POETRY IN NATURE, SCIENCE AND FLOW EXPRESSED THROUGH THE OXYGEN CYCLE AND COSMOVISION

Sometimes, we love to idealize the world as if it is one solid reality, instead of a living flux. The idea of solidity is defined with borders which  theoretically separate things from other things. Focusing on a world built on individuality, differentiation, and uniqueness,  consequently contributed to the idea of separation arousing which is the biggest illusion in a world that is utterly connected.

Frank White, a space philosopher and the creator of the term ‘overview effect’ explains the subject for a NASA podcast as follows; “I knew before I went into orbit, or went to the moon, that there weren’t any little dotted lines. But it’s knowing intellectually versus experiencing it. And so, there’s also the, the striking thinness of the atmosphere, something that they see. And again, for most astronauts, the feeling that the Earth itself is awe whole system, and we’re just a part of it. … But ultimately, we are connected. Totally connected. And not only with people, but with life. We’re totally connected with life.” (Moran, 2019)

As White states, knowing something intellectually and experiencing it are totally different levels of knowledge. Ozone layer is only at 50 km height, closer than any closest city, yet we barely remember this. Living under an atmosphere is something that we take for granted, however, it is the only thing that makes earth ‘special’ among the solar system. We mostly tend to forget that our valuable and fragile atmosphere is the crucial layer of life. 

Ideation

Cosmovision is directly related to global priorities. While setting these priorities, we need to ponder on some questions; What are the ancient dynamics of the world? What are the natural cycles and flows? Like the most disturbing question of job interviews, “Where do we see ourselves in a thousand years?” What values should we pass to the next generations? Do we want our children to know what a river is or do we want to put water in pipelines to be able to generate more energy to illuminate the malls at night? These are simple yet crucial questions because as Carl Sagan indicates, “​​Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.” (Sagan, 1994)

If we pay attention, breath is one simple and rhythmic flow, closely related with our life on earth  that reminds us of all of those ideas. In the video essay, we tried to narrate the oxygen cycle by emphasizing the breathflow and endless resonance of the living earth. 

As a group we have decided to narrate such a big story with daily footage so as to emphasize its simplicity for the reason that it is constantly happening all around us.  We recorded what we overlooked, the things that are not visible to the human eye at first glance but the effects that are observable. Living in different continents enabled us to capture a high variety of landscapes which represent elements like water, air and fire which are all closely tied with the oxygen cycle.

The video essay has a couple of stages. It starts with the action of breathing because it is an individual flow, yet, we share it with the rest of the living beings. It brings us back to the body. Furthermore, a breath triggers a reaction. When we see someone taking a deep breath, we are triggered to do the same. The video continues with a desert sequence, in which we can see effects of the air on a piece of cloth, on leaves, grass and branches. We see the sky as oxygen travels, and it continues its journey with earth, rain, rivers and lastly the ocean. The essay finishes with the breath accompanied with fire footage. We have also included zoom ins and outs in some scenes to remind the action of breathing. 

Transitions are also designed to create an overview effect and clips are arranged on top of each other. For transitions, the clip pairs are also selected carefully to create either a sharp contrast or a smooth figure-background relationship. 

In the movie script, simple facts are presented in a poetic way instead of giving the scientific data to convince the viewer. In the beginning of the process, subtitles seemed like a good option to explain the story, however, we did not want to split the attention of the spectator with the writings and clips presented at the same time. Thus, we decided to include a voiceover to keep the video simple and smooth like a breath.

Some clips which contain a specific element are juxtaposed with the balancing sounds. We tried to balance fire with water & air, also air with earth & water to express the cyclic motion of natural flows. For instance, we see a close up view of desert sands in the beginning, but we hear the sounds of water drops. Then the macro scene of sands is followed by a large and vast desert landscape. At this point, water sounds slowly increase and evolve into a waterfall. Another example is that the ice is melting, and we hear fire cracks. Surprisingly, what caught my attention is that these two sounds, ice cracks and fire cracks are almost the same.

Cosmovision

Nutrients are as crucial as water for life to grow. Every year, mineral dusts from the Sahara Desert travel thousands of kilometers across the Atlantic Ocean and eventually fall onto the Amazon Basin. This process enriches the soil with necessary nutrients and minerals. Without this cycle, there would not be any rainforests even if there is plenty of water. It is also very interesting that we as humankind have explored this flow in the near past, by observing satellite images. Taking one step back and observing the world from a distance made this discovery possible to us.

Cosmovision is taking a step back and observing. When we take a step back, things start to get smaller, details become imperceptible, however, big stories, great flows and the essence of life become more observable and clearer. As a concept, cosmovision defines our planetary priorities, our route in time and space, our values, our perspectives, our goals, and therefore, our way of existence.

In the process, we have combined clips of our natural environment with sounds according to our own aesthetic and created a narration. We used subtle and simple  language for the script and for the sequences. According to me, this collective work just offers to its viewer simplicity and flow with the examples from nature. The idea of the story is naturally linked, composed and recreated by the spectator who already has a unique vision embedded in the spectator’s own poem. All minds are naturally capable of exploring, comparing, interpreting, and translating. This is how the mind works and is our common way of attaining knowledge and finding meaning in the way of emancipation. As Ranciere explains, “From this ignoramus, spelling out signs, to the scientist who constructs hypotheses, the same intelligence is always at work – an intelligence that translates signs into other signs and proceeds by comparisons and illustrations in order to communicate its intellectual adventures and understand what another intelligence is endeavouring to communicate to it. This poetic labour of translation is at the heart of all learning.” (Ranciere, 2009) 

Ranciere continues, “What he does not know is stupefying distance, distance transformed into a radical gulf that can only be ‘bridged’ by an expert. Distance is not an evil to be abolished, but the normal condition of any communication” (Ranciere, 2009) I believe what we are doing as actors and creators is that  even if we crossed the gulf or not, we are just trying to signify our own stones for our spectators to step on to cross the gulf. We are all trying to help ourselves and each other on the way. The spectators are free to step on signified stones, they are also free to find other stones to step on, and they can also combine the stones if it makes more sense. There are endless possibilities and all ways are equal. Afterall, a stone is just a stone, standing there, belonging to no one. 

Author

İlkin Taşdelen

Creators

Belen Palacios // Industrial Designer // Ecuador

Cintia Guerrero // Design Pedagogy // Argentina

Ellie Davis // International Relations // USA

Ilkin Tasdelen // Industrial Design // Turkey

Julia Kostyra // Interior Architecture // Sweden

Sofia Orti // Humanities, Latin American Theatre // Argentina

Wendy Chua // Industrial Design // Singapore

REFERENCES

Moran, N. (2019, August 29). Ep 107: The Overview Effect [Text]. NASA. http://www.nasa.gov/johnson/HWHAP/the-overview-effect

The pale blue dot: Short recording. (n.d.). [Audio]. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved October 11, 2021, from https://www.loc.gov/item/cosmos000110/

Ranciere Jacques. (2009). The Emancipated Spectator (Gregory Elliott, Trans.; First English Edition). Verso.