A Plant's Point of Position
The following introduction and questions can act as prompts for possible points of reflection while watching the video. Before you start the video, please note that the audio you will hear is a soundscape made from the bio-electrical songs of certain weeds and wildflowers found across London.
This video is part of the ongoing project 'Clock Flower Wishes', which aims to celebrate the weeds and wildflowers that continue to thrive against all odds in urban surroundings. Wild plants that grow in cities are often unintentionally overlooked and, at times, intentionally destroyed, yet they continue to grow and contribute to the ecosystems of our cities.
As we venture deeper into digital domains, the exploration of self expands into new territories, like a wild plant ever adapting and reaching for life by exploring new ways of expressing the self and rooting down in habitable places even when inevitably uninvited. So, how does the mapping of self in digital landscapes compare with the wild plants spreading across an urban landscape? With nature being ever more digitalized, is it sufficient to experience nature through a digital device, just as we are increasingly experiencing our concept of self through technology? How does the self survive and how can it thrive in digital landscapes like the wild plants in urban landscapes? How can we adapt to digital climates, respond to abstract shared spaces, and cope with digital claustrophobia?
At times, we may feel like weeds, out of place, and overlooked, but how can we retain our resilience and protect our authenticity? How to position the self, where to position the self, and is there a point to it all? Just as a weed, to be trodden on but not downtrodden, be that online or in our physical spaces, feeling either at home or displaced in a land of concrete, as a soul too can feel a sense of belonging and community or feel rejected by our shared digital spaces.
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Like the pixelated greenery that covers the concrete on our screens in this video, we too may feel as insignificant as a tiny square on a screen or a withering weed, and yet each pixel, seen or unseen, is essential to the whole image, and each weed is a defiant gesture of nature that reveals a sense of hope and a promise of renewal for our planet.