Krakonos (Rieberzahl, Giant),
the mythical figure of Giant Mountains from Midle Age map
s e j n b o h e m i ae r o s a
f l y e r
d a y b o o k o f
p a r t i c i p a n t s
d r a w i n g s I,
II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII,
IX
d a y b o o k o f
m. s e j n
p h o t o g a l l e r y
Krakonos
(Rieberzahl, Giant),
the mythical figure of Giant Mountains from Midle Age map
B o h e m i ae
s u b R o s a
S i t e B o d y E x p
l o r a t i o n
Isara & Giant
Mountains (Krkonose)
5 day walk through the Giant Mountains in the north of the Czech Republic and
the south Poland
M a y 21 - 27 2006
International
Interdisciplinary Open-Air Workshop for dancers and artists exploring the
relation among body, art and landscape by Milos Sejn and Frank van de Ven
Bohemiae Rosa Project
Academy of Fine Arts in Prague
Karkonosze National Park
Krkonose
Czech and Poland Republic
Since 1995
Milos Sejn and Frank van de Ven have co-operated in their bi-annual
interdisciplinary open air Body-Site-Exploration projects in various National
Reserves in the Czech Republic (Kokorin Valley, Plasy Monastery, Bohemian Karst,
Bechyne Monastery with the Luznice River, Bohemian Paradise and Sumava Mountains)
known as the Bohemiae Rosa Project.
This 3nd edition Subrosa, like part of the Bohemiae Rosa Project proposes to investigate "Site Specific" under the integral theme w a l k i n g. Visual artists, poets, dancers and different specialists in historical landscape will be working in / wandering through Isara and Giant Mountains.
At the first part the walking through the Isara and Giant mountains will be consist from following the Kamenice and Isara river to the basement the mountains. It will be very wild part of the walk with bivaking directly in the rocky terrain.
After that, passing the Mumlava river waterfalls we will climbe up the main ridge of the Giant mountains, Czech Poland boundary, which will be followed by the rest of the walk, from west to east. Upland with meadows, quarry seas, marshes and lakes will be used also for immediately intercontact work, like very intensive energetic flow among bodies and places in the landscape. The nights there will be spend in mount barks, because all area there is part of the national monument.
Like ending part of the walking will be last night, a waking on the higest point Snezka (Snow Peak – 1602 m) with waiting for the Sunrise. All walk will be approximately 100 km long.
The body is a landscape in itself moving within the larger frame of the given surrounding environment. The vertical and horizontal layering of the landscape invites us to reflect upon our own layers and connections of self and imagination.
We will focus on:
- process of walking and wandering, silent walk, pilgrimage and
nocturnal journeys
- various ways of experiencing one's body and 'tasting' aspects of the
landscape
- processional experiences, working with time, peripatetic records,
drawing, writing, immediate contact with the elements of the
landscape
- mental topography of a location, myth, archaic mind and genius loci
- geology, archaeology and history of the Bohemian Forest as a model of
self: layers, vertical connections, labyrinths, joy and melancholy
The workshop expects a creative and open participation of 15-20 artists as well as interested students who will be selected through open competition. No previous (dance) training is necessary but the workshop will be physically and mentally demanding, therefore a good overall condition is required. Trekking and staying in the open will in itself provide an entrance into the Body/landscape theme.
Milos Sejn
works in the fields of visual art, performance and study of visual perception,
and conducts workshops, such as Bohemiae Rosa. His artistic concept was formed
in his youth when he undertook many trips into the wilderness as a reflex of an
inner need to get closer to nature's secret and observe the miracles, which
happen in it. From the beginning of the 1960s he took pictures, drew, collected
and described his observations of nature during these wanderings. Currently he
teaches mixed media and the relationship of nature and art as intrinsic needs of
the mind at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, and focuses on immediate
creative possibilities, based upon relations between historical humanized
landscapes and intact nature.
http://www.sejn.cz
CD ROMs: Colorvm Natvrae Varietas (Centrum for Culture and Communication in
Budapest c3, 2000); Make Your Own Island/Make Your Own Forest (Utrecht School of
the Arts, Institute for postgraduate and professional higher education in the
Arts, 2001)
Frank van de Ven
is a dancer and choreographer who spend his formative years in Japan working
with Min Tanaka and the Maijuku Performance Company. In 1993 he founded together
with Katerina Bakatsaki 'Body Weather Amsterdam', a platform for training and
performance. Since 1995 he conducts with Milos Sejn the interdisciplinary
Bohemiae Rosa Project, connecting body and landscape with art, geology and
architecture. Interest in dance and theory led to the 'How to make yourself a
Dancing Body Without Organs' Project. Together with Peter Snow (Monash
University) he performs the famed Thought/Action Improvisations. An ongoing
collaboration exists with musician Daniel Schorno, artistic director of Steim
Amsterdam.
Films (video and
16mm): Dancing Plasy Times 8, CI-VIT, LOM and NOUGHTS.
*site n., pl. –es [Latin situs “place, position”, from sinere “to leave, place, lay” ] 1. the actual or planned location 2 the place or scene of something (a camp site) / site vt., to place on a site or in position: locate
*body n., pl.
