Cycle 1 Project
Posted: April 10, 2022 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment »For my cycle 1 project I wanted to keep with the element of reveal. My intrests live in earth wisdom and agricultural knowledge rooted in the unseen. Within this iteration of the project I wanted to reveal some of the gems the Black growers in my community are graciouly sharing through interviews with me. My graduate studies are based in bridging dance, agricultural, and technology (D.A.T). I am working from a quote from Nikki Giovanni “If trees could talk what would they say?”
I am continously insired by the soil and its ability to generate life, transmute energy and produce healing to humans. The soil in this work is central to the grounding for the entire experience. My goal is to connect and ground the participant in the moment to be present with the images and the knowledge provided by the growers.
My set up consists of the Makey Makey, soil, and two tree models for the participates to touch indicating the wisdom held in trees/people in my community. I wrapped brown pipe cleaners around the interior of the plastic “tree bark” to conduct an eletrical current to set off the digital engagemet with the Makey Makey. As participants touch the bark of the tree model, their hand must be grounded, touching the soil. This connection reveals an image of the growers and activates the interviews.
I realized in this cycle I needed to cut the interviews down to about 30 seconds each because I imagine this as a gallery installation. I watched the bodies in the room shift and kind of zone out as they tried to listen to the stories being told. Audio seems to be key for the experience to translate how I intend. I would like the experience to be so that the participate knows when the experience begins and ends. I got feedback that there should be a more engaging componet. This comment came from a dancer which I agree. In the future I plan to work with the kinetic sensor to provide a movement based engagement for the participants to embody agricultural knowledge to evoke ecomemories. For my second cycle I plan to project four growers and their stories. I would like to add two more trees and create an environment where each grower can be heard and engaged with simultaniously in a green space.
Here are the inner workings of my Isadora patch.
