Talk by Debra Solomon (visual artist) | SEMINAR RHYTHMANALYSIS IN CONTEXT, Open Set 2018-2019
Debra Solomon is a PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam in the Urban Planning programme group. In her professional life as an artist working in the public space, she has carried out action research within several urban agriculture projects, developing expertise on the subjects of urban food forestry and urban soil-building.
Talk: CLASHING RHYTHMS OF EMBODIED SOIL CARE PRAXIS: AN EMBODIED INVESTIGATION INTO THE RHYTHMS OF THE URBAN SOIL ORGANISM, ITS RENEWAL AND RESTORATION AND FUTURES.
A three-year collaboration with the more than human community of Urbaniahoeve's Amsterdam North food forest resulted in a soil organism of extraordinary qualities from an all-species perspective. Opening the possibility for observational and nurturing relationalities, the restored soil, simultaneously a work of landart, a utopian tool, a grounds for an experiential Commons, a biotope provocation in all its baroque fertility that is technically capable of changing the effects and course of Climate Crisis, signifies an ability to nurture and repair a city's ecosystem. Investigating the effects of the embodied methodology involved in this process is proving to yield insights that could positively shape municipal techno-managerial practices for public space greenery. Applying a method titled Radical Observation that brings humans into close contact with more than humans, the presentation will excavate how embodied practices change perspectives through praxis. In a hands-on session, participants will test both technoscientific and embodied methodologies to critically question how research methodologies create more than praxis.
Credits:
The Series of Seminars RHYTHMANALYSIS IN CONTEXT is made possible by the support of the City of Amsterdam Zuidoost, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, Het Pauwhof Fonds, CBK Zuidoost, and has been organized in collaboration with the research group Designing Rhythm for Social Resilience (2018–2022). The visit of Heather Barnett is made possible by Het Nieuwe Instituut with support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.