This video art is based on the 3rd gathering of the Academic Workshop Soil, which was themed INTERACTION. It included presentations by Rembrendt Zegers of Bureau Natuurcentraal, Maike van Stipthout of DS landschapsarchitecten and Michael Stech of Naturalis Biodiversity Center. Zegers is process facilitator focussed on living together with nature, expert within the UN Harmony with Nature programme, member of the International Climate Psychology Alliance and author of the publication Making Nature Social: Towards a Relationship with Nature. Van Stipthout is founder of DS landscape Architects and author of the First and Second guide to nature-inclusive design. She is also Speaker for the Living at Zoöp Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam. Stech is a scientific researcher and expert on mosses. He is the project leader of the national research project HiddenBiodiversity which looks at invisible, unknown, and ignored biodiversity in urban contexts.
There is an interconnectedness between all urban components, from the soil beneath our feet to the buildings to the trees and the air we breathe. Stech’s research tells us that the unseen biodiversity within urban soils is vast, with over a thousand species per gram of soil. Yet there are huge gaps in our knowledge when it comes to the soil, especially given that only 1% of soil science is dedicated to urban soils. There is a notable shift towards citizens’ initiatives and citizen science around urban soil reflects growing public concerns about soil quality and the impact of urbanization. How can we support and expand local knowledge from grassroots initiatives for fostering urban biodiversity? As Zegers notes, all knowledge stems from our sensory experiences, underscoring the need to perceive and appreciate the existing reality through our senses. How can we encourage children and young people in urban contexts to experience biodiversity first-hand to foster a deeper connection with the natural world? By positioning soil not just as a medium for plant growth but as an active participant in urban ecosystems, Zegers encourages a shift from seeing soil as a mere resource to recognizing it as a living entity deserving of care and investment. And if cities embrace more nature-inclusive design, as Van Stiphout urges is necessary, how does our collective aesthetic of urban spaces need to change? Rewilding cities is a cultural act, she argues, as it challenges traditional notions of ‘clean’ design and ‘tidy’ public space.
Jaehun Park’s animation alludes to the intricate and often invisible interactions between the biotic and abiotic components of urban environments – the cultural and the natural. The dynamic relationships that sustain the greening of our cities are depicted in a playful way, hinting at the hidden threads and creatures that connect people, plants, and the physical structures of the urban landscape. Park’s visual journey about greening urban spaces is also a call to action, urging us to rethink our relationship with urban ecosystems and embrace a more empathetic, collective and structural approach to urban environmental stewardship, centring the invisible world of the underground as prerequisite for any intervention.
As we reflect upon the interconnectedness of urban environments and the collective nature of urban ecosystems, what is the shared responsibility of different urban actors for the stewardship of the soil? How does our urban culture need to change and adapt to facilitate healthy soils and climate resilient public space? In the underground, the lines between private and public spaces blur. How can urban planners and policy makers navigate the tension between collective benefits and market-driven developments in public space, honouring community efforts and activism for green spaces while mainstreaming ecological practices through innovative policy and design methods? Another question is how policy makers and decision makers can plan climate resilience with huge unknowns about the foundation of our biodiversity and our green infrastructure – the soil? What kind of research is needed to fill these knowledge gaps about the essential roles of bacteria, fungi, algae, and other microorganisms in maintaining urban well-being for all, now and in the future?
About Jaehun Park
Jaehun Park’s virtual works deal with current problematic events on Earth by zooming in on cleverly chosen metaphors and objects. In his simulated video works, he translates physical substance using 3D scanning technology into virtual substance, such as polygon structures and point cloud systems (a set of data points in space). He uses hyper-realistic 3D rendering to stage mass-produced objects – as vessels of capitalistic ideology – in an abandoned digital space or to situate them in ‘ritualistic’ installations depicting impossible natural phenomena. The different kinds of staged objects depict dark Korean histories, but also violent histories of the entire human race. Moreover, these by-products of a hyper-capitalistic, machine-driven civilization and symbols of war unfold in a virtual hellscape – a place inhabited by ready-made 3D digital objects as well as instruments of torture and tortured humans. A seemingly unreal landscape; perhaps closer to the reality of our time than we wish to believe.
Park doesn’t shy away from anything in his work. With his simulation algorithms, manipulated and staged virtual landscapes, and installations, he reveals the tip of the real world – oversaturated by hideous and glorious moments of capitalism. Desire, vanity, guilt, irrationality, and indebtedness become resources in the ‘ritual’ space of capitalism. The concept of hell doesn’t manifest itself after death, but here in this hellish reality.
Jaehun Park (1986, South Korea) lives and works in Amsterdam and Seoul. Graduated from the Department of Painting (BFA, MFA) at Seoul National University and Master Artistic Research at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague. Recent exhibitions include Topographic Atlas, JAN Museum, Amstelveen (2022), Art and Peace: Let us begin again from zero o’clock, Ulsan Art Museum, Ulsan (2022), Alternative Space Loop Seoul (2021), Sign Project Space Groningen (2021), Photo Basel (2021), Unseen Amsterdam (2021), Project Space 1646 The Hague (2019), and Artspace O Seoul (2016). His work is part of several collections including Amstelveen Municipal Art Collection, Normec, The Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, Korea Institute for Advanced Study and the Seoul National University Health Service Center.
Source: galleryviewer.com
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