The table mountain with Oybin Monastery, Zittau Mountains, Germany
s e j n b o h e m i ae r o s a
S i t e B o d y E x p l o r a t i o n
Lusatian and Zittau Mountains - The Czech Republic & Germany & Poland
International Interdisciplinary Open-Air Workshop for dancers and artists exploring the relation among body, art and landscape
led by Frank van de Ven, Milos Sejn / Václav Cílek as a guest
Suported by Bohemiae Rosa - Lusatian & Zittau National Parks
The table mountain with Oybin Monastery, Zittau Mountains, Germany
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 & Cultural Reserves in the Czech Republic (Kokorin Valley, Plasy Monastery, Bohemian Karst, Bechyne Monastery with the Luznice River, Bohemian Paradise, Sumava and Krkonose Mountains, Kuks Spa) known as the Bohemiae Rosa Project.
This edition of the Bohemiae Rosa Project will take place in an area known as „Lusatian and Zittau Mountains“ (czech: Lužické a Žitavské hory), a landscape with figurative rocks, caves, valleys, brooks, forests, groves, meadows and memorable castle ruins. Walking and working in the Lusatian and Zittau Mountains we investigate the numerous relations between Body and Landscape and their significance to contemporary (Performing) Arts.
The program will include:
• MB -(mind/body, muscles/bones) dance training
• practice of and reflection on physical and mental training
• walking and wandering, silent walk, pilgrimage and nocturnal journeys
• various modes of experiencing body, movement and landscape
• investigating divergent senses of space and time
• peripatetic records, drawing, writing, immediate contact with surroundings
• mental topography of a location, myth, archaic mind and genius loci
• geology, archaeology and history of the Bohemian Paradise as a model of self: layers, vertical connections and labyrinths
An integral part of the workshop will be the individual artistic projects that participants are encouraged to formulate and work on for about 1 to 2 hours a day. (in the fields architecture, landscape art, dance, performance, photography, sculpture, theatre, visual arts, biology and natural history). The workshop leaders are available to guide and support these processes.
The body is a landscape in itself moving within the larger frame of the given surrounding environment. The vertical and horizontal layering of the (historical) landscape invites us to reflect upon our own layers and connections of self and imagination.
Participants profile: for artists and advanced students working in the fields of performance, dance, landscape art, sculpture, photography, architecture, theatre, visual arts, biology and natural history.
15 - 20
September 2014,
arrival evening of 14 September 2014
Meeting Place:
Římskokatolická farnost, 463 55 Rynoltice, Jítrava 98, Czech Republic
GPS 50°47'25.776"N, 14°51'21.026"E
Accessible by bus from Prague Černý most station - Liberec and then by bus from Liberec to Rynoltice-Jítrava
The number of participants is limited. We recommend early applications.
Bring sleeping bag, sheets, work/yoga mat, backpack for day hikes, raincoat and hiking boots.
There will be space to put up tents, bring one if you want.
All participants must have a personal insurance and must provide a copy of this before start of the project.
For artists and advanced students working in the fields of performance, dance, landscape art, sculpture, photography, architecture, theatre, visual arts, biology and natural history.
No
previous (dance) training is necessary but the workshop will be physically and
mentally
demanding,
therefore
a good overall condition is required.
APPLICATION
To apply send name, a short c.v. and a motivation letter to
Frank van de Ven
frank.bwa@xs4all.nl
or
Milos Sejn
ms@sejn.cz.
Production of Bohemiae Rosa Project
Katerina Bilejova /
e-mail:
BilejovaK@jinonice.cuni.cz
From
Bohemiae Rosa Project – September 11
2003 Bohemiae Rosa V
Bohemian Paradise
video
E X T E N D E D I N F O R M A T I O N
Lusatian Mountains
Lusatian
Mountains
... the Lusatian Mountains above all I took to my heart. At first I was
suspicious, even ironical. What they are for mountains, when their altitude does
not reach the level of the Bohemian-Moravian uplands? But very soon I learnt
that they indeed are real mountains, only in a reduced scale. Their peaks
project monumentally above the surrounding landscape, the slopes of the highest
hills are covered by stony debris, from the woods frequently protrude rocky
formations, the ridges and their forks are divided by deep valleys. And all this
is wrapped in beautiful woods, in several places containing pristine beech
forests. I know of no more beautiful place than the Lusatian Mountains in autumn.
