Midsummer, Rotterdam is hosting
a huge celebration of the sun by recreating the myth of Stonehenge.
In it's own Central Park, from June 16th -24th, a copy of this
magnificent pre-historic monument will be erected to its full
glory. The structure will be built out of bamboo and white veil
to the actual dimensions of the original.
The real Stonehenge has always
been a historic enigma. We will never know what it's creators
(3500-1500BC) had intended. We do know that this monument is
a powerful symbol that has inspired people globally for generations
since. BambooHenge will be an equally inspiring event. A ritual
project about things we do not understand but moves us to build
this ancient image. With unified forces we will try to a evoke
a mythical dream, a collective memory that will bind us with
each other and the generations that went before us. It will become
a moment of reflection regarding the future, a marker in time.
BambooHenge will show that by building together, talking together,
dreaming together collectively comes down to sharing together.
We can lift and enrich our day-to-day lives.
The project is an event of JMR
productions following the concept of the artists Antoon Versteegde
and Rini Biemans. Around the monument, a festival will take place,
where people, cultures, arts, nature, ideas and experiences meet.
The program is a result of cooperation among several organizations
and individual artists.
The realization of BambooHenge
creates a venue in the city where cultural and artistic movements
can present themselves. This collective, joint effort will create
a renewed appreciation for the modern day arts, inspired from
the past.
BambooHenge is divided into Three
meaningful rings:
- Ring 1: The building together
of Stonehenge Rotterdam
- Ring 2: The meeting during the
Surrounding programs
- Ring 3: The afterimage in the
minds and hearts of the participants and visitors and also the
projection of the project in the media (print, Radio/television,
Internet).
The National Trust and English Heritage continue their bizarre
round of negotiations with leading pagans and druids (including
King Arthur Pendragon) in a bid to avert disaster at Stonehenge's
summer solstice celebrations.
In chapter one, a dispute broke out over when the Solstice
should be celebrated. Using astral charts, the druids now want
the night of June 22. English Heritage, which looks after the
Stones, declares that it must be celebrated on the 21st.
The National Trust, which owns the land around the Stones,
finds itself in an unlikely alliance with the pagans and an explosive
debate commences at the Round Table of a Wiltshire hotel.
Determined to avoid the violent clashes that dogged the Solstice
celebrations in the 1980's, Clewes Everard of English Heritage
decides to get tough and launches a massive security campaign
with the Wiltshire Constabulary.
National Trust representative Patrick Begg's more relaxed
attitude, on the other hand, looks set to jeopardise all English
Heritage's best-laid plans. And disruptive email traffic from
the pagan community threatens to turn the whole event into a
combustible show-down.
How will the National Trust and English Heritage deal with
this impasse? Will this year be a celebration of peace and love
or a return to the bad old days of the Solstice? This documentary
offers a fascinating insight into one of the tensest dramas ever
to engulf the National Trust.
Midsummer