ECOLOGY X ART: Collaborative polymath development

Great things can happen when we deepen our connections to the natural world. This trip will hopefully sharpen observation skills, ecological literacy and also provoke creative thinking. The idea is that we will come out of the weekend with at least one or two collaborative art projects that are inspired by a deeper connection with nature. Could be a music video, a poem, sculpture, painting, idea for a screenplay, who knows! No pressure tho - the most important thing is to create a positive space for learning and exploration. We did a collaborative painting on David Sik’s trip last year that I reckon was pretty cool. 

Bring art supplies anything you could see yourself getting stuck into and enjoying using - some ideas:

• Clothing/costume to build a character 

• Wood carving knife

• Ukelele (any instruments maybe only bring if you can carry a tune or play a few songs)

• Pen and pad for writing poems or ideas/sketching 

• Camera/tripod for photos/videos

• Paint/watercolour and canvas

• A terribly made homemade kaleidoscope or a homemade candle haha

• Art is everywhere! Whatever else you can think of! Don’t let these lists limit your thinking

Bring one scientific ‘tool’ or set of tools to be used measuring/informing us to better observe nature. Some possible suggestions:

• Magnifying glass/ hand lens/ binoculars/refractometer/thermometer

• Field guides for identifying species

• Geological/Soil/Forest type Maps (or any other great visual aids)

• Small digging tool to look at soils and soil life

• Camera with zoom or macro lens

• Books about microbes, fungi, ecology, etc

• Scanning electron microscope, centrifuge with vortex shaker, etc

Don’t worry too much if the thing you want to bring is heavy or large or not practical - this is most definitely not a speed achieving trip. I’m thinking that booking a whole hut in the Orongorongo valley would be cool - that way there’s more art and ecology and less driving and worrying about what other people think of us. Currently we are thinking TTC's Waerenga Hut. I suppose it would be good to have all of Saturday not worrying about coming or going so maybe it could be a Friday night to Sunday midday type of thing. At the moment I am thinking 9-11 October but I pulled that date pretty much out of thin air so I’m totally open to changing the date. 

To get signed up please write some initial thoughts on what your art and science tools might be and how each might be used. If you have no idea just make it up. I'm thinking 3 teams of 4. Technically Waerenga bunks 15 so I guess we could make it bigger if some of you help be organize. Email me if you want to help me organize it (would be awesome seeing as this is totally experimental) or if you have any questions. 

Bring overnight gears https://www.vuwtc.org.nz/resources/gear-list

Easy 2 hour walk from carpark