From mid May to The 1st of October 2016, the Isidore Hurteau square of the Jacques Ferron Cultural Center in Longueuil hosted the visual and sound installation “Listen to the field of roots” which goal was to question the transmission of stories about roots form one generation to another.

 

This installation had three components: potato plants, interviews recorded with people passing by and garden benches. Twenty-four geofabric bags had been placed on each side of the alley which leads to the building of the Cultural Center, to highlight the main idea of the installation: the transmission is a crossing. At the border of the field, three listening booths were put to broadcast interviews of people describing their understanding of « roots » and of the ways to pass them on to the next generation. Garden benches had been placed around the listening booths. The benches had been painted with bright colors corresponding to the various potato varieties (yellow, orange, red and blue) and representing the space of listening and transmission from one space to another.

 

Many activities with citizens of Longueuil occurred during this project: planting tubercles, storytelling evening, potato crop during the Culture Days. This project was made possible thanks to the participation and financial support of the town of Longueuil.