Bouquets [events]
Past:
bingenTV
Cockpit Theatre, August 2021, part of Tete a Tete Opera Festival
Documentary-opera meets quirky gardening show, bingenTV immerses audiences in the world of the Hildegard von Bingen Society for Gardening Companions, a queer-feminist collective originally founded by the German mediaeval mystic and musician Hildegard von Bingen and only recently uncovered by scholars. Through music, film, text, and a healthy dose of gossip, the show traces the history of the society and its revivals. With Sophie Seita as bingenTV’s charismatic host, and The Mermaid Cafe as the show’s dynamic studio band, you’ll not only be treated to a whirlwind jaunt through space and time, but also to some of history’s most insightful minds on interspecies and environmental care, plants, and healing. In the process, the performance offers a poignant meditation on hidden & forgotten voices in gardening history and beyond.
Photos: Claire Shovelton
bingenTV (live performance) Trailer (2021)
[closed captions by Collective Text]
Documentation of the full performance available upon request.
concept + creation
Sophie Seita
Naomi Woo
on-stage performer
Sophie Seita (& cameo by Naomi Woo)
research + video contributions
Adam Moore
Emma Attwood
Jenny Chamarette
Kat Addis
Istanbul Queer Art Collective
Dr. Susie Self
Taey Iohe
music
The Mermaid Cafe (Ruari Paterson-Achenbach & Joanna Ward)
Video and sound editing
The Cockpit Theatre, & Sophie Seita & Naomi Woo
Trailer edit: Ruby Reding
captions
Collective Text
special thanks
Duplikat Press
Botanical Paperworks
Bill Bankes-Jones
Leo Doulton
Anna Gregg
The British Council, Farnham Maltings, Canada Council for the Arts and the High Commission of Canada
further reading
- Eve Tuck and Wayne Yang, ‘Decolonization is Not a Metaphor’
-
Jamaica Kincaid, My Garden(book)
- Mamoud Darwish, ‘Who am I Without Exile?’, translated by Fadi Joudah
- Lisa Robertson, Occasional Work and Seven Walks from the Office for Soft Architecture
- Carolyn Steedman, ‘Reading the Past’
- Donna Haraway, ‘Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plantationocene, Chthulucene: Making Kin’
- Joe Crowdy, ‘Queer Undergrowth: Weeds and Sexuality in the Architecture of the Garden’
- Lisa Moore, ‘Queer Gardens: Mary Delany’s Flowers and Friendships’
- Arakawa and Madeline Gins, Making Dying Illegal Architecture Against Death
