Dark ecologies: creative research in multi-species water environments

Abstract

In the realm of multi-species ecologies and relationships, there are often unseen dynamics, unheeded threats and unacknowledged suppressions. The objectives of the research were to develop an experimental approach to expose some of the hidden, overlooked or ignored aspects of specific watery environments, and hidden violence of associated human-animal relationships and to reflect on the role of creative methods of activation and empathy-building in such scenarios. Using a trans-disciplinary geopoetic approach inspired by dark ecology thinking and methods based on creative provocations, this experiment offers insights into relationality around two water-connected species, the European Eel and the Black-legged Kittiwake. Adaptations of everyday objects were created and used within a performative market-stall installation to engage people in conversation. Our work illustrates the potential for creative provocation as a method within ecology-focussed enquiry, harnessing the productive tension between what is regarded as scientific ‘fact’ and creative/imaginative activations. Kittiwake; Eel; Dark Ecology; Geopoetics; Water Landscape; Hydrocitizenship.