Sacred Fire Pot
Contributor: dallas collectif (Camille Gaillard & Salomon Tyler)
Could we appropriate anti-frost systems to develop a new kind of ritual, as a symbol of care and temporal/punctual movement?
Our research started with a
fascination for the anti-frost tower in the orchard we worked in one
year ago, which looked like a wind turbine. It led us to the discovery
of a whole collection of anti-frost systems; from
the distribution of ‘fire pots’ through the orchard, to more mysterious
and highly technological objects such as wind tunnels, fans, sprinkling
systems and fog dragons. All of them share one and the same specific
function: taking care of the blossoms by protecting
them from late spring frosts, a threat that often only lasts one or two
weeks a year.
The many efforts and heavy infrastructures that are set up to protect
the plants for only a very short period of time are impressive. We began
to see them as a ritual, similar to the traditional agricultural feasts
that have this same recurring, temporal and
punctual character. How can these systems be appropriated to develop a
new kind of ritual to thematize an act of care, a gesture so undervalued
in our modern, post-seasonal, industrialized society?
Our "sacred fire pot" is a new ritual object, re-interpreting the
traditional fire pot and referring to its ancestral strength as a place
for gathering. It has a ceremonial shape and is transportable with the help of four
people. On the 20th of March it will move in a procession
over the Roman road that runs through the orchards of Hesbaye in order
to be lit on the fruit company Pipo in Sint-Truiden (more info here). A symbol of care,
guard of the plants against the frost, protector of the future crops
and fruits, and above all a representative of
all the elements and people who have this same temporal and punctual
movement.
Exposition: Z33 (Hasselt, BE) - 30 January 2022 > 17 April 2022
At the Seasonal Neighbours group
exhibition in Z33, we focussed on the specific temporality of the
anti-frost systems and their punctual appearance; stored in sheds,
unrecognizable after being the main character on freezing
nights.
We illustrated this with photos taken by Ode Windels, next to the
sacred fire pot, tidy, disassembled, waiting to perform his ritual.
Biography dallas collectif
Many thanks to PIPO in Sint-Truiden, Guy Plevoets & Guido Wevers from “Haspengouwse Zomergasten” to support this project.
Thanks to the farmers Vincent Van Kerckvoorde, Gaston Derwael and his team of Bel' Export, Peter Pullinckx, Bart Vanhoutte of pcfruit, for letting us take pictures of their anti-frost systems.
