The Kaboega Journals: Art meets Science meets Place

Part One

The Kaboega Journals: Art meets Science meets Place involved an intertwining of the disciplines of art and science, convening at a place that would act as a site of questioning, exploration, and discovery; namely Kaboega, a farm on the north facing slopes of the Zuurberg Mountain Range in the Eastern Cape. The trip was instigated by the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University's (NMMU) School of Music, Art, and Design and Department of Botany as a means of setting up a relationship between art and science, and addressing the potential this connection could hold in terms of broadening how one thinks about the arts and sciences, and how these practices are enacted, both singularly and collectively. Kaboega, originally inhabited by a goat-farming community, is now a site used regularly by Botany students as an example of a highly diverse environment, containing five different terrestrial biomes, but also one constructed as an idyll for herbivorous animals, as it is void of any natural predators. 

I set up a participatory "non-art" event at the site of an old farmstead on the Kaboega land, and developed a series of alphabetised prompts or hints for navigating the area and the objects it contains. These were designed as “games”, in that participants would start off with a prompt, and intuitively or performatively interpret the course of action from there. The participant would then dictate how they would interpret the prompt, which were suggestions for actions to take, or modes of viewing the area as a “site for art”. The prompts looked at human and animal trace, botanical evidence, and physical experience, and encouraged tactile engagement and a sense of “wandering with oneself” in the space – perhaps experiencing a sense of dislocation or defamiliarisation in this practice of wandering, or getting lost in playing games with oneself.

The cards each included a visual and a textual prompt and each participant received a unique prompt. These ranged from straightforward pseudo-scientific instructions (“Walk in a straight line or a wide circle and then try to retrace your steps. Record what you experience as you go.”), to more obscure or abstract hints which related to art-making in some sense (“Leave tangible (but environmentally viable) trace of yourself in a significant area in the landscape. Document and map what you have done.”), but all contained an instruction or instigation for an action and the directive to document or record what was enacted. Included for each participant was a “collector’s box”, a small clear plastic box with a sub-divided interior (typically used as a fisherman’s portable tackle box) that could be utilised to collect significant objects on each exploration. It was up to the participant whether these would act as part of the game or map that they may set up, or simply as tangible evidence of their exploration. 

Walk in a straight line or a wide circle; then try to retrace your steps. Record your experience as you go.

Rearrange objects within the landscape so that they are representative of the space explored. Record the trace of this arrangement.

Create maps or documentation of sites or spaces used by animals.

Assemble a collection of objects of the same size or shape. Keep these objects as evidence, or document them via diagramming, drawing, or writing.

Create a concrete poem or list which strategically arranges words or phrases according to their relationship to the landscape. 

Pick something up at every eighth step that you take. Record where each thing was found.

Collect objects to create tools for drawing or writing with.

Assemble an “alphabet” of stones, pebbles, seeds, or other similar objects. Document your findings and include what each item is representative of.

Find a collection of objects or plants smaller than one centimetre and draw, diagram, or document them. Map where each object was found.

Map the insects that you encounter on your exploration via drawing, diagramming, or listing.

Collect a range of colour samples or swatches that are a representation of the environment’s current colour palette.

Assemble a collection of rubbings or tracings of different textures in the environment.

Document all evidence of human presence in the landscape via drawing, diagramming, or writing.

Document other peoples’ actions, as undertaken in their own explorations, via drawing, writing, or photography. This could include their gestures, movements, or speech.

Document all the sounds you hear while on your exploration. This could take the form of a list, drawings, or diagrams.

List or map your experience in the environment as you explore it. Document both tangible and intangible entities. This could include interesting sites, objects, or encounters.

Find five significant things in the landscape and bury them somewhere else. Mark their old and new locations, and map or record where they may be found.

Create a game which may help you to better navigate the environment. Document the guidelines for playing the game and map any important sites or objects which are included in it.

Leave tangible (but environmentally viable) trace of yourself in a significant area in the landscape. Document and map what you have done.

Photographs courtesy Mary Duker.