Contemplating the wetland El Hondo from the wooden tower, with every senses wild open. Birds are coming from a multitud of horizons, ambassadors of a peacful world without frontieres. Looking at the sunset Ouest, the ibis are passing by, the night is falling, Water and Soil smell good, gratitude !
This is the story of a liminal place, a wooden hut at the end of the road, the junction between nature and culture, a journey for environmental and social healing. This story inspired by the Oika project created by the ecologist Rich Blundell, is an intend to regenerate the roots of the local community with the wetland through a collaborative Art practice involving memories, dreams, emotions, sensations and the creativity.
The collection of feathers at the hut is a very important resource to introduce species of birds and exchange memories of observations and encounters. Sometimes some villagers and travelers carry some feathers they have found on the floor. Feathers have this extraordinary power of a strong poetical meaning of lightness, perfection and fly.
During several years we created a set of games and practices to facilitate the access to the intelligence of Nature. The process of gamification of knowledge is a way to emulate the excitment and the joy of being in nature. It is also a way to establish collabortive processes of learning and creating together.
An important part of the process of regeneration of the wetland is to identify the presence and status of species but also to identify the people bringing their knowledge, art and wisdom to the land. We use CGeomap, our open source based locative media editor we created, to geolocate public resources on an interactive app and web-app.
a pilot program of Oika residencies
Getting to know the land is helping us to know us better and be in harmony with nature and people. Along the years of exploration of the wetland and the Vega Baja territory i discovered that it was also possible to help people to know the land at distance and identfy the challenges from here and there. This methodology i call "Expanded ID" is a online dialogue where two people ask for information and details related to the land of the other person. A set of collabortative cartographies emerge from the dialogue and help greatly to know each otther through our remote and shared senses. This practice is the first step towards a physical residence and creation at the wetland with an Oika grant.
Check the Residence program web page for more details. You can apply for this program even if you are not yet a member of the Oika community.
Creating with Nature, an original proposal by Fred Adam
A creative journey inspired by Oika*
This little exhibition features a selection of feathers people brought to the collection of feathers at hut, memories of a special encounter. The name of the person and the name of the birds are written with chalk along with a QR code to listen to the stories told by the protagonists, stories of love for Nature.
A serie of infographics with a snapshot in time of the local biodiversity embedded into the Alpha channel of the image.
A serie of short spontaneous narratives reflecting a moment of immersion in Nature.
E.I NFT ecological intelligence in the Blockchain is a serie of gif animated by ecological parameters from Nature like the preservation of the specie, behaviours, visual aspect, mobility, climate and resilience.
As a bird watcher, i enjoyed several hours of contemplation of nature with other people. I really love how silence and whispering are the way we communicate to each other with awe. Whispering the wetland is becoming an art practice and project where i whisper to other beings and the water, my admiration and love for nature. In this serie of artworks i capture and project a moment of deep intimacy with the wetland in the space, where the wind and the air write the words of a sacred dialogue.
quieres conocer el proyecto con más detalles o compartir tu práctica, contactar!
We organize regular events at the wetland's wooden hut. If you want to know more about the wetland, we invite you to discover the Matruca yearly Stay tuned by joining the newletter!