The trial

Voice of nature is a site-specific court piece, in which we investigate ecocide* and the possibility of making a new proposal for the justice-system.
It is as an experiment with how law and justice can serve the ecosystem by proposing a reconfiguration of a court room. It explores the difficulties of recognizing personhood to the more than humans, as to recognize a mountain or a river as legal entity. The audience is invited into a process of transformation through the realms of fiction, magic and documentary, that can guide them to become guardians of nature.

In order to propose a new type of 'verdict' in the form of a restorative contract, we experiment with combining elements from a conventional court, restorative justice and rituals. In this trial, humans and other then humans come together to find a collective language, focused on inter-being, intersectionality and restoration.

*'Ecocide' is a term referring to the crime of damaging, destructing or annihilating ecosystems, wether by human agency or other. Despite the global reality of it, this crime remains currently unmentioned in the Rome Statute of the international Criminal Court.

Credits

Concept and direction Maria Lucia Cruz Correia
Dramaturgy Ingrid Vranken
Performance Caroline Daish
Systemic Constellation Navigator Luea Ritter
Research contribution Sébastien Hendrickx
Sound Design Joao Bento
Light Design Vinny Jones
Video Mark Pozlep
Advise Jeroen Peeters, Starhawk
Costume Design Anne-Catherine Kunz
Legal fact checking Hendrik Schoukens & Juan Auz
Restorative Justice collaborator Brunilda Pali
Research documentation Mark Pozlep & Hana Vodeb
Intern Maíra Wiener
Technician Alain Decoen
Production Tineke de Meyer
Co-Production Vooruit (B), Kaaitheater (B), Bunker (SL), Workspacebrussels (B), Het TheaterFestival, t-heater & Circuit X (Roel Verniers Prijs 2017)
Produced by FoAM

Residency&Research No Lugar (EC), Center for Creative Ecologies /Tj Demos (US), Artsadmin (UK), BUDA kunstcentrum (BE), WP Zimmer (BE)
With the support of the Flemish Community, Imagine 2020, and Creative Europe Culture.

Thanks to Sarayaku community, UDAPT, TJ Demos, Polly Higgins, Steven Desanghere, Juliane von Crailsheim, Femke Widekop, Michelle Maloney, Irena Radmanovic, Nina Vurdelja, coyote, Eva Peeters, Monika Meysmans, Ivo Aertsen, Isabelle de Vos, Cathrina Van den Abeele (hoofdgriffier hof van beroep Gent), Nathalie Van De Vijver, Bert Meyfroot, Refu Interim, KU Leuven Institute of Criminology (LINC).