2016 – 2017
Garden of Others was a collaborative project initiated by Teo Ala-Ruona and Shelley Etkin. It combined both gardening and performance, offering practices for being together, in a squatted garden space near Vantaa river. The garden was made by, framed by and inhabited by the working group and others: rabbits, deers, mosquitos, birds, slugs.
Coming from lineages of guerrilla practices and urban gardening, Garden of Others asked, how can gardening be a feminist practice? What is the role of caring, tending, and stewarding without placing humans at the center? Who constitutes the ‘other’? How might this inform our practices of solidarity, sanctuary, and alternative notions of ownership and influence?
Within the frame of Garden of Others project the working group made one performance action in the garden area, took part in Pixelache Empathy as Resistance project as well as facilitated a lunch event in the Pixelache Festival 2017. The event was called Lunch as a Temporary Autnonomous Zone, and it included three courses made from the ingredients from the Garden of Others. The lunch was offered for approximately 20 guests.
Working group: Teo Ala-Ruona, Shelley Etkin