Categories: General Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2018 Title: Liquid Architecture: Mangrove, Casuarina, Cotton Tree, PalmHOME OF THE ARTS (HOTA) 135 Bundall Rd, Surfers Paradise Qld
From Liquid Architecture website:
(Why Listen?)
The Gold Coast is home many different plants which thrive in the unlikely environment of saltwater ecosystems. Mangrove communities support millions upon millions of lives. Casuarinas – also called she-oaks – spread their needle-shaped scale-leaves in a fine carpet to smother other vegetation, vitally supporting the healthy balance of wetlands by keeping other plant encroachment in check. She-oak nuts are also the only food that black cockatoos feed upon. Cotton trees – beach hibiscus – also grow in the intertidal zone, where their bark has traditionally been used for string, their roots hold sandbanks together and their canopy shields and protects aquatic life. Palm trees are another liminal species, symbolising the Coastal dream of waterfront property ownership but also the eviction of old, unruly gardens for an aspirational aesthetic of manicured shadelessness.
Far from being silenced, these quintessentially Gold Coast plants are actually very vocal, speak to systems beyond botany – wider ecologies and narrower economies – acting as symbols to spark our dialogues about plant-human relations on the Glitter Strip. Through a series of co-operative performances, open conversations and tea-drinking, this program of plant-listening unfolds over an afternoon at Home of the Arts.
Dr Mary Graham will speak about plants within indigenous perspectives and philosophy.
Libby Harward, who is a Ngugi woman from the Quandamooka, will give an artist talk and lead a kayak listening tour with LA’s Danni Zuvela, through sites of occupation and botanical subjectivities.
The world’s leading plant bioacoustic scientist, Monica Gagliano (Perth) will give a reading and thoughts from her latest book, the phyto-biography Thus Spoke the Plant (North Atlantic Books (released November 13, 2018).
Leah Barclay will respond to Monica’s book with a locative sound installation exploring the acoustic ecology beneath the surface of the soil. Accessible by mobile devices, the installation will include live streams with microphones buried (‘planted’) deep in the ground beneath the Home of the Arts site.
David Spooner’s queering of plant discourse will consider dominating environments; vegetal-human abundance; visibility, audibility and masculinity; and what it might mean to grow in the wrong context, or flourish in balance.
Throughout the day, Mutual Making (Caitlin Franzmann and Dhana Merritt) will generate a space for conversation and the creation and sharing of plant wisdom and experiences, including tea drinking, divination readings and talking.
This event takes place on the sovereign lands of the Yugambeh people.
Co-presented by Liquid Architecture and HoTA Supported by the Regional Arts Development Fund