M. Sovadina, Jizerské a Lužické hory 6/97
The Lusatian Mountains (in Czech Lužické hory) are a small mountainous range in
Northern Bohemia between Děčín and Liberec (see map). It lies at the border
between Germany and the Czech Republic. The smaller German part is called the
Zittau Mountains (in German: Zittauer Gebirge).
Geology
Geologically the Lusatian Mountains consist prevailingly of upper Cretaceous
sandstone. In many places they are penetrated by Tertiary magmatic rocks,
basalts and trachytes, which are more resistant to weathering than the
surrounding sandstone. In volcanic necks and domes, therefore, they nowadays
project over the surrounding sandstone's. The resulting relief of the Lusatian
Mountains, therefore, is characteristic by wooded elongated ridges protruded by
pronounced conical necks and rounded hills. In the north the Cretaceous
sandstones have a tectonic contact with the granitoid masses of the Lusatian
massif, the so-called Lusatian fault. Along of this fault the granitoid rocks
were overthrusted over the younger sandstones.
On several places of this fault, e.g. at Doubice, small blocks of Jurassic
limestones were drawn to the surface. The Quaternary frequently produced
extensive cones of rock debris on the slopes of the volcanic hills. At Jítrava
are deposited sediments of the continental ice sheet which at its greatest
extent reached as far as the eastern boundary of the hill range. In the 17th and
18th century at a few places low-grade iron ores had been mined. In the
surroundings of Jiřetín pod Jedlovou thin veins of low-grade silver-bearing lead-zinc
and copper ores were mined.
Hills and waters
The Lusatian Mountains are not very high. Nevertheless, they are an
important climatic boundary separating the northern lowland from the hilly
region of central Bohemia. The highest peak is the Luž (793 m above sea level)
situated directly on the German borders. Other important peaks are, e. g.,
Jedlová (774 m), Klíč (760 m), Hvozd (750 m) and Studenec (736 m). Thanks to the
relatively high precipitations the Lusatian Mountains are rich in water. Their
sources have here the river Kamenice and its main tributary Chřibská Kamenice
and several tributaries of the Ploučnice river, e.g. the brooks Sporka, Svitavka,
Heřmanický potok. The northern slopes are drained by the Lužnička brook. The
main ridge is part of the main European divide between the North and the Baltic
seas.
Woods
Up to the present time woods cover more than one half of the area of the
Lusatian Mountains. Until the intensive colonisation in the 13th and 14th
century they were overgrown by the impervious bordering forest with prevailing
beeches frequently accompanied by firs. After the 15th century the pristine
woods were almost fully destroyed by the excessive development of glass-works.
Later they gradually were substituted by spruce and pine monocultures.
Remainders of the pristine beech forests are preserved only in separated small
enclaves in secluded places and the hill tops. Today you may find here spruces
and pines, and also beeches, maples, ashes, sometimes limes and elms, in some
localities also oaks or alders, frequently growing along of brooks. In the
eighties the woods were heavily damaged by industrial immissions. During the
last years the atmospheric pollution decreased but, nevertheless, the woods are
invariably endangered and only with difficulty resist the attacks of insect
parasites and unfavourable atmospheric conditions. Their poor condition is
clearly visible mainly in the hills surrounding the Jedlová hill.
