Seeds, Water, Plastic

Alter Us is an art movement which responds to our current global situation, dealing with issues surrounding the ecological crisis and human relations in the twenty-first century. We conducted our manifesto declaration as a performance at the Old Baths, Hackney Wick on 15th June 2019, after which, the outdoor installation we created during this event grew and transformed throughout the public exhibition over the course of the following months, ending on 18th September 2019. It is said that humans have affected the environment so much that the Earth’s climate has changed beyond what it would be without our presence. Our technologies are deemed responsible, and, while these technologies transcend geographical barriers to act globally, they have, paradoxically, led the scope of our individual experience to narrow, causing us to become ever more distant from one another. Can we harness this scientific knowledge to rejoin with the world and form a less destructive union with the planet and each other, or are these devastating forces actually a creative solution: what happens when we let nature take its course? Are we actively hastening our annihilation or embracing an evolution; are we running from our last sunset or towards a new sunrise? Rather than the traditional format of a collection of statements, Alter Us have shifted the manifesto formula to a series of open questions which aims to empower the viewer, instead of lecturing them, as an active participant in the emergency of climate deterioration. We want to focus on the issues we have identified yet remain open to other possibilities present in an ever-changing world. To that end, we have composed a manifesto which allows the freedom of questioning. Over several workshop sessions we split into smaller groups to make collages. After each session participants were asked to write down questions that each collage brought to mind. As these questions developed, they were grouped under six interrelated topics: capitalism, sustainability, (dis)connection, social challenges, nature versus technology, and the very process of questioning. We may never find the answers to our questions, but allowing time to stop and ask, to recover the ability to connect with our instincts, and to be surprised, may be all we need. We felt that a performance of this kind was the most open-ended, flexible way to present our manifesto and continuing explorations. Working with the local community, we held a plastic recycling campaign to gather bottles, cups and straws which were used as vessels within which we planted the beans and lentils. Beans and lentils were selected because they are one of the most sustainable crops, high in protein and a central dish of the Old Baths Café. During the performance, our manifesto questions were written with chalk in spirals on the floor and then surrounded by the collected plastic vessels which were filled with water and a straw stuffed with tissue at one end. We then invited the audience to help us deposit one bean or lentil in each straw and collectively transported each container outside to the communal garden to create the installation as shown in the photographs below.