Workshop: Non-human guidance in life, art and gardening
by Theun Karelse
Location: the large pond, Amstelpark
max. 15 participants
Price: €10
This workshop is part of Het Gedeeld Domein and Future Gardening.
The artwork Otterdam was inspired by the return of the otter to Amsterdam after 50 years of absence. These iconic wetland beings returned to the capital during a period of unprecedented drought in the Netherlands and Europe, like an omen at a time when it is becoming clear that we need to radically reimagine our relationship to the water.
For the vast mayority of human existence non-humans were highly valued guides. As John Berger put it: "the domestication of cattle did not begin as a prospect of milk and meat. Cattle had magical functions, sometimes oracular, sometimes sacrificial, living by voices we may never hear." With the otter as a guide, Otterdam is as much a practice as it is a structure. It’s an embodied exploration of wetland gardening, ecology and the joys of 'ottering'.
What we'll do:
In this workshop we explore non-human guidance in life, art and gardening. We’ll do a few experiments and discuss non-human guidance, human-animal cooperation.
Writer Paul Kingsnorth described the need for 'humans to rejoin the Great Conversation among Life on Earth’. This workshop explores living within a much broader horizon, and as the Elders say, being part of a community starts with tuning in.
Other-than-human lifeforms are very welcome.
