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groworld_vegetal_culture [2013-01-25 08:39] – [From human to vegetal scale: plant games] alkan | groworld_vegetal_culture [2013-05-17 12:38] – alkan | ||
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On the other hand, technology – another human contribution to the planetary ecosystem – is embraced by the same economic and political powers as a panacea to most contemporary challenges, from environmental turbulence to financial crises. From prehistoric seed-collecting and early agricultural ploughs through to nanotech, technology has become a persistent mark of humanity, in the shape of tools and techniques through which we analyse and interact with the world. Although how we use and think about technology has had a substantial influence on cultural changes and the eco-systems we live in (digital technology being the most recent example), it can never fill the cultural void left in the wake of the erosion of the grand narratives of the 20th century. Technology in isolation cannot provide truly encompassing visions of what a society could become, even though we have attempted to understand culture (and the whole universe) in terms of technological models – as clockwork, steam machine, or computer. The limitations of these models have become gradually apparent as science (and common sense) has dug deeper into the fundaments of reality. Now, after ages of superimposing technological worldviews on living systems, perhaps it is time to evolve technology from life. | On the other hand, technology – another human contribution to the planetary ecosystem – is embraced by the same economic and political powers as a panacea to most contemporary challenges, from environmental turbulence to financial crises. From prehistoric seed-collecting and early agricultural ploughs through to nanotech, technology has become a persistent mark of humanity, in the shape of tools and techniques through which we analyse and interact with the world. Although how we use and think about technology has had a substantial influence on cultural changes and the eco-systems we live in (digital technology being the most recent example), it can never fill the cultural void left in the wake of the erosion of the grand narratives of the 20th century. Technology in isolation cannot provide truly encompassing visions of what a society could become, even though we have attempted to understand culture (and the whole universe) in terms of technological models – as clockwork, steam machine, or computer. The limitations of these models have become gradually apparent as science (and common sense) has dug deeper into the fundaments of reality. Now, after ages of superimposing technological worldviews on living systems, perhaps it is time to evolve technology from life. | ||
- | “The word ‘technology’ derives from technē, a Greek word that originally referred to the labours of the smith and other craftsmen. The analogous Greek word for the labours of the farmer is erga or ‘work’ … For the Greeks, the smith was a solitary figure, whose technē was a jealously guarded secret connecting him to the powers of the underworld through the god Hephaestus. In contrast, the erga, or work, of the farmer was public, involving the whole society and most of the gods. Both activities (smithing and farming) involved ritual, but in the case of technē the rituals were secret and individual, whereas erga are public and collective.” | + | “The word ‘technology’ derives from technē, a Greek word that originally referred to the labours of the smith and other craftsmen. The analogous Greek word for the labours of the farmer is erga or ‘work’ … For the Greeks, the smith was a solitary figure, whose technē was a jealously guarded secret connecting him to the powers of the underworld through the god Hephaestus. In contrast, the erga, or work, of the farmer was public, involving the whole society and most of the gods. Both activities (smithing and farming) involved ritual, but in the case of technē the rituals were secret and individual, whereas erga are public and collective.”\\ |
– J. Stephen Lansing | – J. Stephen Lansing | ||
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Culture needs both human and non-human elements to evolve. As Hakim Bey says: “The elimination of the non-human invokes the elimination of the human: culture can only be defined in relation to what it is not” (Bey 1996). The interplay between cultivated and wild, or man-made and and non-human is beautifully embodied in the concept of “borrowed scenery” in Chinese and Japanese gardening. //Jiejing// and //shakkei// gardens borrow their surroundings as elements of their design (Mehta and Tada, 2008). Mountains and rivers, sky and rocks are drawn into the garden and become a part of its narrative. Even though the plants cultivated in the garden and the untamed formations of faraway landscapes are topographically separated entities, they are experienced as part of one whole. The origins of jiejing lie in Buddhist temples, where gardens were designed as meditative spaces, with a hint of geomancy. Early Buddhist temple gardens in Japan used shakkei as a way of teaching humility and the interconnectedness of all beings in a layered reality. Several Buddhist meditation practices (such as //mettā// or // | Culture needs both human and non-human elements to evolve. As Hakim Bey says: “The elimination of the non-human invokes the elimination of the human: culture can only be defined in relation to what it is not” (Bey 1996). The interplay between cultivated and wild, or man-made and and non-human is beautifully embodied in the concept of “borrowed scenery” in Chinese and Japanese gardening. //Jiejing// and //shakkei// gardens borrow their surroundings as elements of their design (Mehta and Tada, 2008). Mountains and rivers, sky and rocks are drawn into the garden and become a part of its narrative. Even though the plants cultivated in the garden and the untamed formations of faraway landscapes are topographically separated entities, they are experienced as part of one whole. The origins of jiejing lie in Buddhist temples, where gardens were designed as meditative spaces, with a hint of geomancy. Early Buddhist temple gardens in Japan used shakkei as a way of teaching humility and the interconnectedness of all beings in a layered reality. Several Buddhist meditation practices (such as //mettā// or // | ||