-ies [OE, bodig, cask] 1. the whole physical substance of a man, animal or plant
2. the trunk of a man or animal 3. a corpse 4. [Colloq.] a person 5. a distinct
mass [a body of water] 6. a distinct group of people or things 7. the main part
8. substance or consistency, as of liquid
9. richness of flavour
*exploration n., pl. –s the act or an instance of exploring / explore: seek to ascertain, examine into XVI; search into (a country, etc) XVII 1. to search through or into 2. to examine carefully and in detail especially for diagnostic purposes 3. to penetrate into or range over for purposes of discovery 4. to make or conduct a systematic search [Latin explorare “to seek for”, from ex- + plorare “to cry out”; probably from the outcry of hunters on sighting game]
*landscape
n., pl. –es [Dutsch landschap, from land+schap “-ship” ] 1. a picture of
natural inland scenery 2. a portion of land that the eye can see in one glance
*mountain n., pl. –s is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain in
a limited area. A mountain is generally higher and steeper than a hill, but
there is considerable overlap, and usage often depends on local custom. Some
authorities define a mountain as a peak with a topographic prominence over a
defined value: for example, the Encyclopaedia Britannica requires a
prominence of 2,000 feet (610 m).
The adjective montane is used to describe mountainous areas and the things
associated with them.
*forest n., pl. –s [Old French, “forest, hunting preserve” , Medieval Lain forestis, from Latin foris “outside”] 1. a dense growth of trees and underbrush covering a large tract; also: an area covered by forest, 2. something resembling a forest especially in profusion (a forest of masts)
*wander vb., wan-dered, wan-der-ing [OE, wandrian] 1. to move about aimlessly or without a fixed course or goal : ramble 2a to deviate (as from a course) : stray 2b to go astray morally : err 2c to lose normal mental contacts (as delirium or madness)
*walk n., pl. –s [vb OE, wealkan “to roll, toss” ] 1. a going on foot (go for a walk) 2. a place, path, or course for walking 3. distance to be walked 4a manner of living 4b social or economic stats (various walks of life) 5a manner of walking 5b a gait of a four-footed animal in which there are always at least two feet on the ground
*Krkonose in
Czech (known as Giant Mountains in English, or Riesengebirge in
German) or Karkonosze Mountains (pronounced kár-ko-no-she) in Polish or
is a mountain range, part of the Sudetes in Central Europe. The name is fairly
ancient, appearing in the name of a people listed in Ptolemy as the Corconti. It
may be Pre-Indo-European. The meaning was preserved, appearing in mediaeval
Latin Gigantei montes.
The mountains stretch from north-west to south-east and form the border between
Poland and the Czech Republic. The highest mountain is "Sniezka" (in Polish)/ "Snezka"
(in Czech), 1602 metres above sea level. Situated on the Czech-Polish border it
is also the highest mountain peak in Czech Republic. Large areas of Karkonosze
Mountains are preserved as a national park by both countries. The mountains are
famous for its skiing resorts and are growing in importance as a less expensive
and, in some cases, nearer alternative to the Alps for tourism.
*The Corconti or Korkontoi were a tribe of Greater Germany in the Geography
of Ptolemy (2.10). They were in the vicinity of Asciburgius Mountain somewhere
near the sources of the Vistula. Asciburgius gives away their location, as it is
on the edge of the Krkono‰e range in Czech, the Karkonosze in Polish.
It is clear that the people were named after the terrain, but the identity of
those people is not entirely clear. Ptolemy considered them Germanic. Some have
hypothesized that they were Marcomanni, as those people were in the region. So
also were the Quadi; moreover, Ptolemy also lists the Quadi and Marcomanni. We
know the latter were newcomers in the first century AD, but the residents of
mountains are usually hold-outs from an earlier culture. Mountains are easier to
defend and the people living in them are more isolated.
And finally, the Germanics did not adopt the name of Krkonose. They chose
instead Sudeten, or Riesengebirge, "Giant Mountains", because that is what
Krkonose means. The name is not Germanic, but neither is it Slavic or Celtic; or
at least, no strong derivations in those languages have been found. Very likely,
it is not Indo-European at all, but is Pre-Indo-European. One might connect it
to the hypothetical Urbian root, *K-K-, "to swell, inflate; big, huge", from
which Sorin Paliga derives German Gigantes. Possibly Sumerian kur-kur, "mountains",
is related. Such derivations at this point are weak and speculative.
One does want to ask, who were the ancestors of the Corconti? Were they included
in Greater Germany because the Germanics held it or because they spoke Germanic?
If they did speak Germanic, how long had they spoken it? Questions such as these
may someday have an answer. Meanwhile, there is something of a rivalry between
the Slavs and the Germans about who occupied the mountains in antiquity. In the
absence of solid evidence, the contention is likely to continue.
In respect to the above article, there are
people living around the world today with the family name Krkononska. These
people are descended from Northern Bohemia. Perhaps their genetic code holds the
key and then one day...
Retrieved from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org.
Dates
21 – 26 May 2006, arrival day 21 May
Meeting Place: Semily, Czech Republic
Accessible by train or bus
phone: +420 723701658
E-mail: bohemiaerosa@tiscali.cz
http://www.bohemiaerosa.org
The number of participants is limited. We recommend early applications.
Please bring sleeping bag, backpack, tent, warm and waterproof clothes,
raincoat and hiking boots for eight days living outdoors.
Make sure your equipment is in good condition! We will walk for 5 days
through Isara and Giant Mountains and camp in varied places.
Aerial view over Giant Mountains
Bohemiae
Rosa surrounds the centre of Europe as a power-radiating centre.
In terms of topography and history, it is an ancient centre of communication
where the petals of the rose flower, spreading
around, can read as versatility symbols of the ways of reading the world today.
INFORMATION:
frank.bwl@wanadoo.nl,
bohemiaerosa@tiscali.cz,
www.bohemiaerosa.org,
http://en.wikipedia.org