Alternative Reality Gardening
You may not realise it, but you are inside a portal to an alternative reality.
A place where scientists, technologists, theorists, poets, crafters, dancers, artists and engineers all garden – in quite different ways.
About
This is a large-scale creative theme within the Awhi Incubator Project. It includes the following publication and symposium in 2023 and a large-scale lab in 2024.
Dr Maggie Buxton conceived this idea and is the curator and lead producer for this project. Maggie has spent thirty years opening portals between different realities, most recently including emerging technologies such as AR into her practice. Her goal is always to expand possibilities, disrupt existing mindsets and connect people more deeply to the spirit of place and to the planet.
The idea of opening a portal through to many different realities using the theme of gardening became an international invitation to AwhiWorld’s extensive cross-disciplinary network of collaborators and partner organisations. This included Australian partner TreeCreate and members of the global transdisciplinary network SEADS (Space Ecology Art Design)). Current participants in AwhiWorld creative innovation labs and projects were also invited to contribute.
The initial call-out (which resonated closely with Maggie’s PhD research) was as follows:
Places today are formed from multiple intelligences, materialities and lifeforms and are intersected by a rich array of alternative realities and parallel worlds. Flora, fauna, signals, code entangle, and what is considered real, true, alive and beautiful is negotiated. In this context:
• What gardens are emerging or possible? In what realms and realities do they exist?
• What is being cultivated (internally, creatively, physically, spiritually)?
• What is thriving and what needs protection?
• What new lifeforms and materials are emerging, and how do they intersect with what exists now?
• What are you foraging? propagating? grafting together? cooking?
• What is your place?
Publication
AwhiWorld’s first publication is a miscellany, a diverse collection of writing and images blurring boundaries of mindset, discipline and practice.
Important Note: Chrome or Firefox should be used to view the digital publication online (not Edge).
A limited edition physical version is available by application for libraries and resource sites.
Alternative Reality Gardening Lab 24
The Alternative Reality Gardening Lab (ARG Lab 24) happened May 17th to 25th 2024. Go straight to our dedicated Lab page.
Symposium
About the Perpetual Symposium
Individuals and organisations from various disciplines, cultures and practices around the world share their own take on Alternative Reality Gardening. From organic farming to creating future fibres and materials, from generating new realities to cultivating communities of practice.
Within this series, we also have a significant number of Te Tai Tokerau | Northland Awhi Incubator participants sharing their practices, some for the first time.
The Alternative Reality Gardening Symposium launched on the 4th October and now exists perpetually. Let us know what you enjoy in the comments below the posts.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Jarred Taylor for production support for the symposium (including editing and in many cases, recording or filming of participants)
Symposium Contributors
ARG: Introduction by Dr Maggie Buxton
Dr Maggie Buxton conceived and curated Alternative Reality Gardening. She is a transdisciplinary practitioner with an extensive track record in developing people and places using leading-edge practices and technologies. For thirty…
ARG: Sharyne Lewis
Sharyne Lewis, (bailartheskies) is a multidisciplinary artist exhibiting and performing since 1998. Lewis’s art practice is strongly influenced by her passion for dance, choreographic practice and drawing. Her work explores themes through…
ARG: Reva Mendes
Reva Mendes, he wāhine nō te kāinga ō Hokianga. She is a contemporary mixed media Māori artist whose background is in traditional Māori weaving and Fibre Arts. Reva is based in Te…
ARG: AI Unravelled
Unravelling Artificial Intelligence From predicting our Spotify playlists to changing how our jobs function, Artificial Intelligence is weaving into every aspect of our lives. But what does AI mean for you?…
ARG: Tracey Willms Deane
Tracey Willms Deane is an artist, author, and designer with a transdisciplinary creative practice. Her work focuses on what is present beyond the surface and what agency we have to cultivate harmony…
ARG: Marchelle Farrell
Marchelle Farrell is a writer, medical psychotherapist, and amateur gardener, born in Trinidad and Tobago but has spent over 20 years attempting to become hardy in the UK. She is curious about…
ARG: Dr Tracey M Benson
Tracey M Benson is an interdisciplinary artist living and working on Yarun Bribie Island, Joondaburri Country on Kabi Kabi / Gubbi Gubbi Nation. Her work focuses on deep listening, connection to place…
ARG: Pieter Steyaert
Pieter Steyaert is an artist and transdisciplinary researcher who explores collaborations within artistic and scientific communities. His work focuses on the context of astrophysics and exoplanets. Pieter is one of the co-founders…
ARG: Terri Donaldson
Terri Donaldson owns Wharepuke Organics - a certified organic dairy farm- with her partner Kenny Finlayson. She is heavily involved in numerous projects both in the community and artistic spaces, including creative…
ARG: Daniël Vandersmissen / Dan Yapungku
Daniël Vandersmissen / Dan Yapungku lives in Belgium and creates installations and performances related to social themes and events. As an artist, he alternates between making analogue and digital images: paintings, drawings,…
ARG: Hamish Oakley-Brown
Hamish Oakley-Browne is an artist and Director of Te Kowhai Print Trust, a community-owned open-access print studio in Northland. His art practice is centred on the tradition of fine arts printmaking. Having…
ARG: Aotearoa Digital Arts
In these two presentations, Vicki Smith and Ted Whittaker of Aotearoa Digital Arts Network (ADA) discuss how they have been cultivating connections through their organisation. Aotearoa Digital Arts (ADA) is a…
ARG: Mary Pedicini
Mary Pedicini is an American sculptor based in London, who works at the intersection of art and science, independently and as part of the transdisciplinary SEADS collective. Her work is grounded in…
ARG: Kim Newall
Kim Newall is a creative practitioner, educator, and performer. He has a Master's in Creative Technologies and a long history of working at the intersection of the physical and digital worlds. He…
ARG: Elise Koncsek
Elise Koncsek is an installation artist living in Whangārei, originally from Seattle, specializing in immersive and interactive art. Drawing from a background in biology, anthropology, and environmental rejuvenation, Elise is developing a…
ARG: Mark Williams – CIRCUIT Artist Moving Image
Mark Williams is the Founder/Director of CIRCUIT, an arts agency based in Wellington. CIRCUIT distributes over 1000 videos by 200 New Zealand artists from the 1970s to 2023. CIRCUIT's activities include commissioning new…
ARG: Professor Frances Joseph
Professor Joseph is a designer and maker and a researcher at Huri Te Ao/The School of Future Environments at Auckland University of Technology and director of Intra-Action Initiatives. Her interest in new…
ARG: Dr Roy Davies
Dr. Roy Davies is a pioneer in Virtual Reality and Calm Computing. He completed his post-graduate studies at Lund University in Sweden and set up one of the first VR research centers…
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ARG is an evolving research project. If you would like to collaborate, contribute or be involved in some way please contact us.
Alternative Reality Gardening is part of the Awhi Incubator project kindly funded by Ministry of Culture and Heritage, New Zealand.
A significant amount of in-kind support has also been contributed through our partner organisations.