the genies and other deities,
sssspirits that were celebrated were demonized.
Why does it alwayssss have to be sssso binary?
Good/ Evil? Man/Woman? Light/ Dark?
Everything is a sssspectrum!
I have sssseven heads, damn it {chuckles}
it’s obvioussssly more complex.
Sssso the narrative can be that I desssstroyed
the old trees of the Arbailles foressssst
with my tails, my heads, the fire coming out of my butthole,
or whatever elsssse they say…
but another reality is that
there are ssssso many nicer ways
to relate to the world.
And they could start
by showing us ssssome love and care.
{deep breath} Anywayyyyyy
enough about me {laughs}
Let me tell you something
about these dark gatherings!
Many people accused of witchcraft
confessssssed seeing similar things…
And described them with great details!
For instance toads dressed in velvet
with little bells around their necks
and on their back legs.
Fassssscinating to think how
this communal imaginary
got to blosssssom ssssimultaneoussssly
in different places!(*<~~


In a cave where a source of a stream starts. Here you are

You are recognisable by your immensely long shiny gray hair that is weaved into a gown and large wings that serve multiple purposes. Caves are portals to you, shortcuts through stone tunnels you made inside the mountain, you also flow along the water, from the peaks to the ocean and you crawl back up through the abyss. Cycles after cycles after cycle, you follow different routes of this infinite maze. This planet is your guts, your flesh, your inside and outside, you are each other’s shelter. An intertwined fertility unites you, and you are moved by all the memories the soil, minerals, and waters gather. You simply can’t hold it. It’s this feedback loop… The elements have no borders. You deeply feel the interconnections of things. You knitted them after all. Sometimes you are caught appearing in a cave. One should never turn their back at you, or they will be cursed! When they face you and say your name, you whisper to them a soothing spell that eases their minds, and gifts them with a thunder stone to protect their house from your next outbursts.

Aaaah mari my love ~~~
sssso much emotion being around you.
Yesss, yesss we do have hisssstory…
We are long long long long time partners,
but don’t worry, we are very avant-garde!
We deconsssstructed the whole couple thing
and monogamy a while back. {laugh}
You didn’t invent much…
Yessss, that’s what a power couple looks like,
indeed. {chuckles}
We rarely meet
but when we do
we travel through the tunnelssss underground,
and we twirl into each other
and bounce through multiple caves
at the ssssame time,
ssssometimes that burssssts into a ssssstorm
or provokes an avalanche….
It’s a bit hard to control our passssssion, {chuckles}
even after millennia.
I sssssee you’re wondering about gender roles here…
We are gender fluid,
we osssscillate according to our mood,
and our desires,
but only I can get impregnated,
as mari’s offspring come… differently, let’s say…
But… I lay sssseven eggs
that I have to sssswallow,
and once hatched in the depth of my stomach,
they turn into gems
that I throw up,
and place on the tip
of each of my seven heads.
° * · . · * °
It’s well known that these gems are magic
and if you would ssssteal one of them from me
you would probably live forever or ssssomething
but trussssst me, that’s not pretty to witnessssss eternity!
It’s not for everyone. {long sigh}

Alright {smile}
so now that you’ve sssspent this time with me,
(and heard about my ssstomach way too many times)
that you ssssslid through
all these possssssible characters and water shapes,
you can think about all thissss for a hot minute,
take your time to let it ssssink in,
I am by no means in a hurry
and I’m not trying to lure you into anything…
One can imagine a lot with sssseven heads
but even more with accomplicessss,
so fill the blanks, make your own connections.
And remember that language makessss ssssstories,
that there can be wordssss for everything,
and… if you can’t find them, invent them !! {wink}
xoxo (*<~~

 SYLVANOMACHY is the 6th and last story of the SasaHara Past Lives saga book one. A tale taking place in an alternative reality, told by a mysterious forest spirit, witness and archivist of the natural world. It talks of a world where the whole of nature lives in harmony, dwelling in an ancient queer source of magic allowing the balance of all living things. The text zooms in a specific story taking place within this eternal time continuum. A disturbance corrupting the natural balance before being absorbed and repurposed. It talks of the queer magical essence of the natural world, of the birth and death of humanity, and of the wrath of Nature.

 Juliette Lizotte and Office of Metaphors presents Sisters of the Wind, the publication!

  Sisters of the Wind is the fruit of artistic research on witches, ecofeminism, and science-fiction carried out between 2018 and 2021 by Juliette Lizotte aka jujulove. It is a story that weaves through seven videos and can be experienced in different ways: an interactive audiovisual performance, an online world-building workshop a role play session, and this publication!

 This publication concludes the three world-building workshops and role play sessions, which took place online in February 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, though they were originally intended to unfold in the form of live action role play (larp). This new constraint led us to perform the world-building and role play exercises in an etherpad, an open source digital tool for co-writing text in real-time. The outcome of these sessions was archived and used as material for this publication.

 So.•º
 Sisters.°·

 You have to keep an open mind when entering this universe as it consists of three parallel worlds that were co-created during three sessions, each lasting three hours. The core of the story was similar, but the direction the sessions took were quite unique. The foundation of the story was written beforehand and participants were guided through it, warmly encouraged to make it their own by adding and inventing new parts that were not there before. It was important that everyone felt ownership over their characters and the developing story. It is worth noting that the objective of the sessions prioritised the enjoyment of the participants over the story making perfect sense. The results of these collective world-building endeavours are exciting, funny, beautiful, and richer than anything that could have been thought up by a single mind.

 Most of the content in this publication was generated during these short world-building and role play sessions and was barely edited. It may feel a bit rough at times, but it is important that this publication retains the spirit of spontaneity and improvisation that was integral to these moments. As you float between worlds you will experience visions, these are the scripts of the videos made as part of the project and are indicated with glyphs.

 You will recognise the different worlds by the characters who inhabit them and the unusual ways they express themselves. A font was carefully selected for each world to guide you through them.

  These fonts are open source libre fonts designed by magical sisters. This publication was printed with a Riso printer in the attic of an old Amsterdam building and each of these playful objects was assembled by hand. Take good care of it!

 As the story unfolds, you will be asked to make decisions. This is how you will travel from one world to another: creating your own version of the story by following your instinct or challenging your impulses! You have agency, so make use of it ;). There are three possible outcomes to this version of the story, several ways to get there, and many opportunities to expand this ever-evolving world.

 Sisters of the Wind is the fruit of an artistic research on witches, ecofeminism, and science-fiction carried out between 2018 and 2021.It is a story woven through seven videos to be experienced in two distinct ways: as an online world-building workshop and role play session or as an interactive audiovisual performance.

