Rethinking walking, finding, and collecting
Over the past couple of months we have been thinking a lot about the role walking, finding, and collecting plays in our creative process. It is often the very first thing we do when arriving in a place. We drop off our bags at our hotel or studio, throw on our binoculars and immediately leave to get lost in the landscape. We have walked in parks, down back lanes, into river valleys, through empty lots, along canals and into forests. We have collected pictures of local plant species, political advertisements, the scent of wet soil, animal pathways and the sound of birds new to our ears. This type of embodied experience has historically taught us something about where we are. Over time we begin to develop a catalogue of natural ephemera, local systems, archival materials, stories, etc. These things start to create narrative threads that we can tug at. What does it mean that at 9:30 in the evening we hear a particular bird singing amongst a thicket of birch in a ravine? Is it signalling the end of the day, waking up nocturnal species, or intentionally calling predators to their location as a red herring before silently slipping away to a safe place to roost for the night? Is that same thicket of trees planted or naturally occurring? And what human systems are intersecting or effecting this world (all, obviously!)? Are the trees pruned by an arborist or left to grow uninhibited by direct intervention? Is this thicket a resource for a human industry or is it ignored? We ask: who or what else has a relationship with these trees? What happens if we start with the thicket and the birds at the centre of our exploration and work our way out? What networks will we discover and what new relationships can be created by understanding the relationships between species and geography?
Submission from Germany
Not being able to travel because of COVID-19 has made our typical process for 3 WOODS different. Our walking, finding, and collecting has been facilitated by new friends and collaborators on the ground in Norway, Germany, and the UK. Starting last year we asked residents to participate in a woods-based assignment and to send us photographs, audio recordings, videos, archival materials and texts. These have been published on the 3 WOODS website and have been invaluable to our understanding of the woods in each location.
More recently, we have had the pleasure of walking through Folkeparken via Zoom and some curated photo series. It’s not exactly the same as being there, but it works! We have been able to learn about the topography, better understand the distances between landmarks, get a sense of the transition between native birch sections of the woods and the spruce plantations. We can hear the sound change as you move from one section of the park to the another. We are learning about the height differences between the two types of woods, what can (or can’t) survive in the shadow of the spruce, and that marsh marigold is abundant in certain locations.
Anyhow, we wanted to share some screen grabs from a few recent walks and maps that Mia drew live as we moved through the woods. Thank you to Ragnheiður, Roald, Øystein, Mona, and Honna for guiding us. Your generosity is helping move 3 WOODS forward. We are indebted.
Walk with Roald
Walk with Beate
