Concept | Pangea In Love

Concept 2023

1. Object

The Pangea in Love Festival is a sociocultural and artistic event that unites all means of expression in a loving celebration of art and music. These forms of expression include music concerts, plastic and visual arts, happenings, performances, readings, workshops, speeches etc.

The Pangea in Love Concept has developed and proven itself throughout the last 8 events on 4 different event sites. This year we’re leaving the magical of the castle of birtrange behind and move on to another breath-taking location. The wonderful Jardins a suivre in Troisvierges. About 2000 invited guests will come together in 2023 to celebrate this major sociocultural event. Local economic structures and conventional social mechanisms will be turned upside down and inside out. Authentic humaneness will be the centre of attention during the event including the enormous potential and diversity that unifies people from all over the world.

This year’s edition of the festival represents the same philosophical ideas and social practices as the first Pangea in Love in 2007 in Güntershof: developing an efficient and unconventional social construct that is capable of real sociocultural change.

2. Project Philosophy

The core of the festival is the philosophical concept of universal and existential connection between all human beings. This connection arises from the awareness that all humans are naturally equal and are made from the same substance. In consequence, the peaceful and harmonious contact with the “other” reflects the construction of the own “self”. But present society slows down social harmony and human development with its full potential. These hierarchic and standardised systems divide instead of unify; humans feel divided from the other, their own self and divinity, creating a breeding ground for discrimination, envy and hatred.

The peaceful purpose of bringing people together in an unconventional, supportive and loving environment inspires people to develop a new approach towards society. The Pangea concept believes in its capacity to put these ideas into practice at least temporarily. Thus, the festival proposes a strong contrast to the actual consumer society. In this point it differs substantially from other profit-oriented festivals.

With this concept, all members of organisation and other actors commit to the following:

They will not make any money from the festival, even if the festival receives donations from guests that exceed the expenses.
They will not engage in any commercial activity (food can only be sold under specific circumstances, as of now we cannot yet give food to guests for free).
They will not collect any money for entries, camping or parking.
They will hand out drinks to guests for free.
They will not accept any commercial sponsoring or other financial support.
They will support cultural diversity, respect and openness.

The disentanglement from materialism will force people to confront themselves with their own personal opinions and convictions. The festival shall continue to push people progressively in that direction; they are not only connected through cultural filters and interests, but also through their own pure humaneness.

The festival’s activating character involves people directly into the event; the shared joy and responsibility in the process are the pillars of Pangea in love.

- Private nature and „free“ nature festival

The audience has the status of invited guests. They don’t pay entry fees and receive beer and soft drinks for free. Whether they contribute financially to the festival or not remains their own choice. But it is very important to notice that without covering our expenses we will NOT be able to continue our activity any longer. The expenses have doubled for us since 2019.

Nothing is possible without the awareness and the responsible thinking of our guests. The voluntary contribution should be equal to the expenses they would have on a similar qualitative festival. A overall high donation could have a social impact beyond our imagination.

The guests must hand over their signed invitation at the entrance area. By signing the invitation, they declare to take responsibility for any damage they may cause on site and that their participation in the festival is entirely at their own risk. Of course, we will do our very best to ensure everyone’s safety.

- Media and publicity

As we are a private event for now, we do not want any media of any kind involved in the project. This is basically to protect the nature of the free and private festival. This is essential for security reasons, as we do not want to attract people who does not have invitation and are not familiar with the solidarity and Festival values. For the same reason we ask every artist to not create Facebook events, and to not do any publicity in any form for the event. That is also the reason why this website can not just be "googled", but is just mentioned on the invitation and the secret facebook group.

We are very pleased to welcome any person living in Troisvierges, who agree with the values of the festival. The only condition is that they wrote us an e-mail at least 2 days in advance on: pangeainlove@gmail.com

- Collective Responsibility

The concept of Pangea in Love is meaningful if it is carried ideologically and financially by the community. If the financial input into the festival is not in balance with guest participation (donations), the committee has the responsibility to resolve the project in this form.