 Sisters… ˜o˚ ’’.)* ‘ ’’.’··º ° ’’ ’ ‘ ·‘ ‘0’ .º•.· ·.˜ *,’,˚˚ ˚oº°•˜
 The wind is returning, as it always does. Sometimes it blows so hard that it carries artifacts away from the cities it tore apart, seeds from far away places, trees that didn’t have enough time to grow stronger... That’s why you always seek a protected area to settle in, relocating as the wind comes and goes in waves. You are witches. You pay attention to the world and try to make sense of this life together through the phases of the moon from maiden to mother to crone. In your community, the feminine spirit dominates, and all gender expressions are celebrated. When your precarious life is threatened by an unsettling prophecy announcing a deadly wind that will prepare the earth for a new cycle, will you go on a journey to find the source of this wind? What will you discover on the way? How will this transform you, your sisters, and the earth forever?

 Let’s embark together on this wonderful adventure!

 In the context of the global pandemic, it was important to find new and safe ways of being together and reinforce our bonds. This experience was imagined as a physical one, nevertheless it felt as relevant to adapt it for an online format to reinvent ways to feel close to each other and to the world around us.

world-building workshop & role play session
 (4 hours)

 The participating sisters are invited into my world to make it theirs, and expand it together! We dived into the wonderful world of Sisters of the Wind, and got to embody one of the witches that inhabits it by either starting as a Maiden or a Mother.

Interactive audiovisual performance
 (60min)

 The participating sisters joined an interactive journey through the world of Sisters of the Wind. Viewers are guided through the story by Hecate and can direct some aspects of the story by taking decisions at set times, influencing the order of videos. This collective weaving of the story offers an intimate and personal format to experience the world and expand it together.

 Sisters of the Wind has since become an autonomous interactive installation with buttons, developed with the support of Heerko van der Kooij, using raspberry pis 3B+ and adapting an open source software coded by KenT2. The buttons are mounted on boards imagined by Carolin Gieszner for the group show ‘every moment a junction’ at nest in 2022.

 Sisters of the Wind was shown for Weird Gnosis by IMPAKT in August 2021, at Rile* (Brussels) in September 2021, at Nadie Nunca Nada No (Madrid) in January 2022, during 'every moment a junction' at Nest (The Hague) from May to July 2022, at The Overkill Festival (Enschede) in November 2022, at La Gaîté Lyrique (Paris) in December 2022, during 'Buzzland' at atelier210 (Brussels) in September 2023, and at Kunsthal Rotterdam for Weelde in May 2024.

 You are a young woman called Gaxuxa, you live in the valley. Tonight as you were coming back from the hot spring with your youngest sister you witnessed Odei —your soul sister, the light of your life…— being taken away by missionaries. You’ve heard they were searching the area for a while, you know this is not a good sign. A node in your stomach, an immense weight on your chest, your head gets fuzzy. You could exchange a brief last look with her… and stayed composed as you saw her being dragged away. You went on with the rest of the evening, putting a lot of effort in pretending that nothing was out of the ordinary. Your sister is too young luckily to understand the situation and mention it. Now that everyone in the house is asleep, you are laying awake in horror, starring at the wooden beams above your bed. Thoughts are passing through your mind like mad birds. You’ve heard what they do to women like you and Odei. Where was she now? What were they doing to her? Will they come to get you next? You can picture the needles poking her skin. The hands of these self proclaimed spiritual men violating her body, their eyes catching fire when discovering the spiral shaped birthmark on her thigh… Would they throw her in the river to see if she floats? You wish they had come to you instead, you would have taken all that pain, even death, if that would mean Odei could live. She was a true miracle. You know within yourself the sad truth: a new system is spreading like the plague, quick, violent, deadly. It was clear that they would never understand that they are blinded by a fake god. How can one be so sure of their belief to destroy the light of our world, to contest the essence and power of our life? Your anger is burning through your whole body, you feel feverish. You are scheming… In any other occasion you would get all your accomplices together, summon genies, but this would be a suicide mission at this point. You realise in your agitation you walked out of the house. You are now standing outside in your nightgown. The sky is clear tonight, you stare at the eyelash of a moon that smiles at you in the dark sky lit by an infinity of stars. You are swallowed by the immensity of the cosmos. The fresh breeze of the night is wrapping you softly. Is it Odei caressing you gently, you wonder? You blow kisses back. How to get her out? is it already too late?

 You are a land. You are collective, multiple, infinite. Entities, living beings, and spirits occupy, cross, and move your collaborative body. Constantly. Paradoxically you have borders, delimited by a species called “humans”. You “belong” to one of them and have been passed from different generations as their “property”; a concept obscure to you. Humans have evolved to be obsessed with separating things from each other. Ownership is an alien idea for your cooperative mind in constant mutation, always exchanging, receiving, giving, reacting, transforming, becoming. You’ve been the silent witness to many changes and manifestations, ideas taking shape and falling apart. Your seemingly inanimate state is a facade, you are an agent of a cosmic time. Nothing belongs to you. Your longings are influenced by your interconnectivity, you feel the pull of the universe, all the forces that transcend and transform you. The human touch has changed you. You’ve been the stage for diverse agriculture projects, and long occupied by species “sheep”. Currently you are a monoculture of species “wheat”, you are fertile with producing the seed. Helped by external human forces all the ressources of your collective body is pulled to that production. You’ve been noticing that it broke many connections to other species, previous shared experiences have gone missing, you are lacking the diversity that makes you whole. The neighbouring forest that you once shared so much with is becoming more and more estranged to you. But you still leak into each other, and they are becoming strangely stale. What will become of your once vibrant collective mind? How can you resist and invite others back into your shared existence?

 Your name is Ilargi, you’re a DJ and part of a transfeminist activist group organising raves as a resistance tool to the hyper-surveillance system. It’s 8am and you are just starting your set. The sun is starting to rise, the first beams are grazing the bodies, the clearing is bathing in a dim glow. Morning is your favourite time to play, you love the gentle intensity of each beat shaking the tired and drugged dancing bodies. There is something so special about reaching this state of exhaustion, when your body is so tired and empty that it’s charged of a new energy inaccessible otherwise. You’re jubilating preparing your next track, you touch, turn, tickle buttons on the mixer mechanically, the spiral shaped tattoo on your left hand is floating all over the decks, you feel like a smooth trickster, a puppet master. The crowd elevates, you see all the energy mingling, twirling, swirling, they are screaming your name. These moments always throw you back to ancient times. Worshipped for your connection to the moon, your followers were chanting your name, dancing for you and your siblings. Another time… with other rituals. Everyone assumed then that you were a night person. But the moon is still there even when she doesn’t shine through the depth of the night. What better time than sunrise to face the infinity of time and space? You’ve been sliding through so many waves, but this is definitely your favourite life so far! As frequencies buzz brains and skins you wonder: what will the beliefs of tomorrow be made of?