- | “For planting ground is painting a landscape with living things and I hold that good gardening takes rank with bounds of the fine arts, so I hold that to plant well needs an artist of no mean capacity.” | + | “For planting ground is painting a landscape with living things and I hold that good gardening takes rank with bounds of the fine arts, so I hold that to plant well needs an artist of no mean capacity.”\\ |
– Gertrude Jekyll | – Gertrude Jekyll | ||
{{https:// | {{https:// | ||
+ | |||
==== Viriditas and Thalience ==== | ==== Viriditas and Thalience ==== | ||
The interconnectedness of the human and the vegetal has been a recurring, age-old theme in art, science and religion. Medieval healer and mystic Hildegard of Bingen wrote about plants radiating a greening life-force (Roth 2000), which she called // | The interconnectedness of the human and the vegetal has been a recurring, age-old theme in art, science and religion. Medieval healer and mystic Hildegard of Bingen wrote about plants radiating a greening life-force (Roth 2000), which she called // | ||
- | “Most noble | + | “Most noble\\ |
- | + | evergreen with your roots\\ | |
- | evergreen with your roots | + | in the sun:\\ |
- | + | you shine in the cloudless\\ | |
- | in the sun: | + | sky of a sphere no earthly\\ |
- | + | eminence can grasp,\\ | |
- | you shine in the cloudless | + | enfolded in the clasp\\ |
- | + | ||
- | sky of a sphere no earthly | + | |
- | + | ||
- | eminence can grasp, | + | |
- | + | ||
- | enfolded in the clasp | + | |
of ministries divine.” | of ministries divine.” | ||
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“We have nothing in common with the Geometers. No shared experiences, | “We have nothing in common with the Geometers. No shared experiences, | ||
- | |||
– Neal Stephenson | – Neal Stephenson | ||
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{{https:// | {{https:// | ||
- | It was time for us to bring conversations down to the human scale and offer participants a direct experience of the effects we can have on our immediate surroundings (in real time and in a circumscribed space). FoAM designed a forest of phantasmagoric robo-botanical trees that surrounded a responsive domed shelter – the “growth bunker.” In the warmth of the bunker, visitors were immersed in electro-luminescent light and generative sound – an environment designed to respond to people’s voices and movement. Within this space, the environmental effects of their conscious and unconscious actions became instantly apparent. As in Wim Wenders’ movie //Until the End of the World,// people became intoxicated by the experience of their actions rippling through the growth and decay of biomorphic light and soundscapes. The interplay between people’s actions and environmental responses encouraged deceleration and engagement. The expected instant gratification of digital entertainment was substituted with meditative explorations of ambient changes. | + | It was time for us to bring conversations down to the human scale and offer participants a direct experience of the effects we can have on our immediate surroundings (in real time and in a circumscribed space). FoAM designed a forest of phantasmagoric robo-botanical trees that surrounded a responsive domed shelter – the “growth bunker.” In the warmth of the bunker, visitors were immersed in electro-luminescent light and generative sound – an environment designed to respond to people’s voices and movement. Within this space, the environmental effects of their conscious and unconscious actions became instantly apparent. As in Wim Wenders’ movie Until the End of the World, people became intoxicated by the experience of their actions rippling through the growth and decay of biomorphic light and soundscapes. The interplay between people’s actions and environmental responses encouraged deceleration and engagement. The expected instant gratification of digital entertainment was substituted with meditative explorations of ambient changes. |
==== From human to vegetal scale: plant games ==== | ==== From human to vegetal scale: plant games ==== | ||
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All of the groWorld prototype games play with human interpretations of plant sentience. Until we are able to convince a plant to help design a game about its own life, the number of possible viewpoints, backstories and gameplays are limited only by the imagination. | All of the groWorld prototype games play with human interpretations of plant sentience. Until we are able to convince a plant to help design a game about its own life, the number of possible viewpoints, backstories and gameplays are limited only by the imagination. | ||
- | “I effuse my flesh in eddies | + | “I effuse my flesh in eddies\\ |
- | + | and drift in lacy jags\\ | |
