Potted in Paris

While John was visiting the Picasso Museum, I chanced upon an incredible performance as I wandered through the Marais neighbourhood looking for artists' events involved in Nomade, a neighbourhood Festival of Culture. My favourite of all the events was called Plantering Performance by Marie Öhrn in the garden of the Swedish Institute on Rue Payenne.

 In her poetic performance, Ms Öhrn offered adults, teens and children the chance to be planted in a flower pot. When I arrived a gentleman was being talked quietly through the experience while his eyes were closed and Ms Öhrn held his hand.

 His feet had been planted in soil in a large pot and he seemed to be listening very closely to her instructions. It was too quiet to overhear and they both seemed oblivious to standers by.

 The experience is supposed to take 4 minutes. At one point Ms Öhrn put her fist to the man's chest and he was nodding to her words. Being a Taurean, a classic Earth sign, I longed to let her plant me.

Unfortunately at that point I had go off to meet John at the Picasso Museum so I didn't see the final moments in the performance. Later when John and I peeked into a back gate the man was wiping his feet and smiling and a child was being ritually prepared for his planting by the artist. Something very magical was happening there.