Le Bal des hippocampes, vidéo HD, 8 min, 2024 (see video extract)
Director : Edith Roux
Music: Nicolas Repac
With the dancers and freedivers: Tiphaine Arnal, Julie Weber, Morgan Umami Yoga et Sodeep
Preserving the diversity of the living , both human and non-human, is a preoccupation present in Edith Roux's work, which could be described as a poetic documentary. Philosopher Baptiste Morizot reminds us that humans and non-humans are interdependent and part of the same fabric of life. Protecting the living means defending the world's habitability. In a dreamlike way, this video project seeks to raise awareness of the need to preserve marine species by visually linking different species, each respecting their otherness.
For many years, the artist has pursued a series of videos with a touch of humor, featuring “the character with the green shoes”, who appears here in this recent work in the presence of Hippocampus abdominalis, an endangered marine species. One of the peculiarities of male seahorses is that they incubate eggs in a ventral pouch. A dance ensues between the seahorses and the freedivers, whose choreographed figures echo those of the sea horses, in a harmonious dialogue that unites them within the same living entity. Humans and non-humans find themselves interconnected in dance time. The love parade of seahorses, which inspires the dancers, reenchants our perception of this endangered marine species.
Aquariums play a role in preservation and scientific research, while at the same time putting the living on show. What place will this ecosystem reserve for our green-shoed character?
Contact the artist if you wish to see the complete video