This exhibition is the culmination of a year-long Landscape, Ecology & Environment Research Residency. Over the past year, we achieved two main goals. First, our technical team rebuilt HAKOTO, creating a ‘staff’ to measure photosynthesis and transpiration in sphagnum moss on peat bogs. We spent time in Ireland learning about local blanket bogs, conducting tests, and making recordings. Leitrim, located along the northwest coast of Ireland, presented challenges in finding the right sites with decent weather. During our year of research we made significant new contacts in Ireland and the Netherlands and building upon our previous research and publication Deep Mapping of Lough Boora Sculpture Park in the Irish Midlands.
Our contribution to the LEER group exhibition will feature a large-format video projection of HAKOTO on two or three bogs. Additionally, we will present a four-screen text and image display called Bog Lyric 2024, the HAKOTO body instrument, and various physical elements. Bog Lyric was developed with the help of an AI named Bog Whisperer, who contributed to the poetic form and image generation. More details will be revealed as we prepare for the installation in July.
The exhibition is curated by Sean O’Reilly, with primary collaborators Chris Malcom and Noel Hefele. The HAKOTO project was completed with the expertise of Jim Watt and Blair Thompson.
Below, you can watch a sphagnum-performance with HAKOTO. The context is a vast, natural, wet, and wild bog in the southwest corner of County Sligo.