When Erwann CADORET joined 2 Rien Merci to create Moulinoscope (shown at Les Tombées de la Nuit in 2011), he began creating strange apparatus for his small colony of snails, drawing inspiration from the bones, wood and rusty materials characteristic of the company (with whom he also developed Escargopolis for snails). It took him four long years to complete the funfair and finalise the performance of this improbable circus act. Since the creation of SLOW PARK at Les Tombées de la Nuit in 2015, the show has evolved at the slow pace of the snails who live and perform there, continuing the surprising adventure of this “circus for fragile beasts”, housed in a small yurt for twelve spectators.

In this new anti-spectacular celebration of slowness with snails in the same way one would use paradoxes, changes of scale and focus. Audiences discover a Lilliputian fairground with a trapeze, big wheel, rollercoasters and bed of nails in this miniature funfair for snails, whose slimy trails blend into the backdrop. With rusty wood, recycled objects, a hand-made circus, precarious attractions and slow-moving menagerie, SLOW PARK is reminiscent of Caro and Jeunet’s film Delicatessen or one of David Lynch’s disturbing creations. This utopic and quirky microcosmic city gently balanced between earth and sky encourages us to take our time, take a rest and align ourselves with the gentle pace of this slow installation for our tentacled friends. The two machine operators / circus boys and girls tell a lot of true stories… and plenty of others that could have been true. People can come and go as they like in this “house of slowness” – a strange and disturbing world that is gentle and warm, yet also uncomfortable, and which has successfully turned a dozen snails into circus artists.

Erwann CADORET’s Lilliputian experiments will be installed outside Le Vieux Saint Étienne theatre, much like during Medieval funfairs where exotic tamed animals were presented.