BEE with me: Trails of narrative art - an echo chamber antidote?
2019, PUBIC SPACE, social-design: glocal concept for bike- & walking trails.
Like healthy food, sustainable neighborhoods are bio-divers. With numbers or data we can measure a lot. But wellbeing or social advantages of bio-diversity, in urban and rural areas are more difficult to measure. Indirect, systemic consequences or disruptions need a broader perspective. Because a seemingly small action here, may have a huge consequence there. To the extent that it endangers our health and (global) survival. Precisely this lack of awareness of the complex interdependence of eco-systems, our fragility, has disastrous consequences, like on our global bee-population. No bees, no pollination, no food, globally. We’re unbalancing complex eco-systems, our whole planet, by feeding it excessive nitrogen emissions from life-stock, argro-chemicals (both fertilizers and pesticides), forever-chemicals, forever-plastics and irremovable nano-sized chemical particles. It’s pilling up in everything, including ourselves. We’re intoxicating our soils, oceans, air, animals, farmers, food and our kids. Bees are disappearing at a rate of 8 to 10% a year. If we humans don’t change our ways, pollinators will go extinct in about 8 to 10 years. As will global food-production, faming and so will we. So can we do things differently?
Even as designers and the building industry, our part in the climate story is huge. Accountability, even after the facts, assumes three things: acknowledging design mistakes, a ‘sorry’ with flowers and restorative measures for the damage done. Plus the crucial part: re-searching and solving root-causes. A sorry with ‘fields of wild flowers’ and a new way of designing our public space, roof- and private gardens are a step in the ‘kind’ direction. These bee and butterly-friendly verges, parks and gardens will save on landscaping- and maintenances costs. Helpful for our planet and our wallet.
You know the ART of now & here. That’s why I’ll borrow you, no spare you, or even better: I’ll save you for later … for future generations? poem by Bart Moeyaert.
while walking & cycling recharging each-other with positive energy.
The art of re-connecting while walking. In her performance art ‘The Great Wall Walk’, by Marina Abramovic connection was the goal, but the opposite happened. Two people walking towards each other, across the Chinese wall. Dis-connect-ed in the middle, breaking a women. Men … yes, a two-timer, some men are boringly predicable. A great walk or wall? Ironic? As it’s exactly what cold and hard walls do: building echo-chambers, amplifying noise. While hiding the real consequences for ‘the other’. Echoing a one-sided story and encouragements to keep on walking, on a path not showing the whole picture. One that disconnects and this at a high human, planetary and financial cost. But a ‘real great walk’, follows another path, outside of our own ‘frame of reference’, prejudice or bias. A path of the beaten track. In that sense the wired-artwork of Alexander Milov told a story closer to human-nature: our need for human-connection. Back to back, but on the inside re-searching for connection, truthfulness and solutions. Getting it right, instead of being right. Restorative and narrative ART, when your own words stumble along the way.
‘But I believe in Love and I know that you do, too. I believe in some kind of path that we can walk down, me and you.’ a plea for mutual humanity by Nick Cave?
SENSES - En route, smell the flowers.
Seeing, feeling and hearing. ‘En route’ there’re flowers. With the support of local farmers, forests- and nature conservationists wild flowers line meandering bike- and hiking trails. Take your TIME, our most scarce resource, to ‘smell the flowers’. Locations are chosen for their view, on mother nature. A blown down tree, becomes a bench. Tactility and weathered imperfection: a patinated rough trunk, with drilled holes. After being a bench and insect-hotel, the trunk will return to the forest cycle. Holes are inserted with breeding dowels from mushrooms. Mycelium applied as a restorer of a toxic context or soil, by myco-restoration or mycoremediation. In short: a resting point with back-support, as a restorative antidote to social- and soil toxicity or ‘acidification’. To create a healthy humus for nature and human nature. As for true LOVERS, besides singing birds, there’s additional beauty for ones ears.
Similar to blown down trees ‘The wind touches us all, so let's share our story and some humanity’ - Tourist leMC, Ubuntu.
eco- and techno- logical - a restorative antidode to social- and soil toxicity.
