Soil Horizon

Performance, screenings & sound from:

Katya Sykes  /  Kiik Amor  /  Ella Yolande  /  Diane Edwards  /  Donna Haringwey  /  Samuel capps 

10th August 2024

As the Ringlorn forest decays and rots to a mulch, we welcomed the horizon of our changing season at Alt_R.

In the eco-cosmic tapestry of existence on the edge of the composted afterlife, where dead wood crumbles into the fertile matrix of existence, the distinction between life and death dissolves into the fertile ground of being. In this underworld, the breakdown and circulation of matter are eco-poietic rituals, the soil’s aliveness pulses with an eerie vitality. The living soil is not just a matrix of biological functions but a realm of metaphysical exploration, where the rot of one era becomes the fertile ground of the next, where mycological networks twist and entangle. This world beneath the feet of the oblivious surface dwellers is a microcosm of the greater universe, a place where the very notion of existence is continually redefined. Here, the soil is not just earth; it is an interdimensional portal, a vibrant testament to the eco-cosmic forces that govern all things. Soil as a medium becomes the canvas for an unseen alchemy, where the eco-poietic processes are inscribed in the language of fungi, protozoa, and nematodes. The decay is not an end but a metamorphic gateway to new beginnings.

When I am Slow I am Many by Katya Sykes was manifested and performed over soil already permeated with abundant growths of mycelium, Turkey Tail mushrooms took paper form, handspun hemp yarn and mixed fabrics entangled over the body with motion capture sensors. This technology was interwoven within mycological matrices across both physical and virtual environments, contemplating the felt navigation and exploration of mycelial hyphae through soil, embodying the slowness of underearth, connecting to the soil's aliveness. What life dwells in the darkness under the soil? Where whispered messages are sent through hidden networks, electrical signals flow between species through mycelial webs of relation, connecting outwards to the neurological and the digital to interface with other bodies.