Fieldarts
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arts and science research residency july 2022 (Amsterdam)
In hydrological terms, estuaries are always transitional waters. At the confluence of logistical, ecological, and capital flows, the Ij estuary and the Port of Amsterdam occupy an ecotonal space where freshwaters commingle with saline currents and a transitional energyscape shaped by the alluvial sediments of economic and metabolic circulation. Thinking through and across these shifting estuarine environments, FieldARTS responds to an emerging epistemic and methodological challenge posed by fieldwork in the environmental humanities: how can researchers and artists learn with and develop methods responsive to the semiotic, material, and historical specificity of “the field” in their thinking, writing, and practice? Combining artistic research, political ecology, field philosophy, and critical hydrology, FieldARTS takes up this question of situated inquiry as an opportunity to undermine and unlearn traditions that delineate or bound the field of study.
Working at the intersection of cultural, logistical, and hydrological fields that frustrate epistemic capture, participants will take part in developing experimental and immersive methods of reading the lived and lively ecologies of the Ij’s transitional waters; turning the studio, the lab, and the field brackish. To this end, FieldARTS 2022 offers an intensive programme structured around field trips exploring the littoral dune ecologies of Texel Island, home to the NIOZ institute for sea research, and the colonial infrastructures of the Port of Amsterdam at Ijmuiden, now site of the world’s largest sea lock and offshore wind farm development. Unfolding over the course of five days, the residency combines masterclasses by leading environmental humanities researchers, collaborative study sessions, and forays into the field led by an interdisciplinary team of artistic and scientific practitioners, culminating in a public-facing roundtable event and creative-critical publication collating work by participants. Sited by estuarine and offshore fields, FieldARTS offers a unique opportunity for students, scholars, and artists to co-create innovative and experimental approaches to situated research in the environmental humanities.