What does it mean to have an ecoconsciousness? The works here offer multiple answers to that question. ecoconsciousness measures our interconnectivity with the natural world. It celebrates our links to the animals with whom we share the planet, to the trees, fruits, vegetables, herbs and insects that make life possible, to the land and waters that bear witness to our best and worst impulses and to the ecological systems that sustain us all. It encompasses our awareness both of the beauty of nature and the devastating horrors created by our efforts to exploit it. It manifests itself in artworks that bring the perilous consequences of our actions to our attention through striking images, immersive installations, evocative performances and rituals and practical proposals. It engages with fields as diverse as science, technology, poetry, politics, history, anthropology, art history and futurism. And it poses questions about our place in the cosmos with wit, sorrow, anger and hope.

Eleanor Heartney, Juror

The ecoconsciousness catalogue can be viewed on ecoartspace’s website. Print versions can be ordered there.

In his podcast, Voices of Excellence, he asked me many great questions about my art and teaching practices. You’ll hear me talking about my recent work with virtual reality, augmented reality and about how living with worms has influenced me. We also discuss interdisciplinary teaching, creativity, eco art, bio art, art & science and art & technology.

My interview is on Soundcloud and on Apple iTunes.

And you can listen to all of the Voices of Excellence interviews on this regular podcast on Soundcloud or iTunes. They focus on the innovative work being done by faculty and staff in the College of Arts and Sciences at the Ohio State University.

There are 8 scenes which place at Willow Lake, on the South end of Flushing Meadows Corona Park, in New York. The starting point for the app tour is the East entrance of the Pat Dolan Trail, right after walking over the Van Wyck Expressway pedestrian bridge. The tour takes about 26 minutes and the one-way walk down the trail is less than a mile. You can also use the app in your local park, GPS is not required.

This artwork is a guided tour which allows us to inhabit the worlds of multiple species along an urban park trail, allowing them to become visible and “sense-able” to us. The viewer re-enacts stories from the perspectives of non-humans; playing the part of a plant calling out to a bird to help with pest control, an ant planting spring flowers while simultaneously feeding her babies, an underground fungal network delivering goods to struggling trees, and a cormorant searching for a meal in a man-made lake in Queens, NY.

Thank you to collaborators Josh Rodenberg, Danielle McPhatter, and Jayne Kennedy. And project supporters Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center, NY, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, and the New York Urban Field Station, a partnership between NYC Parks, the US Forest Service, and the Natural Areas Conservancy, NY.

• More info about the site, process, and people involved in this artwork here.
• My research bibliography is here. 
• Opening events to celebrate the app are announced here.

Becoming Biodiversity is an augmented reality artwork that will encourage participants to explore and experience local, ecological networks present in an urban park site. Cell phones and headphones are used to view the artwork, which includes mixed-reality animations and storytelling as an overlay to the actual park. The experience will be an embodied one, designed to connect humans empathetically with the biodiversity, symbioses, and unseen worlds in public park spaces.