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This part of The Diverse Garden has become an essential element of focus in my research. It is a part of garden that tends to be overlooked, forgotten, despised or uncomfortable. But it is this time invested in reflecting, composting, shedding and remaining in stillness that has become a key resource for the wellbeing of the garden. De-growth, stripping down and eliminating parts of the garden that have detract from it flourishing has taken on a greater weight, for without it the other phases of this garden’s growth would not be in balance. Therefore, you’re invited to take the time to dwell in this space to feel, see, read, notice and experience what is has done for this specific diverse garden and what it can offer you.

A personal conversation with oneself

What path do you take every day? is it the bus at the same time? Same bus driver? Maybe you bike sometimes? Do you always take the same route? How often does that route differ? What do you come upon each time you go down that path? Is it the scenic route or the one through the city? Is it the shortest, easiest route or the one with the most eye-catching things to see and experience? Or is it because it's peaceful, safe and secure? Or is it out of habit? Necessity, desire or circumstance? How does that affect your day? what you wear and how you feel?

In a car or train, next to someone you know or don't know. Responding to other preferences wafting your way, behaviour and movements.

How long do these rides take? Where are you going, what do they lead you to?

I move and shift over time, shedding my outer coat year after year. Whispers seep into me each with their own tune, advice, needs, comfort, inspiration and support. I stand still and feel it all, quiet and steady, loud and strong, floating far and wide, hosting critters and homes, sagging, uplifting, holes and caverns are on and within me. I withstand the fluctuating weather, sometimes parts of me crumble and crunch under the strain. I'm held up by the past, the present and the future, weaving networks above and below the surface. I'm nourished by and nurture others, together we are here soaking in the sun, rain and air, excreting the good and bad out from our pours. We are noticeable but not always noticed, I'm one of the many doing my part on this earth.

Slow down has also been slogan for industrial workers of the world . There are these forms of strikes where workers follow all the rules meticulously and slow down so much that it damages productivity immensely.

Refection pods - An intervention against capitalism:

The refection pods are made from wood that has been rescued from its impending destruction at a construction site. It is previous purpose was to protect and transport supplies from one country to another for the use of development. This wood has now been given a resting place and has been transformed into a vessel where refection and connection to oneself and the environment can transpire.

The space in the centre invites the dweller to ground themselves and focus on the present experience.

This interactive outdoor artwork was originally inspired by the texts from Rosie Braidotti and her ideas connecting the stance of the Vitruvian man of dominance and capitalism. In contrast Braidotti explores the position and stance of a Vitruvian woman and what would transpire as a result with the hands lowered towards the ground or towards the sky. These gestures and the motion between them and what it could represent, triggered a correlation to the corona pandemic for me. The motion was not of power and domination, but of the constant flow of receiving more and more information from our subconscious being dominated by consumption. During the pandemic our position was still being coerced into submission, submission to take steps back from our vigorous rushing through life and to slow down, by being forced to stay away from our usual daily external interactions. And yet even with this coercion we were struggling to to dwelling in this space of imposed solitude and confinement. This made me consider this position of “submission” and to look at what its benefits could be. This feeling of disconnecting from the constant daily hubbub and shifting my hands from a stretched-out position to a lower them towards the ground or up towards the sky and feeling the movement flow through my centre. A feeling of letting go of control rushed through me and a feeling for the need for a deeper connection grew steadily. My false sense of individuality started to shift away from its centre and move towards the periphery where it was stead a part of a live nourishing network of connections. The process of making of the reflection pods and the time spend in the forced solitude of covid, stripped back and blocked out the constant bombardment of inputs and outputs that were come at and from me from all sides. My focus shifted towards looking at what I already had and considering what was essential, became more part of the focus of my attention. I carved out time to take my actions and ways of interacting into account and it was by doing this that I started to see things and habits that I needed to strip away, removed, recalibrate and redesign for myself and my outputs. One of these things was the capitalistic instinct to compete, this was removed with the relevant necessity and desire to actively connect, collaborate, support and grow together with like-minded people. How this would actually work was only going to be learned through doing it locally and with regular refection and evaluation in order to ensure that I wasn’t slipping back into my old habits or forming new ones with old dominate instincts.

It is radical to go slow... its against capitalism... time shows true realities.

I think that slowness has to be accompanied with togetherness and affordable time, otherwise it can become a form of exploitation in the sense that ppl must scarify their available resources to meet this radicalness yet don’t necessarily receive back; it’s important that the slowness as a collective and financially supported kind of practice, I think.

I think what’s good about the ‘radical’ is that it starts at the roots of problems, not just treating the symptoms… addressing the structures of power, ownership, etc that underlie the manifestations of conflict in society.

Yes, how can slowness be made sustainable .

I think Democracy is in contradiction to Capitalism precisely because of the time it takes!element.

We can keep the term conflict a bit more open, instead of thinking of it as a conflict between human beings, it's also the conflict with the established and internalised notions of how we want to be instead of how/when we have to be, how to behave, how to conform, an internal/personal conflict that materializes in our stress levels, burnouts etc.

In a time when we have become more isolated from our routine ways of relaxing and making connections, the need to find other sources of revitalization has become apparent. As an artist working on the subject of sustainability, Angelina Kumar has experienced the need for moments of reflection necessary to obtain a holistic perspective that shifts our way of thinking, acting and interacting with each other and the planet.

The Reflection Pods presented in this exhibition are made from rescued wood and created with the intention to quiet the busyness of the external world. They invite you to step inwards, to connect with oneself and with nature from whence we came.

Time for incubation!