 You are a fluid entity. You flow through a channel that goes from the high point to the deeper one and somehow always end back up although you feel like you always flow down. You’ve slid, slipped, slurped your whole existence. Along the way, in this never ending movement you exchange with your surroundings. You’ve seen many corners, bounced, bumped, bloomed against many surfaces. In the last years you’ve witnessed an unsettling change. Creatures alien to your ecosystem have invaded the landscape. They are spreading new materials, unmet particles that transform your world. This new cycle feels unprecedented. Today you’ve met, melted, merged with an opaque fluid that felt curious, bitter, thick, toxic. As you slide through, you’re carrying and becoming this substance that darkens your spirit and intoxicates your next encounters. Your movement is affected, you move slower but develop a certain grip. It is as if your fluidity is not your sole property anymore, you are charged with something vibrating, shaking, bursting. For the first time ever in your infinite renewed cycles, you are slipping out of your destined path. This unexpected event installs a feeling of uncertainty within yourself. You are troubled. Crushed by the contingency of existing under these new circumstances. How will you come out of this symbiosis? How will it transform you and the world around you?

 You are a star. Your celestial body contains the same components as most things in the universe. Hydrogen. Helium. This knowledge makes you feel closer to the world. Connected. Interwoven. A sense of belonging. Even if it feels lonely at times, as isolated in an infinite space as you are. Your incandescence is fading but you find comfort in knowing that you are essential, and that your light will still echo through time and space for longer than your existence. That somewhere, somehow you could help navigate, channel dreams, generate hope. You’ve witnessed millennia passing through. You’ve received all the wishes that were sent to you, you wonder what will happen to them once you will not be there to carry them… You contemplate this pool of longings: a shared desperate call for Gaxuxa and Odei to be reunited mingles with a desire to transcend the concept of property, twirling with the need to be worshipped forever while being wrapped by the will to mutate, evolve, enter symbiosis, multiply infinitely… How strange to hold this cosmic knowledge. Does hope travel with light? What could you, a fading shiny ball in a story beyond comprehension, possibly wish for?

 Pentagram took the shape of a performance for two occasions in June 2022: at Lente Kabinet invited by Femke Dekker, and at Cagnar Festival invited by Lutèce Lockness.

 Juliette Lizotte in collaboration with Fabulous Future presented: Witches, a The One Minutes Series installation and stage to explore the subversive character of the witch: marginal, powerful and disruptive, with an unsettling relation to nature. Together we celebrate the powers of witches, their spell casting, witchcraft’s engagement with unconventional and unrecognised knowledges. While the witch is often presented as evil, we argue that she is unruly, unapologetic, living a life of her own, holding responsibilities towards community and nature—if she even makes the difference between the two. Through her craft she shapes a world she had envisioned and cares for. She is a maker of change and transformation.

 The event happened on Saturday February 29, 2020: a crack in time, a secret moment every four years... an invitation to commune, spend the afternoon with us, lay around and watch videos while drinking potions and if you would catch the right moment be transformed by the performances of Stina Fors and Xenia Perek x DJ let go.

 The year is 2038 and the population of Earth has lowered dramatically. The ocean has risen and so has the Heat. Everything has been privatised. Humans live in gated communities led by corporations: Co-oRps. Most of the work has been automated but resources are scarce, so humans still need to be around to operate machines from time to time. Corporations work on settling in Space as it appears a more welcoming environment. Everyone is joining forces for this purpose. However, it’s common knowledge that most will stay behind. There used to be riots and activism in response. It died out. People are exhausted. And at least the Co-oRps take care of them. 
 Your name is Saga and this is your story. 

#1
 You woke up with the sunset this morning. January 15, it's already 45°C outside. You actually barely slept because of the heat. Today you are turning 18. Now you can finally get access to the cloud vault that your mothers left for you. You have been waiting for this moment your whole life.

You're rushing out of your shelter to be one of the first ones queuing at the door of the cyber-hall. When it finally opens you feel the humid warmth of the space wrapping you. Your impatience makes you notice the cacophony of digital sounds that come out of the multiple programs rebooting. The cyber-hall is only open each day until the resources are gone—there are a lot of people getting to their pods, so you hope you’ll have enough time. You get to a pod and login with your iris and your palm. The cloud vault has been locked for a very long time, but it finally opens up for you. There are many folders with strange titles and the whole interface feels frozen in time.

If you want to look into each folder and see what's in there, jump to #2.
If you want to search for your name hoping there's a file addressed to you, jump to #3.

#2
 Going through all the folders:
a lot of maps,
old video tutorials,
some photos of a bunch of ladies, including your mothers soldering, 
a drawing of a giant compass,
a million lists,
encrypted files.
Your neighbour at the nearby pod is making some obnoxious noises.
You feel confused by this mysterious legacy. You have almost no memories of your mothers, all you know is that they left you here at the edge of an ecological disaster—most likely destined to die.

If you want to call a friend that could help you with this mess, jump to #4.
If you want to search for your name hoping there’s a file addressed to you, jump to #3.

#3
 You enter your name. But nothing shows up... This whole thing is such a disappointment.

If your mothers had something clear to say, surely they would have made a greater effort. 
There are a lot of runes, esoteric drawings, pentagrams and other occult symbols here and there and some lists that look like recipes.
However, some documents are very technical. It is hard to understand what could be the link between all of them. How are you supposed to draw the connections? 

Perhaps the friend you made at the shelter might know how to make sense of all this disparate information. You ask your strange neighbour to keep your pod for a sec and go get your friend. Jump to #4.
There are more pressing issues in the world. Jump to #40.

#4
 After a while your friend Sia gains access to a hidden file and you discover a video message addressed to you.

The video features all of your seven mothers explaining that after years of ecofeminist activism and witchcraft on Earth, they decided to build three DIY spaceships to seek solutions to heal the Earth or to settle somewhere welcoming enough in outer space with the help of their coven. “If not witches with their infinite knowledge of stars and elements, who else could actually survive in space?” one of your mothers claims. After gathering all essentials—herbs, spells, seeds and much else— they had split up into three groups to explore the galaxies. Their exploration was a quest for outside help to protect the multiplicity of species on Earth—or in case they would fail to do so, they hoped to find a viable habitat to settle in. They left 15 years ago today and according to their predictions you can find the location they should be at in the file 15yrslocation.pdf. In case they would not be back by the time you turn 18 or if they haven’t given a clear sign that they were coming back they have gathered the necessary information for you to make a ship of your own in the last pages of the document. A note on the bottom of the page says it should take you about 5 years to prepare everything. You will probably have to update some components and rethink what to take with you; there are several new items that could be added to the essentials. They sounded very sorry they left you behind, but they reassured you of their excitement to meet you soon. The video finishes with a link popping up—its a link to a pirate space archive where they would share their location and leave messages after their departure.

