Following on from Rituel 4 : Le Grand Débat, Émilie Rousset and Louise Hémon probe into the archives of Anita Conti, the first French female oceanographer, ecological pioneer and first female scientist to enter into the closed world of mariners and document her findings.


In 1952, armed with her camera, Anita Conti boarded a trawler and spent six months sharing, in the company of sixty men, the harsh life of cod fishermen in the Atlantic. Thrown around by the incessant swell, the images she returned with are raw and poetic. Her pictures and texts, gathered together under the title Racleurs d’océans, which translates as ‘Ocean scrapers’, mark a turning point in time. An avant-garde militant, she put forward the need for sustainable practices and protection of the oceans. Émilie Rousset and Louise Hémon compare these archives from the past with present-day research via their reflections, often humorous, on the discourse of the images. The staging invented by this directorial duo makes use of images filmed on 16mm, onboard journals and interviews with contemporary oceanographers. The two actresses Saadia Bentaïeb and Antonia Buresi move around the stage to the sound of the Odes Martenot by Julie Normal. In relation to the different eras, and evolution of technology and knowledge, what do scientific images produce in terms of political discourse, and poetic potential?

Designed, written and staged, Émilie Rousset, Louise Hémon
With Saadia Bentaïeb, and Antonia Buresi et aux ondes 
Music, Julie Normal
Stage design and construction, Nadia Lauro
Lighting design, Willy Cessa
Costumes, Angèle Micaux
Mask design and production, Stéphanie Argentier
Dramaturgy consultant Aurélie Brousse
General manager and light Ludovic Rivière alternating with Willy Cessa
Video and sound Romain Vuillet
Stage manager Margaux Maeght
Director’s intern Benjamin Renault
Administration and production, Les Indépendances, Colin Pitrat and Hélène Moulin

Archival texts and films

Racleurs d’océans, text of Anita Conti @ Galimard Edition, Le Grand Dehors collection – Hoëbeke
Racleurs d’océans, filmd’Anita Conti © Cinémathèque of Bretagne
Sounded Archives – Fonds Anita Conti, Lorient archives, Normandy Images
Interviews with Dominique Pelletier, Julien Simon by Louise Hémon and Emilie Rousset

Produced by John Corporation
Co-produced by T2G – Théâtre de Gennevilliers, centre dramatique national ; Théâtre de Lorient, Centre dramatique national ; Fonds d’aide à la création mutualisé (FACM), dispositif du PIVO théâtre en territoire - Scène conventionnée d’intérêt national - Points communs - Nouvelle Scène nationale de Cergy-Pontoise / Val d'Oise ; Le Phénix, scène nationale de Valenciennes.

In partnership with the Cinémathèque de Bretagne, Normandie Images and the Archives department of Lorient
With financial support from Région Île-de-France and participation of DiCRéAM

John Corporation is subsided by the Ministry of Culture – DRAC Ile de France

Premiere on September the 30th of 2021- Gennevillier Theatre as part of the Automn Festival in Paris 

Photographies
© The Oceanographers - Nadia Lauro
© The Oceanographers - Philippe Lebruman