Why should we go from boxes to elongated boxes…Fuck the rectangles!!!
Laptopscreen,
Phone,
Zoom screens,
Rectangles with faces in them stacked on
top of each other,
videos,
TV,
A4 PDFS,
Books,
Rectangle’s point of view,
Remote controls,
Tables,
Frames,
Paintings,

Zoom observations
Black rectangles, white text/names/numbers/he/she/they/her/him/letters, red slashed microphone. Edited indoor spaces around the world, white walls and ceilings, sheaves, books, plants, window, wall fixtures/pictures/ drawing/ paintings/flags, virtual backgrounds, lamps and lights, work-boards, photo picture of the person behind the black rectangle, coloured square, many headphones, perplexed faces, hands of holding heads up and touching faces, emojis/clapping hands/ thumbs up/heart/laughing/party/yes/no/slower/faster, chat box/public/private conversing without the physical voice, number of participants, record button everyone know if recoding is happening red button on the top, share screen, breakout rooms, a upward view

Rows stacked on top of each other, or in a vertical line with the individual at the top, everyone is seeing a different arrangement of participants, cameras that are on are on visible on the first page, one voice heard at a time, other sounds can intervene if, speaker has a green frame, or main big viewing rectangle,

Behind the black rectangles, screen shots, audio recordings, moving through a private space, audible conversations, spacing out, volume control, unable to pause or playback what has been missed, muting and stopping the camera,

08-03-2021
It came out of the blue, deep rich soil. An offering to plant a small tree and allow it to have room to grow. It’s almost unbelievable how quickly it took root and from its placement new sprouts started to spring up in unexpected places. There was care and watering around this soil and because of this, berries started to grow…. They were enjoyed by all and some that partook of the berries were inspired to help with the planning and growing of a garden…. Dreams even of a farm one day began to form.
Together a journey began, some people come, and others go, by they all play a part in how the garden takes shape and form.
Now the first plot of soil has been allotted to another and a new shift has to take place. Though it’s a little sad to have to move from De Nijverheid, it has been a warm temporary home in the flow of LDD’s ever moving Journey.

08-03-2021

A beautiful bird joins us for a while. She flew over our new project space and tweeted of what she could see from her vantage point. A green roof, lots of people passing by modular possibilities and flexibility. She also brought some seeds with her, bigger ones than we’ve yet considered to plant before. She gave us some blueprints and the mutual feeling that for this to work money shouldn’t hold us back. Her soft voice was cheerful to hear and one that I hope we will hear again, as now the winds have changed her course and she has to fly back to South Africa. Her presence will be missed but always welcomed again.
(To Alma Holm – LDD’s Sustainable Architect Advisor)

13th May 2021
(A moment of reflection noted on the last day that in the process of closing down the LDD store at De Nijverheid.)
A moment in a cycle was an installation I made at the start of Autumn 2020. It was something my gut was leading me to make and something I’d been wanting to do for a while. You see at this time of the year; tree surgeons can be seen around the city pruning the branches of large trees that line the streets. These branches lay on the ground for a few days before they are collected and shredded, something I’d been noticing for a few years. This time I started to collect as much as I could and brought them to my studio to create an indoor Autumn canopy, of yet to fall and die leave and branches, to dwell in. My gut wanted to take the time to personally experience what this season had to offer. Being a person that is always busy with multiple things always spinning at once, I felt the need for this to be represented in the space as well. Elevated wooden round plates, that I found near a construction site, were suspending and spinning in mid-air, not quite touching each other but connected by a metal wire grid above. At some point they were also strung together with rope by other master fine art students that were invited into the space. These wooden plates, with holes in them, moved, when touched, at their own rotation and speed as well as remaining still when the interaction ceased. I spend time observing these rotations and movements, hypnotised by their motions and stillness. I looked through the cracks between the leaves and branches that grew, and they died and fell to the ground and let this moment in the season of stillness sink in. What would or should fall away, what will or should die, what should be removed, what should remain still, what should or could connect? These suspended wooden plates and the reflective moments they offered have travelled through my work giving way for the next season to spring forth.

Discussion with Artist Rory Pilgrim:

Artist Rory Pilgrim creations are very personal, social engaged, co-created and seems to come about so organically. I admire his way of giving other people the space to speak, listen and connect through his art all the while negotiating with various set social and system structures. I was curious what sustainability meant to him and his artistic practice and so I asked him if we could have a conversation on the subject. During our conversation we disused what is unsustainable in our lives, the connecting elements and the need for transformation.

“It’s about the interaction between different understandings of things. Making space for dialogs, weaving together with the structures you come in contact with and have to negotiate with when they are part of your tool kit for sustainability and play a part in instigating transformation.”

References:
The economist is Stanislav Meshnikov,
Improvisation realism - Karrabing Film Collective – QAGOMA

"What is going extinct is the times humans spend with and in nature."
Anisa van der Hoek, Co-Founder at Circle That

When looking at The Diverse Garden we must also consider what is dying or going extinct, because of our past and current actions and policies. On an whole we hear a lot about animal and plant species and ancient civilisation methodologies going extinct. One of the points to consider, that is a cause of these extinctions is, “the amount of time humans spends being with and in touch with nature.”. This was pointed out to me in a conversation with Anisa van der Hoek from Circle That, a local platform for sustainability. She said she noticed this as a key element for why a lot of us are out of touch with where circularity comes from, something that can better understood by spending more time observing how nature works. This element of spending time with nature is something that we shouldn’t let die out but rather give it more time and attention. Another important thing to consider is that not only is nature and our time spend in it going extinct, but that we too as a human species are going extinct, a point that is hit home by Dr. Shanna Swan’s research. By understanding and reflecting on the fact that we as humans are also dying out should cause us to re-evaluate where we want to put our energies towards and why we would want to shift our current automatic actions, structures and systems towards imitating regenerative flows of nature.