Inner West Council, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Edge Greenway Residency 2022 extended our inspiration from bees as a classic superorganism, an indicator species of ecological change, and the touchstone of our projects and practice as the collective Superorganism. For The Edge Greenway 2022 we continued to take inspiration from bees and celebrate the coming together of cooperative individuals, creativity, and the complex grace of healthy ecosystems and their cycles. We staged a series of collaborative events and rituals that attuned attention to different circular rhythms: cycles of time, cycles of life, cycles of exchange, cycles of breath.
Over the residency we held dance performances, guided bicycle rides, community making workshops including turmeric shibori technique flags, bees-wax candle and floral scented balms. Along the way we continued to gather wishes in a series coalescing collective practices inspired by superorganisms. 2022 was a tumultuous time of Covid, flood and restless political change. To work with these tensions, we invited the public to write down bad ideas and burn them as an act of metabolism and transformation. It was humourous, heartening and cathartic.
Bees on Bikes
Taking inspiration from the circuitous, yet efficient and connective, ways in which both bees and cyclists navigate their environment we staged a series of guided bike rides with Pedal Set Go.. During different rides we learnt from local experts about the ecosystems and multi-species communities in the local area, engaged in guided commutes between parts of the Inner West and the Greenway. We then gathered on open ground an created a waggle dance on bikes. This was the second iteration of a dance inspired by the bee waggle dance – a navigational dance using the figure 8 to communicate distance and direction to nectar sources.
Shibari / Dying with passers by
We dyed with passers-by, using the traditional Japanese SHibari techniques to make a collection of honey coloured cloths.
Scents and Rituals
We entered the world of botanical oils and stories of scent with perfumier and botanical skin care expert Jocelyn Fullerton. In the workshop community joined in a balm making workshop that lead us through the wonders of plant oils, medicinal applications and fascinating stories about perfume and how smell is profoundly links to connection and communication.
Burning Bad Ideas
Following from a previous action where we collected bad ideas via an online google form, we asked passers by for their Bad Ideas, for us to burn in a joyous and playful catharsis.
YouWho
YouWho was a participatory performance led by dancer, Renata Commisso and cellist and composer, Marie Louise Bethune, inviting audience to respond to ideas of connection between humans and other species.
Luminous explorations of shadow, reflections and translucency.
Designer and illumination scholar Jo Elliot will sculpt, narrate and create light. Using contrast of light and shadow and working with theatre lighting, we will play with sunlight, reflections and found objects to find wonder, connection and stories while expanding how we ‘see’.