The fact that every guest has the responsibility to contribute to the quality of the festival means also that he is himself responsible for his own safety, respectful contact with other people and with nature. The committee has also developed a safety concept (i.e. 5. Safety) that has proven itself valuable throughout the previous editions of the festival. Still, as always, the individual responsibility is key.

The festival is a long-term project that should allow everyone the participation in and preservation of the concept. Thus, the organisation remains an open circle. The festival aims to include all subcultures of society, independent of ethnic-cultural origins, social status or beliefs. The philosophy supports and promotes tolerance, cooperation and acceptance of all people. The impact of the Pangea in Love Festival could contribute to societal change and to the creation of a better world. The concept is optimistic in this sense: a shared idea that becomes a shared conviction or belief can trigger a snowball-effect that should not be underestimated. Still we are not too naïve to aim at such a utopia without considering the reality of the context we live in. It will rather remain a drop in the ocean. But as Hermann Hesse said: “In order to know what is possible, one must strive for the impossible.”

3. Organisation

Throughout the years the organisational structures have become more and more efficient and successful. For legal reasons the organisation committee will now become an “a.s.b.l”.

This does not change the practicalities of the actual form of organisation. Consequently, the concept is not only a guideline but has a binding character for all members of committee.

One of the aims of the concept is that the members of committee do not sacrifice themselves or their private lives for the creation of the festival. Instead they shall enjoy the process, which becomes as important as the result itself, and learn from the experience. The members of the organising committee are not supposed to carry the whole load on their shoulders and be buried under it. Rather are they supposed to create a setting in which everyone shares the responsibility for the quality of the festival, even individuals participating as guests only.

The internal organisation consists of a committee of 5 members that bears the responsibility for the general coordination, and thus the responsibility for process-development, decision-making and finances. The committee members are volunteers that are responsible for their respective specific working areas. They commit o invest themselves with the best of their skills without getting the slightest financial payment at all. On the other hand they will contribute if necessary.

4. Safety

Our safety system consists of 6 main aspects:

The selective and private character of the festival. This aspect makes it possible to invite people that already share similar ideas of tolerance and acceptance. Furthermore, since it is a private festival, we reserve the right to exclude people from the festival that don’t comply with our conditions of safety and respect.
An increased presence of volunteers and people directly involved in the festival. This creates an increased sense of safety and security.
A permanent presence of an emergency service.
The formal responsibility for their own safety of all the guests.
The conceptual support of a peaceful and tolerant community.
A good communication and clear intervention rules with the local police force

5. Music

The music is a core element of the festival. It represents a medium that connects people and spreads the joy. As mentioned before, music concerts are not the only form of art at the festival and coexist with the other forms of expression. Quantitatively they will make up the biggest element of the festival, and following points seem important to us:

A maximum of 20 Bands can play at the festival and they should represent a high diversity of styles.
The bands should be free to decide what music they play as much as possible. We will do our best to guarantee a setting and backstage that are worthy of their art and that allow a joyful and positive experience playing at the festival.
Members of the bands will be taken care of when it comes to food, accommodation and support on site.
Pangea in Love gives bands the opportunities to include experimental aspects in their gigs, since they play in front of a highly tolerant audience that does not only consume but is involved in the action.
A backline will be organised so that musicians only need to bring what is necessary for their setup.
In the sense of diversity bands that have played in 2019 will not be allowed to play in 2023 (with the only exception of (D´Halunken, who had a shorted concert not due to their fault. )
In order to support the younger generation of musicians, one or two newcomer bands will have their stage at the festival.
In order to allow the bands a minimum of financial income for their concert, the following decisions have been taken:

Bands from further than 40 km across the border will receive money for transport as follows: 0.21 cent per km, per car (i.e. band coming from Brussels will receive 103€ as 247kmx0.21).
Cancelling a gig just before the festival without a legitimate reason means the band/artist will not be able to perform at another edition of the festival.
Further modalities that need clarification will be communicated by the member of committee in charge of the bands.