Scanning a QR-code with your phone, gives access to personalized messages or ‘storytelling’, each-other's story, in the form of augmented reality preformances, dance, and/or music, literature and poetry. Bart Moeyaert, reads to ya? While walking from bench to bench, you’ll open personal messages, antidotes to ‘environmental’ toxicity. Every resting point holding a ‘message in a bottle’, like a ‘mixed-tape’ or playlist. One made especially for you, to re-charge, to re-connect. Walking, going the distance, between benches to ‘bridge over’ the distance ‘in between’ people.
A design based on residual flows from sustainable forestry: a blown down tree. Returning to the forest-cycle, as earlier added for human-nature, a restorative antidode is added for nature. Mushroom or mycelium breeding dowels, bench by bench, will break down toxins. This simple design, focusses on a DIY-approach by the staff of local forests- and nature conservation. Local production, local raw materials; a tree trunk with holes, is supplemented by a DIY-package of reusable parts: 3 screw piles in stainless steel, one back-support and 18 reusable screws. The applied mycelium will be adjusted to local species and soil requirements.
‘… How many loved your moments of glad grace, And loved your beauty with love false or true; But one loved the pilgrim soul in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face…’ - William YEATS.
Every thought ‘flow’’, needs the right ‘kind’ of music.
Notes:
“Sustainable urban planning: vibrant neighborhoods, smart cities and resilience”, Edition DETAIL, Helmut Bott, Gregor C.Grassl, Stephan Anders, pg. 28.
Picture bottom right “Bicycling … ‘in between’ the trees / fietsen tussen de bomen” PIJN-ven Eksel, design by Degregorio & partners.
“Kinderen van Apate. Over leugens en waarachtigheid” - “Kids of Apate. On lies and truthfulness”, by philosopher, Alicja Gescinska. In my opinion, thé topic of our time. One where polarization and unscientific- or fake news, could end humanity and ‘planet earth’. While truthfulness and cooperation will be essential. At this moment instigations, as in: abusers, and facilitators, like some leaders or press and some in the tech sector plus their investors, have a collective responsibility and opportunity to solve it. Not sorely in the best interest of the bigger picture, their sector, economy and profit. But to restore their own reputation and ‘safeguard’ their creations. Creations that are currently being (ab)used, widening the gap financially and pulling us all apart. Taking those ‘boundless’ abusers, telling true lies on purpose, along for the ride. Notice the difference between (1) white lies, as in: kind ones, we tell loved ones, or for the common good, like our safety, global health or our planet. (2) honest mistakes, by lacking scientific knowledge, by an unconscious personal or collective bias or because one is intentionally spoon-fed (3) true lies by cold propaganda for abuse of power and/or greed. Those doing the latter will potentially end our planet, themselves on it, plus the tech sector they (ab)use for it. Infected by their toxic hyper individualistic context they are feeding it even more toxins. As seen in climate denial, pandemic denial and vaccine denial. All while delaying a timely, inclusive transition and abusing those that are are actually cleaning up the shit they caused by over-taking. Allowing this is NOT very smart, for what is called a smart industry. As without restoring the trust in and the safety of, their creations, their whole business-models and sectors are at risk. As will for e.g. any potential future for ‘virtual reality’ plus all tech operated and ‘connected’ systems. So basically: everything. This would be very bad for investors, markets, companies and clients, no? In short: for human survival, kind and ethical investigative journalism, -science, justice, ethical tech and entrepreneurship are some of the step-stones on our collective path forward. That is, if we want to have a planet or future as humanity.
So the question is actually very simple: do they want to become beautiful companies? For, we’re only tragic when boundless, over-consuming human and planetary resources. And the only correct answer to this question is: SI. Why? Because Elenor Ostrom said so.
Like the poet, Maya Angelou, said ‘love liberates’. But she missed a little something. Real liberty does not let suppressed stand alone, we stand together. It is inclusive and universally designed. Offering ‘tailored support’, to bridge over individual thresholds. Real liberty, is not boundless. It does not abuse power, overtake, over-consume. That’s NEO-Liberalism or the meritocratic-myth. NEO got this. ‘Wake up’ and welcome in ‘the MATRIX’. Erin brockovich would say, to those, still claiming NEO-liberalism, is real LIBERTY: ‘Darling, don’t use big words, you do not understand.’