PRODUCTION SPRING 1-Process/Idea
NEWEST IDEA AND WORKSHOPS - see SoMe website
‘(Re)learning tree-time: exploring how to think long-term again from the more-than-human time perspective’
a collaborative series of events centred around the notion of time from the point of view of the more-than-human. It aims to challenge our increasingly short-term thinking with the long-term thinking of tree-time. ‘Tree time’ can be understood as the slower, steadier cycles of nature that govern trees.
‘(Re)learning tree-time’ invites participants and viewers to take their time and use their sensory abilities to explore tree-time, as a way to discuss long-term thinking and why this could be relevant today.
‘I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on my past’, Maori proverb.
‘We are all grandchildren and we are all ancestors’, Julia Whaipooti, Maori lawyer & children’s rights campaigner.
‘We do not inherit the land from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children’, Apache saying.
‘trees teach us about life at the speed of wood.’ Richard Powers, novellist.
Overview of art project (click here for details)
- storytelling tree walk
- whittling workshop
- tree-planting workshop
- printing workshop
- ‘welcome to your descendant’s 90th birthday party’ grande finale
- satellite talks/performances/workshops
-A collective art installation will ensue from the whittling workshop, to be used in the tree-planting workshop.
- A collective art installation will also ensue from the printmaking workshop, whose aim will be to make the set decorations for the ‘90th birthday party’ event.
- film-loop of more-than-human perspectives
Communication workshop takeaways to bring into this project:
exercise from workshop Eliot:
concept: time, legacy, more-than-human perspectives (contra-anthropocene? post-anthropocene?)
story: connecting past, present and future more-than-human perspectives through trees, seeds and our own imagination.
exercise from workshop Yuka:
probe-kit- doing something creative in order to get ‘information’ from participants.
eg: 90th birthday party probe kit test
exercise from worshop Helene:
trying to re-learn using all your senses by ‘removing’ one (drawing while blindfolded)
concept of time slowing down when one has time to experiment
STORYTELLING SEEDS
- what seeds to be planted? where on Losæter? which trees around Losæter ? (talk to Zoe for evt tree expert contact at oslo kommune landscape department people)
- talk to Mari about possible collaboration- is it even possible? what stories to tell?
PLANTING A FOREST
- what seeds to be planted? can we have a workshop where some seeds are prepped for future planting elsewhere than Losæter? where do we get the seeds from? where can the seeds be planted at Losæter? What kind of soil, conditions etc.. that will determine the seeds to use too. can we come back in autumn to plant the seeds?
- call the seed guy
- is there anyone in the Losæter community that has knowledge of this and willing to collab?
STORYTELLING WITH COLOUR AND/OR WHITTLING WORKSHOP
- visualize the story of the seed-now-tree using natural pigments. do we get the natural pigments from Losæter? needs to be prepped in advance. on what surface do we visualize? if this is linked to the hanging seed (storage) collaborative installation, to be left all summer until the seeds can be planted in autumn, the surface/material for visualization should be specific (airtight box? glass jar? textile bag but lined with plastic? thin wooden box? wooden envelope? can we have a wittling workshop to make a wooden envelope?? Zoe?)
- talk to Ana about evt collaboration?
- Zoe is in depending on the dates.
FUTURE ANCESTORS STORYTELLING
- workshop where we write the story of how our descendants will remember us? connecting the past ‘seed-now-tree’ ancestor to current planted seed to us in the future?
- borrowed from the Human Layers workshop organised by the Long Time Project (link to good ancestors, p 66) (Ella Saltmarshe, Hannah SMith, deep ecologist Joanna Macy).
SEED (STORAGE) INSTALLATION
- hanging seed storage from trees/other places within Losæter as a symbol for the seeds that will be planted at the autumn? collab. with workshop participants.
PLANTING TREE SEEDS EVENT
- in autumn, is this possible for Losæter?
- link to seed planting workshop
FILM-LOOP SCREENING
- showing the area from the perspective of trees from the storytelling workshop.
DOCUMENTATION
- documentation and writings published into a book (each participant gets a copy)
- documentation and writings made into an artist book (is this the Master project? or is the artist book a pre-production of some sort instead, of the whole project?)
OLD THOUGHTS- stream of consciousness
- a series of interventions, installations and collaborations
- seed walk?