You and Sia are quite shocked and puzzled after watching it. It wasn’t news to Sia that you have 7 mothers but it’s the first time you encounter this link between ecofeminism and witchcraft. You have always seen some sort of magic being practiced around you, but you were never entirely sure whether this was really a thing or mostly a scam.

Following a quick research, you find some news reports from the early 2020s featuring your mothers as part of an activist coven. They state that the coven “mysteriously disappeared” after setting fire to a large number of automated monoculture soya plantations in several locations around the world, putting an end to the mass production of soya for good.

If you think this situation is simply impossible, that your mothers are delusional—they abandoned you after all—that they may as well have been hiding this whole time or  were probably killed. If you wonder how one can leave their child behind but still wish to put this behind you for good so you can focus on more pressing issues, jump to #40.

If you decide to follow the link to the ancient pirate space archive continue to #5.

#5
 You login.
10 messages. 
Last message sent by mission 2, 10 years ago.
Something about crops and a new soil discovered: “this soil has great potential, it seems like the beetroots are starting to grow faster than expected. We will finally have an alternative to potatoes.”

You can’t believe it. By now you have heard of various people that had a wild impulse to escape to space and never came back. You start to think whether your mothers were lying about their intentions and they were just one of them. Most people who tried to reach space were found dead by officials at the space stations a few years later. Probably your mothers are also dead. What a bunch of arrogant witches. You move on, jump to #40.

If you are getting incredibly excited, hopeful and worried at the same time; if you think they must have lost signal and you feel the need to find them, continue to #6.

#6
 Sia refers you to someone who can send messages into space. 
You get there. Gloomy. Not very welcoming. Expensive.

If you decide to spend all the tokens you've earned last week for this go to #7.


If you decide to wait to find out more by looking into what was left for you in the cloud and maybe earn some extra tokens, go to #8.

#7
 A person called Mercury asks you for the coordinates of the last message.
You can now record a message to your mothers.
You haven't really thought this through. 
Mercury is pressing you. 
You say: "Hey, it's me, hm... I got your message. I don't know if you will get mine but if you do, I'm gonna come for you I promise..." 
Your time is up. Mercury smiles. 


You are forced to stay at your shelter for a week until you get some more tokens to go to the cyber-hall again. Move to #8.

#8
 You spend innumerable hours at the cyber-hall watching, reading, putting together all the pieces of the puzzle. You feel powerful discovering this heritage. Each word, each piece of this precious knowledge gives you importance. But resources are scarce. 

Some days you barely have any time. The cyber-hall blacks out and you are left to yourself. This gives you valuable time to prepare your first potions. You have to adapt them as most of the resources from 15 years ago have become very rare or extinct. 

You cast your first spells. You understand the power of naming things, you start chanting incantations, you notice your effect on the world around you. You are glowing, pulsating an energy like no other: magnetic, fluid, endless. 

If you want to continue this adventure all alone, go to #9.
If you feel like this energy has its limits and you need to share this experience with others, go to #14.

#9
 You can't afford to spend so much time at the cyber-hall.
You start taking notes and bring them back home with you to learn faster.
When everyone is asleep at the shelter you sneak into the canteen and prepare ointments and herbal oils from ingredients you found on the black market: lavender, oak leaves, thyme, mistletoe, rosemary, cold pressed olive oil, oregano, laurel, anise seeds, calendula... You test everything on yourself first. Your tired teenage body is slowly getting more resistant to the thick polluted air and the overwhelming heat around you. 
Breathing. Moving. Adapting. 

You start using these skills to trade with others for equipment to build the spaceship. Healing people for some metal pieces. Casting spells for an old computer.

One night someone comes with a special demand: a curse for an old enemy. So far you have tried to make sure to only use your magic for what you deem ‘a good cause’. The world is a mess and you don't want to make it worse. But this person has access to the last and most precious component you need in order to build your ship: a very advanced compass. You are not the only one to offer these kind of cursing services and if you refuse they will surely go to someone else.

If you decide to curse their enemy, go to #10.
If you refuse to harm someone else, go to #11.

#10
 You curse their enemy.
Hair loss and nail breaking for them! 
Long days of physical discomfort follow this episode. Your body feels heavy.
Explosion!
The shelter was randomly bombed by a drone while you were out. Sia died. The compass is gone.

You decide to stop all this nonsense.
go to #40

#11
 After a long while you have finally gathered everything you need according to your mothers in order to assemble a space vessel for yourself.

You need to get out of the urban zone. You need to find an abandoned place far away where you can build this without being disturbed by anyone asking questions or robbing you.

You pack up your ointments, oils, herbs, your notebooks and all the pieces you scavenged.

If you decide to go North West go to #12.
If you decide to go South go to #20.

#12
 A very old woman at the outskirts of town. 
Magnetic. 
Her long white hair glows in the dark. 
You look at her. She sees through you.
She tells you with no sound
"the time has come for all of us...
name your destiny and it will be yours.
what needs to be saved?
what needs to be remembered?
say hi to the stars for us
align with your planets
the journey is just starting
and true journey is return."

You walk away, hypnotised.
Go to #13.

#13
 The old woman’s mantra has put you in a trance. 
It takes you seven days to assemble the ship. 
You eat very little and sleep for a whole day before launching.

Athena–the smart home system you hacked to be your assistant in the ship–helps you activate all the parameters to launch properly. Thank you Athena. Speed. Dizzy. Black out. 

You wake up floating above your seat. The ship is stabilized. You ask Athena for depressurisation. Deep breath. You see the Earth from far out. You’ve seen this image so many times on a screen. 

You get to the cryo-nap-tub you built. You prepare a mix of oils and pour it in the icy liquid. You invoke the essence of all earthly beings twelve times. You wait to see the moon through the small window. It’s a full moon. You enter the itinerary to Athena. You will be awoken in twelve months. “Moon, protect my travels,” you say. You chant as you sink into the tub.

Go to #18.

#14
 Your mothers have always achieved their missions as part of a coven. 
You need allies if you want to achieve something. 
Real power comes from uniting forces!
You reach out to your shelter friend, Sia. After all, she knows most of the story already and you grew up together.

Go to #15 to recruit more people.

