Organism[1] 2005 in progress... We landed here like spores, blown on high by air currents.Our fingerprints melting into cyberspace as we descended into the bowls of the city it stirred, like a giant beast. Organism broadly investigates the relationship between ‘nature’ and ‘culture’ by investigating the notion of a city as a composite organism, exploring the way in which these concepts are shaped around ideological and cultural constructs. An organism, not an apple…We are particularly interested in how a city[2] is mediated and constructed as a system in relation to our subjective experiences and interests. The project draws inspiration from many diverse sources and explores various aspects of the notion of an organism., while our interstitial position at the intersection between America and Africa holds potential for investigation. Enter the Laboratory Strategy As point of departure we are investigating what we call the Nature Culture Continuum, and presenting our findings on an ongoing basis in the form of a laboratory. We are influenced by daily explorations of New York City, a continually shifting landscape of people, places and energy. To this end Organism employs a conceptual laboratory, a vehicle to explore ideas through the use of available technology. Making use of the ‘world wide web’, public sources of information as well as other tools, technologies, equipment and facilities available to us. while studying first hand the physical surrounds of the city with respect to our specific interests. Organism is based on a series of ‘cycles’ that operate as a journal of our exploration of the city. For this we will base our approach to research loosely around the work of naturalists such as Marais, Fabre and Thoreau as a subtle overriding arc. That is, we intend using nodes of information and ideas as they travel along a network of evolutionary thinking rather than focusing overtly on authorship. Our work will in many respects be a continuation of ideas rather than a new an entirely new tangent, in this sense we see Organism as an opportunity to develop ideas that have been waiting for an opportunity to germinate. We will be more concerned with uncertainty than proclaiming new truths, we are interested in the vibrant field uncertainty provides for the creative potential to investigate how we perceive the world. We propose a structure whereby cycles can take on variable forms and durations from a couple of hours into infinity. We hope to develop points of interest along and partnerships around conceptual issues and to develop a workable framework for various cycles.
Cycle Germination investigate collaborations and partnerships. Cycle of ideas
Cycle - Marais
Cycle - Thoreau writings had far reaching influences on many public figures. We would like to map the connections between influential ideas within a broader context of New York. Cycle - Fabre Travel to France to document Fabres’ “Harmas” in Serignan. Cycle Audio SamplesIn New York we are conducting series of ethnographic style recordings, making extensive use of manipulated sound samples recorded in key sites around the city. Collaboration CycleExposition Cycle - Probing the Esophagus
Roosevelt Island. [1] or·gan·ism n1. a living thing such as a plant, animal, or bacterium2. a functioning system of interdependent parts that resembles a living creature
[2] cit·y n1.an extensive built-up area where large numbers of people live and work2.the inhabitants of a city collectively3.a thing, place, or situation that is a good or extreme example of its type (slang) (used in combination)4.an incorporated urban center in the United States that has self-government, boundaries, and legal rights established by state charter.Encarta® World English Dictionary © 1999 Microsoft Corporation.
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