A temporary bivouac for nocturnal storytelling. Weaving together research on the act of walking and nomadism with the theme of dwelling lightly in public spaces, this site-specific work by DOM- invites the audience to a collective exercise in rest and suspension.

When night falls, clocks stop, perception stretches, and the landscape emits indecipherable messages, languid like the heat rising from the ground while moisture descends from the sky and tree trunks. Muslin garments settle on the grass and dark rocks, someone drifts away. Nature then reveals itself in its full seductive power, calling bodies to itself, inviting them to pause and lose themselves, issuing an irresistible call to go beyond, to cross the threshold between dream and wakefulness. A cry at the edge of an experience from which one does not return—or if one does return, words fail to describe it.

The performance, conceived as a long musical suite and a space for deep listening, is divided into three parts

The Prologue:
The performance begins in an enclosed space (theater-cinema-hall), where the audience listens to a dialogue between a psychoanalyst and a philosopher. Immersed in darkness, the discussion explores the power of the “outside,” its magnetic force, and the subversive dimension of the picnic. It addresses the breaking of social hierarchies around the table, the erotic state of bodies lying still next to one another, the forms of listening, and how an institution collapses.

The Walk:
After the prologue, a set of picnic baskets appears in the darkness of the room, and the audience is invited to take them and embark on a walk toward the picnic site. This walking moment, a transition, acts as a passage from a conceptual plane to a more tangible sensory experience. Words find the landscape that hosts them, the sunset light arrives, and the group moves together toward an elsewhere.

The Picnic:
Once arrived, the picnic appears as a large black square of 10×10 meters. There are cushions, lace, ceramic plates, steel cutlery, and crystal glasses. In the center, a large buffet of delicious food is set up, with water and wine. A period of time opens in which nothing seemingly happens. There is no rush; the body is free to relax, converse, eat, or simply observe. After about an hour, some figures who had been among the audience begin to tell a story drawn from the novel and film Picnic at Hanging Rock. The story, detailed in its descriptions, becomes a sonic and visual journey. The narrative shifts progressively from impersonal to subjective, as the performers become the protagonists of the story, and we find ourselves at the base of Hanging Rock.
The story unfolds until the point where the girls mysteriously disappear on the mountain, never to return. In the meantime, night has arrived, and the vision is consumed by the dark. The performers too disappear into the night, and as time passes, the audience will return to the starting point of the journey.