VISIONARY INSTITUTE
2019-ongoing
‘The world emerges from multi-species decisions‘.- Deborah Bird Rose
The Multispecies Visionary Institute is my artistic framework to share, collaborate and experiment with activating communal, emotional connections. This adaptable construct is site-responsive, allows relinquishing authorship and acknowledges the contribution of multiple micro and macro agents. Projects in Berwick (Multispecies Visionary Institute 2021 and Multispecies Garden Vision Council 2022) exemplified this approach by inviting other creative practitioners (over 30) and audiences to co-create and participate in the content and intention of the work.
I used these opportunities to extend a radical welcome and sharing of space, creating an atmosphere of generosity, inclusivity and hospitality to encourage knowledge sharing and participatory events.
Multispecies Visionary Institute (MVI) aims to model a new and evolving, nomadic practice as ART –Apparatus for Resurgence in Trophallaxis. This is a space-time specific, niche constructing- thought and practice experiment; a playful exercise in creative adaptation, in building a self-sustaining practice for a pluralistic world in crisis.
Multispecies Visionary Institute (MVI) as trans-disciplinary, research, practice, and educational environment to facilitate shared ownership, diminish the importance of an individual artist, and provide a framework within which I could situate ideas and make, share, and present work, collaborate and experiment with community building. This is a significant part of trophallaxis element of the Apparatus for Resurgence, caring, nurturing and exchange, and provide a ‘space’ that would power and perpetuate the Apparatus for Resurgence of Trophallaxis.
The Multispecies Visionary Institute’s mission is to deepen the relationship between multispecies worlds, aid multispecies resurgence and support multifaceted practices on a conceptual and pragmatic level. This mission encompasses my own creative practice and provides a means for collective and open-ended exchange and collaborations with other researchers and practitioners.
The Institute also set the scene for different types of creative energy, actions, and visionary works to grow spontaneously from its core, ranging from talks, exhibitions, workshops, meditations, fermentation, feasts and foraging to experimental forms of therapy and education. The Multispecies Visionary Institute strives to be like a bee ‘who nurtures everything she touches.’(Mark Thompson)
The Multispecies Visionary Institute is an adaptable construct that is responsive to sites and situations. Situating my research within the Multispecies Visionary Institute also suggests an act of relinquishing authorship and acknowledging the contribution of multiple micro and macro agents. It affirms the complexity within and among species, as a force that sustains interdependence in natureculture.