- making seed bags hanging from a tree? seed bags are made from textile and printed with natural dye form plants harvested in Losæter?
- leaving it for a time then planting the seed in the future?
- related to the memories and stories from the areas around Losæter?
- storytelling related to the stories of the area and the seeds they’re using?
- seed bags are made by the participants? which are then kept and turned into the thing used to mark the location of the seed once it is planted?
- stories of the past? and the present? or do we get together to imagine future stories?
- stories also from humans and different-from-humans.
- take the stories and interpret them visually, or make new ones intertwined with today’s stories? and what are those stories? how do I bring this forward?
- is the master project the documenting of the workshops? final exhibition idea? or the idea for production?
- seeds are like cocoons (link between plant wrld and animal world)
- seeds hanging from a tree? which tree? trees are where our ancestors go to rest (from my culture one specific tree but in mediterraean culture it’s the olive tree? link to the Palestine Heirloom seed library project?)
- old earth? Bruno Latour? Landing on earth pdf?
- keeping it to the community of Losæter? a way for them to share their knowledge (about seeds?) and make a publication ? have they done that before? a publiation of what losæter is?
- why do I want to even do this in the first place?
- past stories of the area are connecting to future stories of the area through seeds
- or everyday stories of the people using Losæeter or community gardens in Norway connecting to future stories?
- a garden is a forest for some animals (link to guardian of the forest)
- use stories from norsk folkeminnesamlingen ?
- map out the trees of eith Losæter or of the area and see how old they are, how long thy have been there (and what hve they seen), link to seeds, then to planting seeds for the future? collab between storytelling of the tree and its relationship with humans but also the story of what it has seen?
- the tree as a symbol of connection, branches connecting to each other but also trees connecting/communicating with each other
- planting a forest : if the school is going to ‘take over’ Losæter as a community garden, they can become the guardians of the planted Losæter forest-
- what about Bjørvika skole construction in all of this?
- first workshops: where people from area are invited to pick a story that I found in arkivet (how many groups are we talking?), (is this storytelling with Marie something to do with local plants? since these stories are also included?) where they can start imagining how to visualize the story? add the harvesting of plants/flowers for natural dyes/pigments?
- second workshops: visualization of the stories (on little pre-made textile seed bags? or something else? carboard box? what do they look like (bookmark-size, with a window? research into storage of seeds!)? using natural inks/pigments/dyes from harvested plants? involve Anastasia from textiles? somehow?this is where they get their seed? do they get to choose their seed? seed=the story they picked. this will be planted in memory of the person/animal/plant of the story. once finished and dried, hang them from a tree (which tree? any particular reason? or seed walk of where the seeds will be planted? OBS: whatever is hanging needs to be able to bear the climate!! will hang up for the summer or a few weeks?) while the things are drying: start thinking of their own story, and how they want to be remembered in the future (this will be part of the third workshop)
- third workshop: planting of the seeds (where?), the textile bag is then turned into a plaque or something, to mark where the seed will grow, and so they can come back to it in the future to check on their seed. final part is to write out/record the story of how they want to be remembered in the future. this will be published into a little book (together with the ‘ancestor’ story they picked?) which will be sent out/that they can pick up somewhere? like a final exhibition of the whole process? maybe with some pictures of them doing the workshops or something? as a way to remember what they were part of?
TO DO
- research seeds, old seeds, ancient varieties of seeds, what do I need to know about seeds? how they’re made and grow? how they are stored and can be stored? how do the old varieties vary from the commercial ones in terms of properties (need to be stored differently etc...) CALL THE SEED GUY
- oslo by arkivet: look at the history and stories form the places around Losæter? recounts from people working in the area in the past, what sort of work was there in Sørenga and surroundings? and how far back in history do I want to go? look at maps of the area over time to see how the landscape has changed?
- walk around Losæter and map out the green areas then imagine ways to tell their stories?
- talk to urban farmer at Losæter about seeds and planting of new seeds in their space? and hanging little textile/mini cardboard boxes from trees? what else? the soil, where is it good to plant etc...)
- map out the timeline of the inter-galactic forests project as an example of timelines, any other projects to map out?
TO THINK OF:
- are people really going to come/commit to three/four workshops over time? talk to future farmers about this?
- documenting of the workshops? to be used in one final exhibition somewhere? where people can get their little book?