- | and drift in lacy jags | + | I bequeath myself in the dirt\\ |
- | + | to grow from the grass I love\\ | |
- | I bequeath myself in the dirt | + | If you want me again, look for me\\ |
- | + | under your boot-soles”\\ | |
- | to grow from the grass I love | + | |
- | + | ||
- | If you want me again, look for me | + | |
- | + | ||
- | under your boot-soles” | + | |
– Walt Whitman | – Walt Whitman | ||
- | |||
==== From plants to stories: patabotany ==== | ==== From plants to stories: patabotany ==== | ||
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{{https:// | {{https:// | ||
- | In groWorld patabotany was grafted onto Tarot, a known storytelling and divination platform with its roots in card games and magic of the Italian Rennaissance. FoAM cross-bred tarot archetypes and ethnobotanical properties of plants – as the adventurous Fool or the mysterious High Priestess – with patabotanically-evolved morning glory and lady's mantle. Some of the chosen plants share history, morphology or geography with the human archetypes, others are able to induce archetypal body and mind states or inhabit the same pataecology. Patabotanical Tarot builds on a peculiar and mysterious history of plant books, which includes such curiosities as The Voynich Manuscript (Kennedy 2005, Voynich, retrieved 2011), Parallel Botany (Lionni 1978), Codex Seraphinianus (Serafini 1981) and Tolkien’s | + | In groWorld patabotany was grafted onto Tarot, a known storytelling and divination platform with its roots in card games and magic of the Italian Rennaissance. FoAM cross-bred tarot archetypes and ethnobotanical properties of plants – as the adventurous Fool or the mysterious High Priestess – with patabotanically-evolved morning glory and lady's mantle. Some of the chosen plants share history, morphology or geography with the human archetypes, others are able to induce archetypal body and mind states or inhabit the same pataecology. Patabotanical Tarot builds on a peculiar and mysterious history of plant books, which includes such curiosities as The Voynich Manuscript (Kennedy 2005, Voynich, retrieved 2011), Parallel Botany (Lionni 1978), Codex Seraphinianus (Serafini 1981) and Tolkien’s |
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In an attempt to infuse physical spaces with patabotanal essences, FoAM created Borrowed Scenery, a story about an alternate reality (past, future or parallel) where plants are a central aspect of human society. Borrowed Scenery encourages us to re-imagine our cities as places of sinuous interaction between humans and plants: where plants don’t just provide us with food and materials but become neighbours, teachers, and gateways to the " | In an attempt to infuse physical spaces with patabotanal essences, FoAM created Borrowed Scenery, a story about an alternate reality (past, future or parallel) where plants are a central aspect of human society. Borrowed Scenery encourages us to re-imagine our cities as places of sinuous interaction between humans and plants: where plants don’t just provide us with food and materials but become neighbours, teachers, and gateways to the " | ||
- | “If the light is sufficient to disclose to us the way of contemplation that lies within ourselves, we may by pursuing it to the end. We may know – not as a mere static dictum but as a winged intuition, carrying an infinitude of significance both for mind and heart – that the One IS the Manifold, and the Manifold IS the One.” | + | “If the light is sufficient to disclose to us the way of contemplation that lies within ourselves, we may by pursuing it to the end. We may know – not as a mere static dictum but as a winged intuition, carrying an infinitude of significance both for mind and heart – that the One IS the Manifold, and the Manifold IS the One.”\\ |
– Agnes Arber | – Agnes Arber | ||
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For more dedicated plant enthusiasts, | For more dedicated plant enthusiasts, | ||
- | Not so long ago urban gardening was an activity relegated to marginalised subcultures and immigrant communities. Nowadays, large numbers of the urban population grow at least some herbs in their kitchens once again. Since the financial crisis of 2008 and increasingly unpredictable environmental upheavals, there is much demand for and attention to growing food in cities. Some of groWorld' | + | Not so long ago urban gardening was an activity relegated to marginalised subcultures and immigrant communities. Nowadays, large numbers of the urban population grow at least some herbs in their kitchens once again. Since the financial crisis of 2008 and increasingly unpredictable environmental upheavals, there is much demand for and attention to growing food in cities. Some of groWorld' |
- | + | ||
- | “Arranging flowers is arranging ourselves. We're all flowers.” | + | |
+ | “Arranging flowers is arranging ourselves. We're all flowers.”\\ | ||
– Thich Nhat Hanh | – Thich Nhat Hanh | ||
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- | “Suddenly I realise | + | “Suddenly I realise\\ |
- | + | That if I stepped out of my body I would break\\ | |
- | That if I stepped out of my body I would break | + | |
Into blossom” | Into blossom” | ||
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==== Acknowledgements ==== | ==== Acknowledgements ==== | ||
- | With thanks for the contributions from Alkan Chipperfield, Nik Gaffney, Dave Griffiths, Adrian Hon, Theun Karelse, Lina Kusaite and Lionel Billiet. | + | With thanks for the contributions from Alkan Chipperfield, |
groWorld is an initiative of FoAM: http:// | groWorld is an initiative of FoAM: http:// |