#15
 You gather a bunch of what some people call “outcasts” like you—orphans, sex workers, hackers—hoping for something to believe in, a —community to care for. Everyone is so self-involved, trying to survive no matter what is happening around them. The tokens your Co-oRp allows you every week are not enough to survive on. At least not for the majority of humans left that require them. Every Co-oRp just enables the remaining one percent to have a better life. 

You teach your new allies your recent discoveries. Most of them were already practicing witchcraft one way or another, sometimes without even knowing how to name it. You get amazed by the power that your group is generating, while each of you generates their own distinct energies. 

Together you recite all the flora and fauna of the world, the species that disappeared long ago, hoping to reanimate them through your memory, hoping that they will carry the memories of all the beings for which you don’t know the name of or can’t be named. You perform rituals and follow all the spirals and cycles of life. You've never felt such a sense of community.

Forget about space! You decide to stay here with your beloved community! Go to #40.

Don't forget your purpose! You open up to your coven about your mothers' space mission and your intention to rescue them. Go to #16.

#16
 Your coven support your quest and join forces to gather all the pieces you need. You discover unknown underground channels to trade —forgotten tools. Taking turns at the cyber-hall, healing people for components, selling potions at the black market... You have found new ways of sustaining outside of the failing system of the Co-oRp. Your coven is with you and you feel unbeatable. 

One night, after having gathered everything the group needs, you discuss the mission. 
Your coven won't leave you to go out there on your own: “We need each other!”.

You don't want to put them in danger. You want to convince them to stay and continue the good work you've all been doing here and go to space on your own. Be patient, they will understand. You leave towards North West alone. Go to #12.

You agree with them! But you also agree that some should stay and share the knowledge to other people down here: remember names, remember recipes, find life anywhere and rescue it. Seven of you will go. Six will stay. Go to #17.

#17
 You suggest to find a space outside of the gated community of the Co-oRp to build the ship. It’s time to say goodbye to your six allies. —You perform a ritual of protection. Everyone hugs and kisses. No tears. You promise to come back. Sia promises to spread the precious knowledge you’ve gathered together.

The walk to the outside of the gates was not physically challenging at all, but you know you will not be able to get in again. It takes you 3 days to build the ship. 
Sia really did a great job in reprogramming Athena—the virtual assistant you’ve found.
It’s new moon tonight. Time for one last ritual before launching.

Frigs.
Odine.
Metis.
Tyr.
Anan.
Orun.
And you.
“We protect the spacecraft and clear the way for a safe journey.”

Athena’s voice is resonating in the small vehicle. “Prepare for Launching. 4,3,2,1,” they utter.
Infinite noise. Speed. Passing out. 

You wake up gently carried by Orun. Everyone is awake. Tyr is preparing 5 baths for cryogenisation. Metis and Anan will stay awake to make sure the journey goes well. 

Together you invoke the spirits of the forgotten celestial beings in a long chant that brings you calmness. The five of you drink an herbal potion before undressing and sinking your bodies into the lukewarm, slimy bath. You feel your body relaxing softly, your mind resists for a short while until the potion kicks in and you fall in a deep sleep.

Go to #21.

#18
 You wake up twelve months later, realising you are not at the geographical position you intended to be. Something must have gone wrong. You log into Athena’s journal. 
A month ago, the ship had received a signal indicating the presence of a group of people on a small planet. Athena decided to follow that signal instead. You are only a few days away from this location. You can see more of that small planet hour by hour. A green moon. Glowing like a firefly.

You sleep long that night. The next morning you wake up from an incoming message emitted from the planet. “We have detected your approach. Please declare your identity and provenance.” You recognise this voice. You run to the control board and record back “Mothers, It’s me, Saga!” 

You land a couple of days later. More excited than ever. 
You find there three of your mothers. 

Together you realise that time passes very differently on this planet. To them it seems as if they have just arrived but to you they have been here for years. In their time here, they have been studying the soil. They have been testing the possibility of planting seeds from Earth as well as from a couple of other planets they have visited. Their research is still very much at its early stage though. They have never heard from mission 2 and they lost contact with mission 3 probably five or six years ago. 

You tell them about the way things are on Earth:
Lack of resistance 
People’s exhaustion 
Hopelessness. 
The big plan of Space colonisation from the Upper Class. 
Earth becoming a prison for non-privileged species to go extinct. 

You convince them to get back to Earth.

You ask to listen to the last message from mission 3 that was received years ago. It is very old and their position very far. 

One of your mothers insists to rescue mission 3. Her lover is a part of it. 

If you see the importance of helping mission 3, go to #19. 

You think everyone on mission 3 is probably dead, if they weren’t they would have tried to establish contact. If you think finding mission 3 is not a viable option, go to #30.

#19
 Athena guides you to the last coordinates of mission 3. 
Getting closer you feel a mysterious magnetic force pulling you forward. So strong. Impossible to resist. Athena’s sirens resonate through the whole ship.
You feel your entire body torn apart.

You all die. Your bodies are turned into particles that will feed the stars. 

#20
 As you walk South, you meet Sia your old friend from the shelter. She convinces you to stay longer and to share your knowledge with some people here. Sharing knowledges between people is more than needed at this time than ever. Go to #15.

#21
 You wake up to the gentle touch of Metis. You have slept for eight months. You all share a delicious meal together and you hear about Anan and Metis’ days in Space. You have almost arrived at the location where the last message of mission 2 was registered. 

Once you get there:  N o t h i n g . 
As a group, you decide to go towards what seems to be a planet just a few weeks away. Along the way you experience intense disturbances. Athena crashes. The whole ship is out of power. You stay afloat for three days meandering without knowing where you are. —Worried. At least you have each other.

A dim glow, emanating from the planet you’re going towards, brings comfort to all of you. On the 7th day of blackout everything turns on again. You receive a weak signal from the planet. But it’s impossible to announce your arrival.

You land half-a-day hike away from the signal. Three of you hike to its origin. Exhausting. 
The air is so pure. It cuddles your lungs. You have never breathed better. 

You arrive from a hilltop and from there you recognise four of your mothers gardening. They look very similar to what you remember of them. They also look strangely similar to each other, more than what you remember—it is as if they have turned into each other. 

They see you and look scared at first. You scream out their names and then your own name. They run to you. 
You update them about all that has happened on Earth. They tell you about their settlement here. The clean air. The fertile soil. The absence of any beings in the last 15 years. When being here, your cells adapt to what is around. You are the soil and the air. You are each other. 

You tell them of your promise to go back to Earth. They also want to go back, they just lost track of time. A few years ago they received a signal from mission 3, but they never received anything  from mission 1. 

If you want to try and find mission 3, go to #19.
If you think finding mission 3 is not a viable option, go to #30.

