The Rain and Other Forests...
is a field-research that I began during my visiting scholar session with the University of Victoria in British Colombia aimed at collecting data for Conversations with Landscapes: The Ocean, Weather, and the Atmosphere . While this project, funded by the FRQSC (Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Société et Culture (FRQSC) - put on hold due to COVID-19, and disrupted my return visit to Vancouver Island, I continue working and researching different subjects of the forest - as one of the largest ecosystems, through other means such as art residencies along with federal and profincial art grants. This posting keeps a track of both some of my research for upcoming publications as well as creative body of work. Some of more notable projects that I currently work on is bioluminescence for instance. Bioluminescence is a project with BigCi in Australia focusing on developing creative material for an immersive environment and scenography inspired by the bioluminescent glow worm colonies in Wollemi National Park. Another research that I currently pursue, and look forward to exploring while in the Blue Mountain region focuses on epicormic growth. This project will be coming to life with EKWC in Belgium & BigCi in Australia and I will be gladly posting more detail on this project as travel comes natural again - to the artists and the rest of us - and as they become available.
Bioluminescence
BigCi Artist Residency (you are welcome on the extract :)
https://bigci.org/artist-residency At BigCi residency program at Wollemi National Park, I will explore new creative material for a participatory scenography of immersive environment, Bioluminescence, inspired by the phenomenon of the bioluminescent glow worms. Often found in the forested areas of the park, particularly in the Newnes Glow Worm Tunnel, the glow worms are tiny insect-like creatures that produce light reminiscent of the starry night sky to attract prey into their long sticky threads. The Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa describes how the sound of dripping water inside of a cave or the smell of a meadow with flowering plants gives a rise to spatial experiences, which he refers to as the “flesh of the space”. Starting from this premise, I will go beyond reconstructing the experience of the glow worms and strive to find a unique combination of simple technologies, such as small LED lights, fluorescent matter, microfibres, etc., novel materials (ranging from a variety of threads to glass, acrylic, etc.) and structure-born sound (sound that is produced by vibrating matter such as threads, small objects, etc.) to recreate the overall atmosphere of their natural habitat.
The key part of the research will be a hands-on exploration of the glow worm colonies in their natural habitat, in the cool, shaded and damp environment of the forest and caves where they may be found. I will focus on studying and observing the behaviour of these creatures and try to better understand their role in the ecologies of their natural environment. I will observe their behaviours, such as an increase or decrease in bioluminescent intensity due to vibration, loud sounds and rainfall. For example, it has been observed that rainfall causes a large increase in light output. For my initial research material, I will collect video, photo and audio in these damp environments and use them for my in-studio experimental sessions. I am equally interested in working with video and photo material as I am in recording and working with audio. I am particularly keen on working with sound related to the atmosphere of the caves and the forest (for example, using the sound of dripping water to recreate experiential, spatially perceptible sound that will provide guidance within the otherwise darkened space of my installation)...
My exploration of the bioluminescent glow worm colonies in the National Wollemi Park in Australia, located in the Blue Mountains and Lower Hunter regions of New South Wales at the outset of 2021, will replace my memories of the blue, dream-like haze rolling over the lush vegetation of the mountains with the heartbreaking sight of vast lands blackened, as far as the eye can see, by the brutality of the 2019-2020 fire season. Despite the irreversible damage, closer ground-level inspection may reveal the power of new life. According to a group of leading Australian environmental scientists, the remains of the trees damaged in the fires are critical for recovery and new growth. Professor David Lindenmayer from the Fenner School of Environment and Society at the Australian National University relates how many trees that look dead will still come alive, through what is known as epicormic growth.
“In the months ahead, buds will sprout from under the blackened bark. This process, common in eucalypts, is known as epicormic growth, where growth of new shoots comes from epicormic buds that lie dormant beneath the bark. The growth is normally suppressed by hormones from active shoots higher up the tree, but when there is trauma from factors such as insect attack, drought or fire, these buds are activated.”
For my residency at BigCi in Australia in junction with EKWC in Belgium, I would like to propose a project titled Regrowth. Inspired by the epicormic growth subsequent to the bushfires in the Blue Mountain region in Australia, the project will build directly on my hands-on research in the area: collected photography, drawings, designs and notes, as well as knowledge about the type and growth of the seeds that sprout underneath the bark of the fire-damaged trees. In Regrowth...
And some random extract from my publications - looking at connection between the Dutch painters and the scientific research of the forest... :)
Becoming the forest...Cezanne argues that through the act of painting a landscape one can experience the becoming of the landscape. In The Hidden Life of Trees, the German forester Peter Wohlleben describes a forest as a community of trees that not only form their own ecosystems and social networks, but also (not unlike ourselves) communicate, or have a sense of time. How can we combine an historical appreciation of the landscape with a scientific understanding of the forest to create a contemporary artwork that will turn audiences into active participants, interconnecting their own future with the forest as one of the largest ecosystems and a key player in the crisis that is climate change? In this paperer I explore how the study of the Dutch Masters, and the popular interpretation of Wohlleben’s scientific research, can act as a bridge that gives a rise to a contemporary scenography of immersive environment engaging simple audio-visual technologies, novel materials and audiences in the creative exploration of the subject.
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