The Underwater Heart of the Mediterranean
A variety of cultures and territories embracing ONE philosophy: Everybody is equal under the water!
What it is
The Underwater Heart of the Mediterranean is a cultural educational and community project led by DK-BEL (France), Quasi Stellar (Greece) and Pelma (Cyprus). It is supported by the European Union Creative Europe, Horizon 2020 Program for the period January 2015- February 2016.
It consists in several artistic and educational actions, in each of which we involve together people with disabilities (children or adults) and professionals from many artistic disciplines:
- Drops of breath - An underwater dance-visual performance for the first time in the world.
- Drops of Peace - A site-specific dance-visual performance.
- Eyes Wide Open - A symposium about the similarities between Mediterranean countries and how they link culture with environment.
- "Mediterranean Bodies" exhibition - With matchmaking young artists Cypriots, Greeks, French and Lebanese.
- Artistic and environmental workshops.
- A documentary of the creating process of Drops of breath.
Our Philosophy
By reflecting to our common pulses, pathways and roots, the partnership puts forward a multi-disciplinary performing arts project in the Mediterranean. With respect to diversity, it goes far beyond defending peoples’ differences and works on the exploration of peoples’ similarities, as if they share a common breath and a common heartbeat.
The values of equality, respect, transparency, clarity, simplicity, human rights and environmental protection are highly projected, since everybody is equal under the water.
Water is one of the most important resources in the world; a form of energy, a state of nature. It knows no frontiers, no borders, no politics, no religions; it is an element that bridges and unifies people, countries and cultures and the artistic research and methodology developed is connected to the multidimensional identity of the Mediterranean Sea.
If each human being is considered a drop of water in the Mediterranean, we set our goal to value each drop, believing that one single drop can make a change; one drop, one human being can make a difference to the entire human race. One drop of water might have little significance for the humans, yet it is a miracle of nature. Equally, one human being might be of tiny importance to the millions of people around the Mediterranean Sea, each human is unique and extremely valuable for humanity.
Starting from Greece and travelling in the Mediterranean the project blends-in its peoples through workshops and educative programmes, artistic residencies – rehearsals/co-creation of performances, an underwater performance, a film documentary and artwork production, a multi-disciplinary performance and an international forum.