DEATH IS THE SPACE THAT NATURE NEEDS TO BE ALIVE.

The collaborative duo of Nuits Balnéaires and Bayo Hassan Bello are recipients of the Goethe Institut and Prince Claus Fund 2020 Call for Proposals to support cultural and artistic responses to environmental change with their project ‘Death is the space that nature needs to be alive’,an experimental film that narrates the cycle of life and death.

Death is the Space that nature needs to be alive is an experimental feature film and a collection of texts. The project conceived in isolation in the remote village of Tanokofikkro in the Central East of Côte D’Ivoire is the result of an introspection which questions the disappearance of human impact and the sustainability of natural life.

The project aims to stimulate public attention on local responses to environmental issues, provide space for different perspectives within the sustainability discussion and encourage a harmonious relationship among people and the spaces they inhabit. It shows how without environmental policies and policing, Tanokoffikro exists as a model for nature preservation, reinforcing the value of traditional knowledge and indigenous methods as a form of environmentalism. 

Through an experimental film and a collection of texts (in Agni, English and French), the collaborative duo initiate a critical evaluation of local responses by the people of Tanokoffikro to environmental issues, their perspective on the cycle of life and their approach to sustainability. The inclusion of family archives, oral interviews, tales and folklore of the Agni-Bona people (the main residents of Tanokoffikro) helps to narrate the spiritual beliefs, social structures and the harmonious relationship the people of Tanokoffikro have with their environment. The project will be entirely produced in Tanokoffikro from April 2021.