After almost two weeks at Saari Residence with the project In Light of Plants (see presentation) I’m writing these notes on the train back to Helsinki. The main work was our joint conversations based on presentations, although I have been making some experiments on my own as well, and quite a few diary notes, too. Besides the five humans – Sonya Schönberger, Feral Practices (or Fiona MacDonald), Anna Souter, Egle Oddo and Soko Hwang – I have met repeatedly with four pine trees, the one next to Jakob’s barn (see image above), the pine in the garden that I practiced with mornings and evenings, the pine on Silakkari viewpoint hill by the sea that I had three recorded conversations with and last but not least the Macedonian pine (Pinus peuce) that I wrote a letter to, and posed with in a dress made of its giant cones. My video experiments are archived on a page on the RC-platform on here, and my diary notes or ‘ponderings’ in Finnish are gathered on another page, here. The three talks in Finnish with the Silakkari pine are published as episodes on the podcast Talking with Trees on Soundcloud here. The residency was different than I expected, but inspiring and fruitful, and I do hope we can continue working in some manner.
With the Saari pine (morning and evening 4.8.2022)
Silakkarin männylle – To the Silakkari pine 1, 2, 3
Dear Pinus peuce, With the Macedonian Pine and Dressed in Cones
Pondering with Pines - Miettii Mäntyjen kanssa - Funderar med Furor 