Pondering with Pines
How to develop ways of recognizing and engaging with the subjectivity of life forms such as trees, which we tend to consider as wholly ‘other’?
Introduction
This artistic research project focused on pine trees is a further development of a previous project Meetings with Remarkable and Unremarkable Trees (2020–2021). Pine trees (Pinus) form the core of this project; besides the common pine in the Nordic countries (Pinus sylvestris), other pines will be engaged with when possible. The main concern is how to develop ways of recognizing and engaging with the subjectivity of life forms such as trees, which we tend to consider as wholly ‘other’. How to develop acts of thinking, reflecting, pondering or speaking with trees, next to them or in some form of collaboration with them. How to consider historical, cultural, material and local aspects when encountering specific trees. How to develop imaginative and poetic ways of encountering pine trees and engaging with them.
One of the starting points is the practice of performing for camera with trees and of addressing trees in writing developed during the previous project. Thus, questions related to language and translations – human language and plant language, visual languages and the verbal languages used (Finnish, Swedish and English) – are at the core of these explorations, in addition to the main purpose of finding ways to share time and space, including the image space, with the pine trees. Questions related to agency, the agency of trees as well as of the technology used (in video recording, sound recording, editing, dissemination and display) are entangled with these explorations. What possible ways of collaborating and communicating could be developed between trees and non-trees, like humans.
Project name
Pondering with Pines
Time
01/2022
Contact
Visiting researcher Annette Arlander,
Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Helsinki
annette.arlander@uniarts.fi
Find out more
Introduction
This artistic research project focused on pine trees is a further development of a previous project Meetings with Remarkable and Unremarkable Trees (2020–2021). Pine trees (Pinus) form the core of this project; besides the common pine in the Nordic countries (Pinus sylvestris), other pines will be engaged with when possible. The main concern is how to develop ways of recognizing and engaging with the subjectivity of life forms such as trees, which we tend to consider as wholly ‘other’. How to develop acts of thinking, reflecting, pondering or speaking with trees, next to them or in some form of collaboration with them. How to consider historical, cultural, material and local aspects when encountering specific trees. How to develop imaginative and poetic ways of encountering pine trees and engaging with them.
One of the starting points is the practice of performing for camera with trees and of addressing trees in writing developed during the previous project. Thus, questions related to language and translations – human language and plant language, visual languages and the verbal languages used (Finnish, Swedish and English) – are at the core of these explorations, in addition to the main purpose of finding ways to share time and space, including the image space, with the pine trees. Questions related to agency, the agency of trees as well as of the technology used (in video recording, sound recording, editing, dissemination and display) are entangled with these explorations. What possible ways of collaborating and communicating could be developed between trees and non-trees, like humans.