Vegetation
In the Lusatian Mountains also grow several characteristic plant species,
some of which belong to the species endangered in the Czech Republic. Especially
botanically interesting are the flowering beech-forests in the undergrowth of
which grow Actaea spicata, Dentaria bulbifera, Dentaria enneaphyllos, Asperula
odorata, Lilium martagon, or Lunaria rediviva. Often we may meet also Daphne
mezereum. In springtime in some meadows you will find Primula elatior, wet
places are inhabited by Leucojum vernum, Valeriana dioica and V. officinalis,
Menyanthes trifoliata, Pedicularis palustris, Juncus effusus and several species
of Carex.
In a few places the so-called orchidaceous meadows survived with numerous
specimens of Dactylorhiza majalis and D. longebracteata, accompanied by the rare
Listera ovata, Platanthera bifolia, Orchis mascula, and Epipactis palustris. In
clearings in the forests we see the conspicuous Digitalis pupurea spreading into
this area from the west. Interesting also is the reported occurrence of the
glacial relics Aster alpinus and Woodsia ilvensis – which, however, in the last
years were not confirmed. Sporadically also Ledum palustre and Drosera
rotundifolia are found.
Animal
In the fauna of the Lusatian Mountains prevail common species of the woods.
Herds of deer, very numerous pigs and also moufflons are living here. A
peculiarity is the occurrence of chamois introduced in the first years of the
20th century from the Alps into the surroundings of Děčín. They became perfectly
acclimatised and spread from here into the Lusatian Mountains. The mountain
fauna is, in accord with the relatively small altitudes, relatively poor. Its
representatives are Nucifraga caryocatactes, Glaucidium passerinum, Salamandra
salamandra, Lacerta vivipara and Sorex alpinus. Of the birds of prey Buteo buteo
and Buteo lagopus were observed. Rarely also Bubo bubo had been nesting here.
Recently we could register a spreading of Corvus corax, Crex crex and Ciconia
nigra. Of the rarer butterfly species we can meet Papilio machaon, Limenitis
populi and Apatura iris. In abandoned old adits several species of bats are
hibernating.
Nature conservation
Since 1976 the Lusatian Mountains are protected as a Landscape Reserve. Moreover,
twelve of the most valuable localities are declared small Nature Reserves.
Natural wood associations are protected in the nature reserves of Jezevčí vrch,
Studený vrch and Klíč, valuable is also the nature reserve Vápenka in the
Jurassic limestone of Doubice. The only recently proclaimed nature reserves
Marschnerova louka and Louka u Brodských are both characterised by the frequent
occurrence of orchids, but also other endangered species are found here.
Protected is also an unusual great growth of Lunaria rediviva near Líska and a
rich occurrence of crocuses at Kytlice. Interesting plants are found also at the
Pustý zámek and the Zlatý vrch nature reserves which, however, are renowned
primarily as examples of columnar jointing in volcanic rocks.
Places,
hills, architecture
Geologically interesting are also the sandstone rocks of the Bílé kameny and the
ice cave (Ledová jeskyně) at the north slope of the Suchý vrch hill. Closely
beyond the borders of the Protected Landscape there are four additional nature
monuments: the bird reserves Světlík and Velký rybník near Rybniště and the
geologically interesting nature monuments Panská skála and Dutý kámen. In the
region of the Lusatian Mountains there are also several protected trees the most
known of which are the yew-trees of Krompach. Also there are some instructional
trails. The first leads the visitor along of the morphologically pronounced line
of the Lusatian Fault at Jítrava, the second shows the renaturation of a peat-bog
destroyed by human intervention at Brazilka whereas the third in the Milířka
valley is devoted to the remainders of mining occuring here. A small instruction
trail for schools had been opened below the Lemberk-castle near Jablonné
v Podještědí.