#30
 Mother: 
“We are not colonisers. 
As much as the discoveries of other species and beings is exciting 
The answer is not out there. 
And if we would find it, it will only open the way for Space colonisation to exploit it. 
—We are not displacers. 
We are protectors. Healers. Messengers.
We need to face our destiny and help our kins. 
—Who knows how Earth will look like when we come back? There is no more time to waste.”

“True journey is return.”

#40
 You are 52 and you have spent most of your life healing people. You are not a doctor—these are for the Upper Class and most of them are on the satellites around Earth, planning further space colonisation. You call yourself a witch. You used your mothers’ archives to develop your own practice of healing and you kept adapting the recipes of potions, ointments and remedies, according to the species available as others are becoming extinct. 

This practice has been very rewarding but also very difficult. 
People are dying around you. 
Heat waves. Snow storms. Risen waters. 
You have been nomadic for the last 20 years, in response to climate change’s evolution. 

After two weeks of hiking along old roads in a place that must have been Norway in the old times, you can get some rest in an old administration building for the night. 

There is electricity for once, they must have been using solar panels and the generator hasn’t exploded yet. 
You find an old pod. This once familiar object seems so alien now. 
Your palm against the pad. A long while passes and a deep and familiar sound indicates the program launching. Your old cloud vault appears. 

You haven't had the chance to log in for so long. You take the opportunity to search through your files for more information about some of the flora and fauna of Northern Europe, updating your notebooks for some future use.

An old folder catches your eye, one you hadn't had the heart to delete when you were younger.

If you decide to spend the night exploring this folder, jump to #41.
If you fall asleep exhausted by the road trip, continue to #42.

#41
 You wake up sweating. A very annoying sound is on repeat. A video of your 7 mothers plays on the screen in front of you. It's stuck and it's impossible to understand what they are trying to say. The file must be damaged after all these years. It's actually a mystery that these servers are still on somewhere...
You notice one of your mothers holding a board with a strange association of letters and numbers that could be an external link.

It’s time to go. Your road companions are pressing you. If you waste time you’ll be caught by the heat.

If you decide to go and copy these files on a drive hoping to be able to consult them later, jump to #46.

If you convince your road companions to settle in the office building for a few days and decide to look up this mysterious link, jump to #42.

#42
 The link brings you to a pirate platform. A very weak signal has been received a couple of weeks ago. You hear one of your mothers’ speaking about a planet full of pure air, a very fertile soil and an energy that no one could imagine. Nothing else. You cry. How is this possible? How old would they be by now? Go to #43.

#43
 You have been scavenging along the way up North—as North as possible.

Your drive to go out there has helped you become a very powerful witch.
You left your road companions several days ago to settle in an old foraging facility at the border of a forest. 
There you perform a ritual to finalise the vessel. Make it safe. You ingest a psychedelic potion to liberate yourself before the journey and to gather your energy.  
A vision.

If you see a hen, go to #44.
If you see a wolf, go to #45.
If you see a goat, go to #48.

#44
 The hen dances around you. 
Joyfully she says:

“Don’t go without me. 
I’m fertile and I’m loyal. 
True journey is return”

Go to #47.

#45
 The wolf is majestuous. 
They talk to you and their voice sounds like your voice. 
They talk to you and their voice sounds like your mothers’ voices. 

“You are not a coloniser. 
You are not a displacer. 
The answer is not out there. 
You are a protector. A Healer. A Messenger.
You need to face our destiny and help our kins.”

You decide to stay.
Go to #46.

#46
 You haven’t had enough time to think through the decisions you made. What could you have done to avoid this? You have worked so hard to support as many people as possible. You are now old and exhausted. You wonder what could have happened to your mothers. You dream of them and hope to meet them in the afterlife if there is one. You wish you would have been able to understand what they left you, but you don't regret your choices. Humans will disappear very soon. The planet is taking over, and really, what is actually so sad about that? Humans had their time. The Earth is getting ready for a new era.

#47
 It takes you another few days before you get a hold of a hen. But when you do, it almost feels like having a new crush. The hen’s presence feels familiar. It gives you the energy to go on. You name the hen Sia, like your old friend from the shelter.

With the help of Minerva—the last virtual assistant device that was invented twenty years ago—you launch into space with Sia. Go to #50.

#48
 The goat is peaceful and affectuous.
You spend a long while laying next to each other.
You see in their eyes the infinity of space.
You feel yourself pulled into the possibility of a million galaxies.

Go to #49.

#49
 You wake up next to an actual goat. 
With the help of Minerva—the last smart home device that was invented twenty years ago—you launch into space with the goat. 

Go to #200.

#50
 You follow the last coordinates of the message. Finding no one. 
You have survived the first month, spending most of your time bonding with Sia.
They give you an egg a day despite the extreme conditions.
You spend hours cuddling them.

Go to #51.

#51
 You’re about to give up remembering your vision “True journey is return”.
A mysterious signal reaches you.
You follow it to a planet where you land at a safe distance from the signal.

You arrive at a hilltop and from there you recognise four of your mothers gardening. They look strangely alike, as if they have turned into each other. 

They see you and they look scared at first. You scream their names and your name. You can’t believe it. They look so young in comparison to you. You tell them about everything you have lived through in the last years. They tell you about their settlement here. The pure air. The fertile soil. The absence of people in the last decades. The planet operates as one force;  when you are here, your cells adapt to what is around. You are the soil and the air. You are each other. The connections between all particles are infinite and eternal.

Go to #52.

#52
 You want to convince them to go back to Earth and share their knowledge. They should not abandon our home. The planet needs us. People need us, even if humanity is doomed we must share our knowledge, teach respect and communion. Not escape. They don’t agree.
They have spent so much time here, they don’t want to leave this union.

If you decide to stay with them, go to #53.
If you decide to go back to Earth, go to #54.

#53
 Sia dies after a few days. Their body didn’t adapt to the flow of energy that unifies all. You’ll bury them after performing a ritual. Your stay on this planet has transformed you. After two hundred years you have been absorbed. You are one.

#54
 Sia will feed you for most of the trip back. Arriving back on Earth you are exhausted. You have no idea how much time has passed. You don’t find any signs of human life. You meet a strange hybrid animal after a few days. Sia is getting sick. The heat is unbearable even at night. Sia dies after a full moon. You bury her while chanting all the beings that have gone extinct. You lay next to the small grave and wait for death. The planet is taking over, and really what is so sad about that? Humans have had their time. The Earth is getting ready for a new era.

#200
 Minerva took you to the location. Nothing. An asteroid belt propels you into a black hole. 
In between dimensions. Strange. Unpredictable.
You align with a parallel reality. Colliding. Merging. Here you are 30 years younger in a ship with other beings but without the goat.
Go to #19.

