Dates: 2025
Location: ssesi.space
Partners: UROBOROS collective, Mendel University, Salat studio
In our project "Arboretum of Transition" we aim to create a safe space for exploring, appreciating and relating to the notions of migration, transition and transformation in their layered eco-social and multi-species contexts. We see the re-wilding of the formerly cultivated space and concurrent introduction of so-called "invasive" species as an inspiring metaphor that can mirror our human preconceptions about the Foreign. What is today perceived as invasive - foreign and harmful to the local ecosystem - is often a result of human's former deliberate or accidental actions. We seek to extrapolate this particular example of non-human migration into larger political contexts through situated research and artistic interventions.
We perceive the transitioning garden of ssesi as the main actant and focus of the project. It used to be an oak forest, which was transformed into a communal garden in the 60s (a common eco-cultural phenomenon in the Eastern Bloc), and is now again re-wilding into a forest that features a multitude of local and non-local species. Its seeming serenity is in stark contrast with a large road tunnel construction on the opposite side of the Svratka valley. The consequent clear-cutting of vegetation, noise pollution, and expected rise of local temperatures are now altering the near-future perspectives and trajectories of local human and non-human dwellers. The introduction of such a megastructure illustrates colonial, anthropocentric, and environmental issues of global nature in a localised context. Whose interests, needs, and futures are taken into account? Who and what is considered “invasive”, by and to whom?
We are interested in exploring what this unique ecosystem can reveal to us regarding the dynamics of co-existence, migration, and transformation in larger societal and environmental contexts. We hope to open up the ever-changing ssesi space for broader critical engagement by: (1) organising inter-disciplinary encounters with these transitioning ecologies by inviting artists, performers, architects and natural and social scientists to spend time with the space and explore it using their specific methods and perspectives; (2) holding co-creative public engagements around the evolving project outcomes (e.g. guided walks, workshops, performative role-plays, convivial dinners); (3) highlighting and connecting the garden's physical and symbolic features by thoughtful landscaping to facilitate re-imagining of the notion of migration; and (4) compiling the processes and outcomes into an online archive to ensure dissemination to wider audiences.
The project builds on five years of active engagement with/in the space. We've partnered with: the CreaTures (creatures-eu.org/) EU Horizon 2020 project, the Open Forest Collective (openforest.care/) on the poetic mapping of the space, the Uroboros festival (uroboros.design/) on navigating the Feral, the Visegrad Fund and Czech Ministry of Culture on in-situ art residencies, the Erasmus+ on youth projects and the Mendel University and Brno University of Technology on art-science research activities.
While the project is envisioned to evolve over decades, we now propose to dedicate 20 months to open the space up to the wider public engagements and facilitate creative and hands-on explorations of multi-species co-existence, transition, and migration. The first ten months shall be dedicated to in-depth on-site research, the second ones to the artistic and landscape architecture work informed by the research. The whole process will be shaped by an interdisciplinary expert group represented by (1) multi-species art and design research collective Uroboros; (2) Forestry department of Mendel University; (3) Salat studio specialising in bespoke sustainable architecture; (4) more-than-human design research fellow at Aalto University Markéta Dolejšová; (5) PhD researcher in migration at Charles University Magdaléna Michlová; and (6) ssesi as the leading organisation taking care of the artistic direction and visual articulation of the emerging processes and outputs.
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