REVIEW

Raquel Fernández welcomed us right at the Zoo Basel tram stop with a performance that got us in the mood for a day full of surprises and discoveries. Accompanied by a demanding four-legged friend, the dancer and artist moved beyond and to borders - thoughtfully, carefully and at the same time playfully humorous, her performance spoke personally and yet abstractly about closeness and distance, about strangeness and familiarity and awakened new thoughts in the audience about their own barriers, that need to be overcome or built up.

The author was waiting for us on a meadow beneath Landskron Castle with excerpts from her upcoming novel. With a view of the vastness of the meadows and fields, we followed her words into the stable and took a loving look at the cows; caught something of the feeling of taking responsibility for the land and animals and noticed how, by longing for inaction, nature can take everything back at any moment. Through their insight, we guessed what stories could be hidden behind the fields surrounding us.

With our bellies and brains filled with new impressions, Rebecca and Pawel then got us moving. Together with the dancers, we each took a moment for ourselves, slowly got moving again, and finally jumped and danced with and around each other in the Alsatian hilly landscape. Exhilarated and with new freshness, we took the last climb up to the castle in an unusual way - walking backwards, new perceptions of the surroundings and our walking together opened up to us.

A murmur went through the crowd when Rebecca Solari from Creme Solaire appeared in the yellow, bouncing, bubbly and creamy costume in the ancient gate high up in the castle. Together with Pascal Stoll, she conquered the castle with a stormy voice and a physical presence that made not only us but also the castle sway and marvel. With their performative force, Creme Solaire knocked us out of our composure, the rhythms and melodies made us cheer and stomp and sing along with and without words. When the excitement couldn't get any bigger, a spontaneous duet with Baby Volcano completely blew the audience away.

The castle hall began to glow as the first beats of Baby Volcano boomed out of the speakers. Initially simmering darkly, hidden behind mystical wool masks, Baby Volcano and their two musicians/DJs slowly began to cast a spell over the audience. After the first whispering, rhythmically attractive tones, we were already very close to Baby Volcano, following her explosive movements in an ever-expanding, driving and also angry experience, until our bodies were in an activist rave of trap beats, Guatemalan rhythms and inciting Spanish-French singing almost by itself.

The two authors and performers accompanied the last visitors back to the city in the shining moonlight. As if infected by the golden moonlight, the two in their golden suits turned the bright tram into a sparkling story train and, with their poetic words about encounters, love and relationships, exuded the right goodnight mood for the tired but enthusiastic visitors * already brought you on the way to imaginative dreaming.

His light turned the old castle hall into a warm, dark and mysteriously sparkling place in which the old stones began to glow and Baby Volcano was able to drift with the audience into another world, floating past different dimensions of time, color and place -dancing pulsating rhythm.

After a walk from Flüh in Baselland through the forests across the border to France, we met Lukas Merkelbach on the side of the path. The biologist talked about the work of the conservationists who have turned the forested area back into a paradise for rare plant species and for the goats from the Domaine du Geissberg farm. He drew attention to green, whirring and flying things and philosophized about the concept of the natural. Infected by his enthusiasm, the last part of the walk became even more buzzing and colorful.

After we had already roamed the meadows with our ears and eyes and heard about the work in and with nature, Domaine du Geissberg invited us to explore the taste of their work on their biodynamic farm in the neighboring village of Biederthal. From fresh goat's cheese to the unmistakably spicy Munster to crispy Saussisson and freshly baked soft bread, we feasted with murmurs of approval on the products made from the milk of the cows we watched grazing.

After Rebecca and Pawel had led us to the castle in an activating and inspiring way, they explored the entrance to the Landskron with their own bodies in mutual dance play. They rolled through the ancient tunnel, stirring up the stony dust and turning the walls into elastic departure points for their acrobatic-organic movements.  

The two musicians welcomed us to the tower with an acoustic and visual spectacle. Their sounds from modular, guitar and voice floated with the clouds of smoke over the audience into the landscape and with them the swarms of flying ants that just pixelated the field of vision left us. Whispering, murmuring voices overlapped with snippets of conversation from other places and frequencies. Evocative tones, sometimes tender, sometimes powerful songs and strangely distorted guitar sounds, together with the neon-colored wafting sunset like in a lava lamp, increased in their performance to a ceremony that put us in reverent, spherical vibrations.

Landskron 1 was a delight for all the senses - including the senses of taste. At the self-built bar there was the finest white wine and crémant from the region, freshly tapped beer, rosé for the summer mood and some local non-alcoholic refreshing drinks.

The Alsatian Flammekueche were delicious - especially thanks to the friendly efforts of many visitors.

We look forward to Landskron 2 and further culinary delights.

With Leontine Soulier's artwork we were able to make our way from the city to the countryside up to Landskron Castle before Landskron 2. In the bright, warm sunshine through colorful hills, with the names of the artists in your head for anticipation, past grazing cows, surprising views and insights, up to the sun spectacle shimmering in all colors on the castle to the mystical glittering moonlight over old walls . And even now, looking back, her drawing still tells us about a day full of impressions and encounters that remains in our memory as colorful as her colors.

Landskron 2 offered all sorts of sparkling and grape flavors from the region. From the local Crémant, to white wine, but also rosé to the Alsatian Meteor beer, one of the last large family breweries in Alsace, the castle bar invited you to enjoy with seating and hanging areas made from woody residues. In the second edition the club ensuredWallasitter from Leymen for satisfied tummies with the ever-popular Flammekueche, whose vegetarian version even celebrated its premiere at Landskron.