6. Art

Expression through art is not only a by-product of the festival but contributes to the general concept of Pangea in Love. It is our aim to bring all the artists together and let them oversee the creative setting of the festival. The financial limits of Pangea shall not limit the dimension of this artistic creations. The idea is also to progressively include fine and visual arts into the festival. In case there are rooms on site available that can be locked, we will be able to set up an art gallery that can be guarded by volunteers during opening hours. We are hoping to attract more visual and plastic artists this way.

The member of committee that oversees the artists will coordinate them on site.
Artists will receive invitations to the festival to distribute.
Every artist is in the end in charge of the safety of their own creations. The organiser tries to ensure a setting as safe as possible but does not bear responsibility for damage to or loss of the creations.
The art will be specifically and professionally supervised during the night.
In the spirit of the festival, no artist can sell their creations on site.
The member of committee that is responsible for the artists will organise a meeting for them in May/June.
Installations and sculptures should contribute to the general creative setting of the festival.
In case no rooms on site will be available for our use, artists have the choice of “live painting” on site or they are themselves in charge of the safety of their creations if they choose to expose them.
The organisers will assist them in setting up an exposition.
The creations will remain the property of the artists throughout the whole festival.

7. Performances

One of the main challenges this year will be to find artists that are willing to set up a free live performance during the festival. It is important to us to contact as many free artists as possible. Like in the last edition of Pangea, the member of committee in charge of this working area will try and include spiritual approaches.

Performers will receive invitations to hand out.
Since planned performances will be part of the official programming, the members of committee in charge of the performers and the bands will be working closely together in order to create a nice flow in the programming.
Financing through individual sponsoring of performers is not allowed.
Necessary material for performances will be available.

8. Zero waste concept

Since 2019 we strive to be a 0 Waste Festival.

In 2019 we achieved already an amazing result by producing only 156 gramms of waste per person on three days. Most of these was food residues. Our ambition in 2023 is to bring be under 100 gramms per person.

Here specifically our method in order to do it:

We gonna produce exclusively vegetarian food ourselves for all the artists, volunteers and any participative acteur, and will be completely in charge of a part of the distribution.
The charity organisations who are going to sell the food to the guests, are supervised by us, and have to follow specific environmental rules.

We are expecting from our guests the following:

To bring as little unnecessary plastic packaging as possible to the festival. Everything is provided on the festival. Meals are at a very low cost and for the benefit of charity organizations.
Organize car sharing or take the train who just opened its direct line to Troisvierges from Luxemburg City
Bring their own cup
Bring cutterly and plates to give to the organization
To put the cigarette butts in the designed white bins and not in the nature
To try to leave no trace wherever they go.
To not start any fires on the campsite
To try to take their trash with themselves.
Every waste which cannot be avoided or be taken away has to be recycled in our specifical recycle bins and containers.

We believe that a socio-cultural impact is possible only if people are able to evolve emotionally, mentally and spiritually together. In this sense, we aim to unify universal humaneness in order to symbolically spread hope for a peaceful and joyful world.

9. What is special in 2023

By moving to this new site, we discover a lot, lot of potential. First we are in a beautiful garden, that offers us already a beautiful spot, and new possibilities. We are in the beautiful north of the country next to Belgium border, and this is really culturaly a big change from 2019 in the castle of Birtrange. Neighbours are around here as well and we expect from every guest to be respectful and nice to any of them, without exceptions.

We have the chance to have three stages this year.

1. The mainstage with 18 bands

2. The inTENTse stage with 7 workshops , 2 performances and 11 Dj sets

3. The Nostalgie stage with 15 musical and cultural performances.

The world changed a lot since 2019 and this is an important gathering in order to create cultural and social impact. Your contribution and participation as well as your behaviour will matter more than ever.

In 2023 the energies are REALLY aligned without doubt.

PEACE AND LOVE MY FRIENDS