 The fool is transition, journey. The fool is an ambiguous character, oscillating between uncertainty immaturity and genius: the fool has ressources but should be careful not to screw everything up!

 There are big external difficulties to overcome.
An ecological crisis? A political disaster?…

 One has to call on all their inner ressources: their sensibility, their creativity, their love and passion… to face the external world.

 A new beginning is coming: a dream, a desire may come true, new contacts may be established. This is a sign to join forces with others and act together against the external difficulties!

 We are masters of our destinies. We have to turn the wheel to our favour, take things in our own hands for a real change!

 We are at an important crossroad for the history of Humanity. If we get organised together we can build a multidimensional future for all (humans and non humans). There are a lot of possible paths, we just have to start the journey!

 Global Warm Up #2 > The Green Masquerade Edition
took place Friday 8 November 2019 for the exhibition Pleuriversum at Arti et Amiticae, 20h-02h (free).
 Global Warm Up #2 included a take over of the café of Arti, a big piñata, a delirious costume contest, trance music, visceral performances, a sound piece and more surprises…

 The Green Masquerade Edition was a fest borrowing to Samain* its frightening yet playful character. Samain’s origins date back from ancient Celtic traditions: it was new year’s eve. This day marked the end of the summer, the last harvests and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred...

 Global Warm Up #1 was borrowing to Carnival its social satire aspects which serves to renew the world. Extravagant costumes and grotesque masks will allow people to mock and defy society’s standards and rules. Global Warm Up as a carnival is a reversal of everyday norms and an exaggeration of human behaviours.
Global Warm Up was a rite of passage from Darkness to Light aiming to draw attention to a very urgent matter: Climate Change in an interactive and inclusive way. Let's celebrate Spring, Mother Nature and our potential mindfulness! Leave everyday life behind for one evening and enter a festive universe of upcycled wonders and respectful beings.
Global Warm Up was imagined as a safe space therefore racism and sexism was not tolerated (that also applied to costumes).

 SYZYGY is a speculative research and visual essay by NXS that responds to NXS #3 Viral Bodies publication.
It is accompanied by an original soundtrack by Sega Bodega and premiered on May 17 2018 at De School in Amsterdam.

 Refusing to comply with systems of mass consumption, Juliette Lizotte stopped going to the supermarket. She questions the food industry, as well as our individual responsibility for how we produce and consume. Changing the rules of her game, Juliette now obtains food directly at its source. Like a monk she commits herself to her new habits. Liberated from fictitious needs, and inspired by the natural food she eats and her taste for ‘Nightcore’, Juliette dreams of another world. One in which self-sufficiency is the new salvation, a privileged state to deal with guilt and rethink our needs on the path to asceticism.

 A Triptych Fantasy on Local Food invites you on a singular audiovisual trip through Juliette's hopes and dreams, taking pop culture to the extreme: high pitch, high bpm and high amateurism. Each chapter of this journey gives an odd teenage feeling of a new-found hope in a world gone terribly wrong, making you want to join the movement or run away as fast as you can.

 1. Hammered by the weight of my consciousness

 I woke up in the morning feeling dizzy. The past week had been hectic between work, cheap restaurants and the opening of this new club Apokatastasis last night. I was probably hungover, but more than that I felt a kind of emptiness. A lack of sense in my life was seriously bringing me down. As usual, I turned on my computer and quickly checked my e-mails: “6 apps to put your life in order” was the subject line of one e-mail. I randomly chose a song and started putting my flat in order, thinking maybe it would help put my life in order. But was it really just about my life?

 My thoughts drifted, and I started thinking about how we live in a frantic run, as if to forget something, yet at the same time the things we do have absolutely no meaning, and eventually we are going to die. Of course we are going to die. But what should we do in the meantime? We feel we are free to give our lives the meaning we want them to have, but actually we just give them the meaning they should have, which is the nonsense of the never-ending rise of consumption. Autonomy becomes heteronomy, authenticity is the global conformism that governs us. We live in the the reign of the excess – we participate in and become the reign of the excess. To be autonomous is a euphemism for having a boss and being able to pay rent, or being a freelancer and in debt, when it should be about learning the independence of social time from the temporality of capitalism. Is working and consuming the only ways to exist?

 The computer played a song: "We are one like the sun is to the sky" repeated the voice, over and over.

 Yes, we are one, I thought; one species becoming unfit for life. A great humanity working together on its self-destruction. All damaged, wounded, unworthy, we are one, stuck in this wordless ideological constellation that constitutes capitalism, scarily similar to religion. One could define religion as that which removes things from common use and transports them into a separate sphere. In that sense, capitalism has all the attributes of a religion. The religion of capitalism produces a pure form of separation without separating anything and operates a profitable fragmentation of the world. It turns everything into nothing, creating empty needs and envy. Things seem essential when they simply aren’t. We are unable to use them after we are transformed into ultimate consumers guided by the divine economy.

 All of this made me desperate. And hungry. I grabbed some pasta and vegetables to cook myself some lunch so I wouldn’t die from hunger, if not from despair. As I was cooking, I thought about what I was doing. I was getting angry at myself for passively participating in the massive consumption system by buying smart phones and clothes, but I had never considered that what I was putting in my body every day was also a big part of this system. What is this pasta? Where did it come from? And those vegetables? I bought all of this at the supermarket, but I had no way of knowing more than what the supermarket and the packaging wanted to give as information.

Remembering a movie I’d seen, I wondered if all this was even real food. Where were the farms where those vegetables were grown? How much did they produce? Was it really good for us? Was it good for the planet? Did we essentially need this? I ate my dish without even noticing, lost in my thoughts. Everything was going too fast for my brain. I lay on the couch and fell half-asleep, hammered by the weight of my consciousness.

 2. The time is coming

 The music was still on. I tried to focus on it to prevent my mind from generating more disastrous thoughts. At some point a strange song started to play, and the lyrics captured my attention.

 The time is coming

 A new people will rise from the despicable void
They will reconsider their role and their relation to the world
and accept that their civilization is already dead.

 The time is coming

 The Ones who will have chosen
will be facing the irreparability of the world
and at that point it will be perfection
They will operate a subtle secession
On the path of redemption
they will take the vow to link their future.

 The time is coming

 This Process will oppose the System
and create a displacement
Everything will be as it was, just a little different.
It will cultivate a dissension
and redefine Humans' potentialities of existence.

 The time is coming

 I woke up two hours later with the song still in my head. I tried to find it again on my computer but couldn't. The next day I asked some friends about it, but they had never heard it. It wasn't the first time I was the only one to know about a song, but it was quite frustrating to have lost track of it. After a couple of weeks I decided it was just a dream and tried to forget about it.

