Hayashi 林 – La Forêt : a collective effort to grow Peace

In a world shaken by conflict, agitation, and noise, it's sometimes hard to find a moment's peace. Michiko Fou answers this question with a collective, poetic, performative work, imagined as a moment of Peace.

© Ana Bloom

Becoming a tree, for better connections

The tree is a powerful symbol: stable, rooted, but also flexible. It grows slowly, quietly. It connects the earth to the sky and lives in harmony with other living beings. To embody it is to slow down, to enter a different temporality. The present is stretched out, thoughts are calmed. The body regains deep balance.

In Hayashi 林 - La Forêt, each participant becomes a tree. Then, little by little, a forest takes shape. Bodies align, energies attune. This suspended, collective moment creates a rare space: a space of Peace.

"A collective moment of Peace in the tumult of today's world"

A lively, participatory work

This project is designed to adapt to different contexts: museums, schools, public spaces, businesses, or festivals. Wherever it grows, La Forêt adapts to the terrain, the people and the climate of the moment. It can be silent or engaged, intimate or monumental. In a school, the work becomes a workshop to awaken children to their bodies, to listening to themselves, and to others. In a museum, it becomes a living, sensory installation that invites people to slow down. In a company, it opens up a space for collective breathing, cohesion, and refocusing. In an urban or activist environment, it becomes a poetic and political act of peace in the midst of tumult.

Around the work, workshops are proposed for different audiences. Dancers, artists, children, citizens... everyone can experience the work in their own way. Through simple exercises in posture, slowness, and breathing, participants explore their own verticality.

A forest that grows everywhere

Hayashi 林-La Forêt is not a static work of art. It evolves, transforms, according to places and people. It lives through those who carry it and pass through it. It is a reminder that, even at the heart of the hustle , it is possible to grow peace. One tree. Then another. And yet another.

That's how a forest is born. That's how a space for humanity is created.

To find out more about her courses and projects, visit her official website: michiko-fou.com.