Subli.Mersion PIM: Developing an Arts-and-Science Project Around Breton Stories, Myths and Legends of Submersion

The Subli.Mersion PIM invited students to explore, through critical reflection and artistic experimentation, the Geomyth’ys research project dedicated to Breton narratives of flooding, submersion and sand engulfment. The aim was to investigate whether these myths and legends might preserve traces, transformed through collective memory, of abrupt environmental changes experienced by past societies.

By combining geography, archaeology, geomorphology and ethnolinguistics with a sensitive approach to territories and landscapes, the programme adopted a transdisciplinary methodology.

Working in small groups, participants designed prototypes for arts-and-science projects combining different forms of data, popular narratives, archaeological traces, geomorphological evidence and toponymy, with a variety of artistic media such as video, illustration, writing and spoken performance.

The projects explored how past populations may have experienced and interpreted environmental disasters, and how these experiences could help inform contemporary reflections on sea-level rise. The resulting prototypes aimed to raise public awareness of risk memory while contributing to broader discussions on adaptation and territorial governance.

At the end of the programme, students had experimented with the different stages of a creative project, ideation, research, experimentation, iteration and collaboration, while developing a deeper understanding of arts-and-science approaches. This PIM enabled them to adopt a renewed perspective on their own disciplines and to place creativity, co-construction and transdisciplinarity at the heart of their scientific practice.

Learn more about Géomyth’Ys ANR

Discover the video by filmmaker Joaquim Afonso Da Silva, who followed the students throughout the week:

View students’ outputs:

Contributors:

• Lionel Duigou, illsutrator
• Aneta Gorczynska, ANR Géomyth’Ys – LETG/UBO
• Enzo Murias, ANR Géomyth’Ys – LETG/UBO
• Josselin Wilmotte, ANR Géomyth’Ys – LETG/UBO

Supervisors:

• Axel Créac’h, LETG/UBO
• Isabelle ELIZEON, AMURE/TranSborder