Temporary Services / The Mythological Quarter

The Mythological Quarter is our way to use art to pay attention to where we live or find ourselves working. We are deeply invested in exploring the intersection of culture and ecology. We believe artists have a valuable role in shifting our collective values away from lives based on consumerism to more resilient, healthy ways of being.

Through interviews, recording city use, and producing original research, we document people, places, and projects that are taking a culturally based response to present day environmental issues and the looming global catastrophe.

The Mythological Quarter is a project in thinking ecologically about the world in which we live. We started from a micro-local standpoint documenting our own experiments from growing blackberries, or making tofu and passive greywater systems, in our Copenhagen apartment, situated in the Mytologiske Kvarter (several Copenhagen city blocks that are named after Norse gods).

We expand our knowledge by conducting interviews with artists and scientists working with these issues in hybrid and creative ways, as well as, review books and exhibitions that are dealing with culture and ecology issues, wherever they might be taking place.  We think it is important to relate global issues to local life. We are building this project into a resource and see ourselves as part of a larger ecological art movement.

City Bee Habitat

While we don’t have all the information on colony collapse disorder, we have been learning about things one can do to encourage healthy bee populations. Honey bees require maintenance and care, but there are other types of bees out there that don’t require as much work. Through the Land Drama performance series and scientist Anja Wynns, we learned about how to make habitat for “solitary bees.” Solitary bees do not have a hive, queen, or make honey. They are not affected by the same parasites that affect honeybees. They are easier to encourage in your backyard garden, or in city green spaces. According to Wynns, it is a good idea to encourage solitary bees because they are excellent pollinators, and could help sustain plant life and agriculture in the wake of honey bee loss. These tiny insects are a key element in healthy growing ecology.
While doing a residency in Berlin, we have been researching wildlife habitat in urban areas and wanted to do some tests around solitary bee habitat. We looked at making both elaborate aesthetic designs and creating habitat that was integrated into existing cracks in city spaces.

The city bee habitat research we were doing will inform bigger projects here where we live. We decided to put our little bee habitat out in Lichtenberg before we left.

For more informaion:

http://www.temporaryservices.org
http://www.halfletterpress.com
http://www.mythologicalquarter.net

 

Oktober, 2012