A very characteristic element of the Lusatian range is the variegated folk
architecture. The original type is represented by the timbered house with a
special kind of brace-frame construction and small divided windows and with a
gable roof. timber framing is used only in the second floor. The gable mostly is
decorated by slates of different colours. In the area the ruins of several
castles are preserved the most known of which is the Tolštejn castle. Into the
ruin of the Kamenický hrad a timbered look-out tower had been constructed. Only
very poor remnants of masonry are found in the ruins of the castles Milštejn,
Fredevald and Starý Falkenburk. Remarkable are several rock formations (Bílé
kameny, Pustý zámek, Zlatý vrch, Dutý kámen and Panská skála, well-known as the
"Rock organ" - "Varhany") or the ice cave Ledová jeskyně near Naděje. From many
of the hill tops there are very broad views into the surrounding country,
especially from the Klíč, Luž, Hvozd and Jedlová. Interesting monuments are
found in the towns at the foot of the hills. At Jablonné v Podještědí is the
remarkable baroque Dome of St. Laurentius and St. Zdislava, built by Lucas
Hildebrandt and not far from here the castle Lemberk, at Česká Kamenice an
interesting church. Of particular interest also
is the mining town of Jiřetín pod Jedlovou with its place of pilgrimage Křížová
hora or Chřibská with the oldest still working glass factory in Europe.
From Lusatian Mountains: Jiří Kühn
http://www.luzicke-hory.cz/luzang.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lusatian_Mountains
Zittau Mountains
The Zittau Mountains (German: Zittauer Gebirge), formerly also called the
Lusatian Ridge (Lausitzer Kamm, Czech. Žitavské hory), refer to the German part
of the Lusatian Mountains that straddle the Saxon-Bohemian border in the extreme
southeast of the German state of Saxony.
Location
The Zittau Mountains lie in the extreme south of the district of Görlitz in
Saxony. A few kilometres north of the range lie a number of settlements; from
west to east they are Großschönau, Hainewalde, Olbersdorf, Bertsdorf-Hörnitz and
Zittau. In the mountains themselves are, again from west to east, the
settlements of Waltersdorf, Oybin, Jonsdorf and Lückendorf . The highlands are
drained by streams that flow roughly north into the Mandau, a western tributary
of the Lausitzer Neiße.
Oybin
Oybin is a municipality in the district Görlitz, in Saxony, Germany, located
very close to the border of the Czech Republic. Following the defeat of the
Protestant armies by the Habsburgs in the Battle of the White Mountain in 1620,
many Protestant Czechs found refuge across the border in the hills of Upper
Lusatia. It is a "Kurort", a resort or spa certified by the state, where people
go for rest and recuperation. It is most famous for its mountain of the same
name, an exposed natural sandstone dome that towers above the town. The ruins of
a medieval monastery lend a wild romantic beauty to it and it was a favorite
subject of 19th century Romantic painters like Caspar David Friedrich. Many
bizarrely shaped geological rock formations can be found in the surroundings.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zittau_Mountains_Nature_Park
http://naturpark-zittauer-gebirge.de/de/index.php
Oybin Camera Obscura
Camera Obscura
From
Bohemiae Rosa Project – September 2011
BIOGRAPHIES
Milos Sejn
works in the fields of visual art, performance and study of visual perception.
From the beginning of the 1960s he took pictures, drew, collected and described
his observations of nature during his wanderings through the Czech landscape.
Currently he teaches mixed media and the relationship of nature and art as
intrinsic needs of the mind, and focuses
on immediate creative possibilities, based upon relations between historical
humanized landscapes and intact nature.
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); Books:
Being
Landscape, 2010
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.
Václav Cílek
is a Quaternary geologist who specializes in landscape development, past changes
and interactions between prehistoric cultures and the environment. He teaches
students of cultural anthropology at Charles University, CR, Prague and
North-western University in Evanston, USA. He is interested in the narrow area
where archaic mind is confronted with contemporary culture.
Dictionary definitions
*site n., pl. -s [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 flavor
*landscape n., pl. -s [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
*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 contact (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 status (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
Caspar David Friedrich: The Dreamer - Oybin
Monastery Ruins, (1835), 27 x 21 cm, Hermitage, St. Petersburg
Important part of the cultural history of the place.
P
roduction of Bohemiae Rosa Project: Katerina Bilejova