Children’s Forest Group

BAU has invited artist and somatic trainer Barbara Gamper to develop a program with the younger audience in mind. In dialogue with Eva Koťátková and her textile fish, created during her 2025 Pastoral Twilight residency, Barbara will guide children through Becoming Fish, Becoming Ocean—a series of exercises attuned to the breathing of more-than-human beings. Taking the fish as a point of departure, the program opens a collective exploration of how organs such as the heart and lungs pulse, expand, and contract in their own rhythms. Participants will be invited to inhabit these dynamics through small, shared choreographies.The children’s forest group will conclude the symposium with a parade featuring the textile fish through the forests and meadows of Orlické Mountains.

Children’s Forest Group is curated by Barbara Gamper and Eva Koťátková in collaboration with Lisa Mazza and Simone Mair (BAU)

PROGRAMME

Friday 17 July
15:00 – 17:00 Arrival, registration, accommodation
17:00 – 18:00 Programme
18:00 – 19:00 Programme
19:00 – 20:30 Forest Kitchen: dinner
20:30 – 23:00 Programme

Saturday 18 July
8:30 – 10:00 Forest Kitchen: breakfast
10:00 – 11:00 Programme
10:45 – 11:00 Forest Kitchen: snack for children
11:00 – 13:00 Programme  
12:30 – 14:30 Forest Kitchen: lunch for children
14:30 – 17:30 Programme
16:30 – 17:00 Forest Kitchen: snack for children
18:00 – 19:00 Programme
19:00 – 21:00 Forest Kitchen: dinner for children
21:00 – 23:30 Programme

Sunday 19 July
8:00 – 09:30 Forest Kitchen: breakfast
9:30 – 10:30 Somatic exercises with Barbara Gamper, Eva Koťátková and the Forest Children’s Group: Becoming Fish, Becoming Ocean (in English with Czech translation)
11:00 – 12:00 Programme
10:45 – 11:00 Forest Kitchen: snack for children
12:00 – 13:00 Programme
13:00 – 15:00 Forest Kitchen: lunch for children
15:00 – 16:30 Programme
16:30 – 17:00 Forest Kitchen: snack for children and adults