A-project#15

Oslo Teatersenter

Hovinveien 1, 0576 Norway

22 September 14:00 - 15:30

https://laterna.hoopla.no/event/ritualer2024

A-project#15 is a collaboration between Norwegian fine artist Eivind Reierstad and the tribal fusion dancer Alexandre Guimarães Dos Santos from Bahia in Brazil and take form as a Meadowsweet-tea ritual and a dance performance by tribal dancer Alexandre Guimarães Dos Santos.

The project combines an interest in ecology, use of medicinal plants and ancient ritualistic shamanic practices in older Nordic cultures with similar traditions in the local indigenous cultures of Bahia, Brazil. The project seeks to investigate and contribute to personal life strategies for dealing with the current climate crisis by inviting to a closer look at the history of herbalism, and how we can relate to nature and plants today.

The Danish archaeologist and researcher Søren Nancke Krogh points out that the sources of the pre-Christian Nordic mythology and belief system of Scandinavia (with the Gods Odin, Thor, Frey etc.) were written down by Christian priests long after Christianity was introduced to the region. He finds that archaeological evidence do not support the “mythology” as presented by the priests, thus suggesting that the “Nordic mythology” as we know it today was partly invented by the Church to demonetize the ancient culture that existed in the region before Christianity. Søren Nancke Krogh argues that the culture in Scandinavia before 800 DC was more similar to the ancient Shamanic cultures in Siberia, Greenland, North America, and the Sami cultures in the Norther region of Scandinavia. Notable Krogh points out the Shaman-ism in these traditions where not a religion as such, but more a common decentralized practice based on everyday living in close contact with nature.

With Eivind Reierstad and and Alexandre Guimarães Dos Santos.

A-project#15 is supported by the Norwegian Arts Council