The Soft Protest, Digest

Supporting the reproduction of pollinators through a garden dance (with BIO cider farmer C. Toullec)

This podcast was recorded alongside the “Preparation of a naked soil strip, Inauguration of a naked soil strip” at the end of August 2020 as part in the performance festival SETU held in the village de Ergué-Gabéric, in the french Cornwalls. This episode gathers two illuminating conversations with local figures of the “country of Mélénig” — a country considered by its inhabitants to be part of the country of Brittany and independant to France. You’ll meet first with cider producer Christian Toullec, who gave us a tour of his farm, the Cidrerie Mélénig, and who very kindly agreed to discuss with us his attempts to encourage biodiversity on his land. In a second part, you will be able to listen to Yuna Postic, who is a dancer, teacher and representative of the Cercle Ar Vro Mélénig, the traditional dance group of the village of Élliant (village adjoining the Cidrerie Mélénig and SETU festival), and shared with us her passion for the history of traditional dances native from her region and their use in agriculture in Brittany. This podcast is published in its original version: french. If you're an english speaker, know that we've published for you a translated transcript of this podcast that you can easily find on our wikipedia under the name “ Preparation of a naked soil strip, Inauguration of a naked soil strip. ”We highly recommend you to have a read.

An open-source bee for a poisonous environment (with beekeeper and biologist Julien Perrin)

The hyper-industrialization of our food systems is leading the biodiversity of our ecosystems to collapse. An excellent witness — and the key example of this crisis — is the case of the bee. To address this issue we took the train through the suburbs of Paris, to the region of “Essonne”, west of the capital, to meet beekeeper and biologist Julien Perrin. Julien breeds Buckfast bees, which can be considered a “rustic” species — which, in other words, means “resistant to all the disasters she has to face”. Julien works in collaboration with a large community of beekeepers to multiply these open-source bees. According to him, the bee must remain "a common" which no industry must take possession of, to avoid at all costs falling into the pitfall of privately owed seeds and breeds. The indifference towards the bee also relies on the fact that humans have actually very little empathy towards insects. And indeed, there is a real misconception about what social insects are and how they think. Indeed, we often believe that insects are intelligent as a group. And yet, they have an intelligence of their own. To illustrate it, we have described through an umwelt, ergo at the first person, the activity of a bee. This text, which will punctuate our conversation with Julien Perrin, was written by the collective and then evaluated, word by word, by Fanny Rybak, biologist and researcher at the french CNRS institute, specialized in inter-species communication. It is read by french performer Nolwenn Salaün.

Umwelt of the bee, (English version 🇬🇧, read by performer Nolwenn Salaün)

The indifference towards the overall collapse of our biodiversity and the decline of the bee may rely, in one way, on the fact that humans have very little empathy towards insects. There is, in fact, a real misconception about what social insects are and how they think. Indeed, we often believe that insects are intelligent as a group. And yet, they have an intelligence of their own. To illustrate it, we have worked on describing through an “Umwelt”*, ergo at the first person, the activity of a bee. This text was written and later evaluated, word by word, by Fanny Rybak, biologist and researcher at the french CRNS institute, specialized in inter-species communication. Recorded, it was first broadcasted in its French version during “Le Banquet”, at french contemporary art museum Palais de Tokyo on November 20th 2019. It is read by performer Nolwenn Salaün. *The term “Umwelt” designates the environment species or individuals can perceive through their senses. The term can be understood better when using the French expression: “monde propre”, which could be translated by “own world”.

Umwelt de l'abeille, (Original french version 🇫🇷, read by actress Garance Kim)

The indifference towards the overall collapse of our biodiversity and the decline of the bee may rely, in one way, on the fact that humans have very little empathy towards insects. There is, in fact, a real misconception about what social insects are and how they think. Indeed, we often believe that insects are intelligent as a group. And yet, they have an intelligence of their own. To illustrate it, we have worked on describing through an “Umwelt”*, ergo at the first person, the activity of a bee. This text was written and later evaluated, word by word, by Fanny Rybak, biologist and researcher at the french CRNS institute, specialized in inter-species communication. Recorded, it was first broadcasted in its French version during “Le Banquet”, at french contemporary art museum Palais de Tokyo on November 20th 2019. It is read by actress Garance Kim. *The term “Umwelt” designates the environment species or individuals can perceive through their senses. The term can be understood better when using the French expression: “monde propre”, which could be translated by “own world”.

Une abeille open-source pour un environnement empoisonné (avec l'apiculteur et biologiste J. Perrin)

C’est indiscutable, l’hyper industrialisation de nos systèmes alimentaires anéanti la biodiversité de nos écosystèmes. Un excellent témoin — et l’exemple type de cet effondrement — est celui de l’abeille. Pour aborder cette problématique nous nous sommes rendus en Essonne, dans la banlieue Parisienne à la rencontre de l'apiculteur et biologiste Julien Perrin. Julien élève des abeilles Buckfast, une espèce rustique, autrement dit résistante à tous les désastres qui lui font face. En collaboration avec une grande communauté d'apiculteurs, il travaille à multiplier des lignées d’abeilles que l’on peut considérer comme libres, ou open source. Selon lui, l’abeille doit rester “un commun” dont aucune industrie ne doit prendre possession, pour éviter à tout prix de tomber dans l'écueil des semences et des races propriétaires. L’indifférence face au déclin de l’abeille répond aussi un manque manifeste d’empathie de l’humain face à l’insecte. Il y a, en vérité, une grande méconnaissance des insectes sociaux que l’on pense intelligents seulement par effet de groupe. Et pourtant, ces insectes ont une intelligence propre. Pour l’illustrer, nous avons raconté sous la forme d’un umwelt, c’est-à-dire à la première personne, la conduite d’une abeille. Ce texte, qui viendra ponctuer notre entretient, a été écrit puis évalué au mot près par Fanny Rybak, biologiste et chercheuse au CRNS spécialisée dans la communication inter-espèce. Il est lu par la comédienne Garance Kim.