 One day at work I received an ad by e-mail. I was about to delete it, but the title of the e-mail intrigued me: "The time is coming". I opened it: 

 "In the future, we will be planting cities.
In the future, even the smallest business will be multinational.
In the future, the food chain and the supply chain will merge.
In the future, we will fly organic." 

 That sounded like a decent future, but I didn’t believe in for one second. The email was from a bank.

 I thought about the community mentioned in the mysterious song. I remembered the existential moment I was going through that day, and asked myself again if the way I was living my life was the only way possible.

 A friend had once told me about a group of people he’d met in the mountains while he was hiking one summer. They were living there in autarky, and he had stayed with them for a couple of nights. It sounded like a fascinating experience. I asked him where it was and found the location on the internet. Since I had no other leads, I decided to follow my friend's tracks and meet those people in order to experience another possible future.

 The next month I abandoned my world full of last men.

 3. Surrounded by infinity

 By the time the sun came up, the group had already been awake for some time. Some were working in the garden, some preparing to hike for the whole day to find sheep, some cleaning the kitchen after a generous breakfast. For weeks it had been like that, switching positions to diversify everyone's tasks. It felt like it could go on forever. On the mountain, we were alone. Everything was perfect.

 There was no electricity, so we couldn't communicate with the outside world. There was no water inside the cabin, but it had been built close to a source. We would heat water on the stove to shower. The shower room had been built facing the lake, so we’d be hidden from others but facing the lake. Showering was my favorite part of the day, especially after a long hike. Sometimes while hiking, intoxicated by the rhythm of my breath and of my walk, surrounded by the infinity of what we call nature, I felt like I knew everything and yet nothing. A fulfilment, an abstraction to the world, a quick moment of lucidity or a mind trick. My sight seemed augmented: I could see the halos around my surroundings, the vibration of perfection. Climbing towards the sky definitely got me high, but I had never felt so small and powerless. Was this the moment where I finally faced and accepted my condition as a human being? Was this transcendence?

 The community was only composed of young people who all broke with society to come up here and live a better life together. The founders had called it Koinonia, which in ancient Greek it meant fraternal communion, association, contribution, participation, liberality. The philosophy behind their group was to not occupy the territory but to be the territory. Autonomous of course, self sustainable: a perfect ecosystem. It was an attempt to shift from a possible temporary zone to a more permanent one. It followed a sort of paleolithic model, primal and radical, of semi-nomadic shepherd-gardeners within a certain area.

 I was very inspired by one particular person there. I had been there for approximately three months when she decided to leave. We would always have very good conversations; she was quite pessimistic and I liked that about her. She would say things like: “We are shipwrecked on a planet destined to die,” or that “the choice facing us was terrible – either a slow fragmentation towards primitivism, perpetual crisis and planetary ecological collapse or a globalized post capitalism.” She kept saying that this exclusion from the world was not the ultimate solution. Although it was nice, we should use capitalism and repurpose it towards common ends. One day she told me that to be free was not just about being naked in front of a lake with all you need to survive – that the real freedom was to be linked to each other.

 I couldn’t stop thinking about that. After some time the thought continued to grow, and I decided my time on the mountain was over. I needed to share this with others, to make this way of life a possibility for all, even in the city. I felt selfish to have lived so well and so happy within Koinonia. I remembered the song that had propelled me all the way up this mountain, and I felt it was time for me to link my future with the rest of the world – to finally oppose the System, not run from it.

 4. A struggle to survive

 I left the mountain as another member of the community was also leaving. Her hometown was on my way home, and she invited me to stay with for a while, as I had never visited this city before. She explained to me that after a long time of shining as one of the best jewels of capitalism, the powerful System had lost its interest in this city and had just delocalized its activity. Some people could follow the movement and moved to places where they could continue to participate in the System. But some remained, without jobs, without structure, lost in a decaying city. After my experience on the mountain, it was striking to see this city. In the middle of the western world were the left-overs of industrial capitalism, and I was able to witness how things could go when the System doesn’t provide for people anymore.

 There, it was not a voluntary refusal to work. There was no active revolution. There was nothing to oppose, just a struggle to survive and make sense of it all. I met in this city the most honest people. There was nothing superficial about them; they were rough and generous, fair and brave, true to themselves and others. I had the feeling that during the short time I spent there I could perhaps witness what humanity was about, in its misery and greatness.

 Many people had started to grow vegetables on vacant lands in a quest to provide food to those who had less access. They were dedicating their efforts to the community and, in so doing, were restoring the true meaning of the concept of community, of being linked to each other. There, local was just the other side of global – what is secreted from it, not what could make it burst, simply its remains. “Universal” was only local without walls.

 They didn't need the System, just like it didn't need them. They were proud of being able to sustain themselves and provide for the people around them. They seemed to be able to make sense of this absurdity by concentrating on what was essential.

 I continued on my road, delighted by the power of multiplicity in its units of destiny and doom. 

 5. A fold in the System

 I made a promise to myself. I took the vow to refuse the System that was imposed on me and to rethink my habits and my needs. The rules I would impose on myself – not going to supermarkets, connecting with people who were producing local goods here and there – would become my lifestyle. I could live the life I was living in the mountains here in the city. 

 I was anxious to tell the stories of the mountain and those of the wrecked city. I was hoping this would convince people to commit to my dream.

 I wondered if at first people would feel sorry for me, thinking I was giving up on so many good things. I could imagine it would seem difficult to take such a step without experiencing the whole process I had gone through. I was hoping my stories would be inspiring enough. 

 I could picture myself with some friends starting a garden on a vacant lot in the city, autonomous from the structures around us. We could call this garden Arkhè, a Greek word that means both the beginning and the commandment. It would not be a comeback to earth, but a comeback on Earth: a fresh start to stop living in the ignorance of the conditions of our existence.

 We would be living somehow like monks, creating a way of life close to what monasteries could call cenoby, the perfection of a common life that coincides with the readability of the world. It would at least be an attempt to find a balance that would make some kind of sense. We would be looking for a kind of salvation – not for after our death but for the rest of our time on Earth. Did we deserve pardon? Who knew? And who would give us grace anyway? At least we would be at peace with ourselves, knowing we would not participate in the complex constellation of capitalism and all the consequences that result from it.

 In its divine attempt to separate everything, capitalism took everything out of our use to make us total consumers. I dreamed with Arkhè we would attempt the difficult task of restoring the free use of food for the people.

 We would simply provide an alternative to the System. And there could be no resistance, as we would not impose anything on anyone. We could continue without those who wouldn’t want to have anything to do with us, and for those who would show support there would be a mutual promise to stand together. A world within the world. A fold in the System. 

 I was almost home.