With an urgent concern for the future of all species, EARTHBOUND is an invitation to investigate the state of planet Earth through the arts and sciences. EARTHBOUND is a symposium that explores and challenges the Anthropocene, fosters commitment, and inspires change. We wish to explore what would happen if humans were to cease seeing ourselves as the center of all life on this planet. We believe that it matters how we humans interact with and relate to other living beings and places. Now is the time for a large-scale paradigm shift – _we propose to live in Multispecies realities where animals, micro-organisms, plants and landscapes have equal value as humans. The need for developing new notions and a new language will always be a non-linear process. It means accepting that we enter unknown territory. But we believe it makes all the difference if we do this together, while celebrating interdependencies, and meeting across disciplines and old boundaries. The EARTHBOUND symposium is based on the core values and holistic principles of the performance theatre Secret Hotel and our sister organisation Earthwise Residency: Care, consideration, respect, sustainability, and exchange of knowledge as well as pursuing a hunch. Also central to us is living with and learning from domestic and wild animals and plants. We aim for these principles to permeate every aspect of the symposium; from the invited artists and speakers to the way we structure the event, choice of locations, to the food we serve.

EARTHBOUND 2021 offers talks & debates, 6h of workshops running during the three days, performance excerpts, lectures on busses and sharing sessions all delightfully interrupted by vegetarian/vegan meals made from local produce. The Symposium is created as one durational or staged event structured around stimulating the intellect and senses. As a participant you will meet performing artists, visual artists, musicians, anthropologists, philosophers, researchers of science & technology and other people with a holistic approach to or interest in this broad yet essential topic.

You will be in the company of Guðbjörg R. Jóhannesdóttir, Andreas Roepstorff, Tuomas Ruonakari, Sissel M. Bergh, Julia Adzuki, Parnuna Egede, Zeenath Hasan, Thomas Rosendal Nielsen, Esben Bjerggaard Nielsen, Jes Lyning Harfeld, Karine Bonneval, Kuai Shen, Lily Hunter, Rebekah Cupitt and others to be announced. You will be offered workshops by Katrine Faber, Ally Bishop, Lucy Powell, Fröydi Lazslo and Maria Brænder, and performance excerpts by Tora Balslev/Daily Fiction, and Christine Fentz/Secret Hotel.

EARTHBOUND is organized by the performance theatre Secret Hotel in collaboration with Interacting Minds Center – _Aarhus University, Applied Philosophy – _Aalborg University, Aarhus Performing Arts Platform, Earthwise Residency and others.

Evening blooming, in collaboration with gardener Astrid Steffensen
In real time we will share the blooming of nocturnal flowers. Sitting with our feet planted in an archipelago of carpets, feeling the grass or the ground under our bare feet and listening to the amplified sounds of the activity of soil invertebrates, we will watch the opening of the buds. A quotidian and precious evening event.
To accompany this time of human-plant sharing, Astrid Steffensen has selected a selection of historical text describing in many ways the same moment experienced by others in the past.

More info on: www.secrethotel.dk