Syndikat Gefährliche Liebschaften and Dyffryn Dyfodol’s creative practice is place- and people-based. During our field trip exchanges as part of our Cultural Bridge partnership in December 2024 and January 2025, we explored each other’s practices by meeting people, visiting places and sharing experiences; we asked questions, explored possibilities and discovered different ways of working.
Creating a blog was one of our shared activities and we wanted this to be created in the same way that we would work with anyone in our communities - open, collective, creative and emergent. The process started with each member of Syndikat Gefährliche Liebschaften and Dyffryn Dyfodol teams selecting an image they wanted to share and write about. The image and text was then passed on to another person until we had all contributed with one or two sentences each. The following paragraphs are the result of this collaboration.
Image - Exploring the Migneint blanket bog moor in Wales: How it forms, what it is made of, and how to creatively explore its structure.
Guided by Emily Meilleur we participated in a Bog Moss Ceremony and learnt how sphagnum moss grows forever, its base dying and slowly turning into peat while its head keeps growing towards the sun, each strand supporting the others. How can we be more like sphagnum? First we probably need to understand that we as individuals together form a landscape, and then we need to find our own way of holding on while dancing around each other. Then, we have to find a way to rot at the feet, but also grow from the head to expand our existence. The sphagnum holds on to the water in its dead cells and, like sphagnum, we need to look after this precious resource cycling round the earth forever. We try to control it, but really we need to allow water to move more freely. And in the end we may just be slow enough to nurture something new.
Image - The Nant Peris Valley, Eryri National Park (Snowdonia), Wales
In front of a loud Welsh waterfall Felix looks for words to describe the water. What words should be used to make us and the water understand each other? When thinking about the way water is and communicates, it might be a language that is fluid, ever evolving. Or we communicate just in physical ways: pressure, temperature, floating….
In Meppen, we danced to scores of water created by observing it. Dancer Leo Marielle Amsbeck shared their practice with us. Could Felix have communicated with Welsh speaking water through the medium of his Meppen water dance? Water is international, dance is international - it should work! As well as water sounds, touch and movement, we smelt and tasted water from different locations: Stream water and bottled water, various tap waters - the difference was striking!
Image - Dressed up for a tour of a small scale pig farm in Hemsen, lower Saxony owned by Family Vieler.
Andy, Christel and their son Kai have a passion for local food production and education. Their relationship with land and locality was interesting as they strive to be sustainable, source materials locally and sell products locally. They are rooted in where they live and work, farming while also working other jobs full time, interested in the world and attending and participating in arts activities. It would be interesting to explore how they prioritise their time now and in the future. Just as they double the lifespan of their pigs ‘Bentheimer Buntschweine’ in comparison to conventional pig farmers, they have doubled their own time in order to fit everything in. The driving force to make this happen seems to be their passion and compassion for each other. We dream of inviting them to Wales for an open-ended exchange with other farmers - just like the one we were able to enjoy. Thus, ‘People, Processes, Places’ could transform to include an agricultural exchange which broadens the horizons of the people involved.
Image - A common practice of ice bathing brings two strangers together in Meppen: Katie came from Wales, Silke is a member of the local swimming community; they met on this day.
To build a relationship you have to get your feet wet. This experience initiated further conversations about personal relationships with water and how full body immersion (in this case at 5℃) makes one feel very present, aware of your own body and the lake’s ecosystem. What is needed for two people who don't know each other to swim nearly naked together in cold water and which factors are most important? How can this be encouraged as a wet place to start conversations with strangers? It often starts with an invitation. For this, you have to reach out beyond your horizon and comfort zone once in a while. From how it seems here, you need enough time, a little trust based on a common interest and then if you manage to light a tiny spark, anything can happen.
Image - Poem Quote: "Altes Land auf neuen Wegen // Old land on new roads" at the Emsland Moormuseum, where you can learn about the history of moorland and peat.
The land works on different time scales to humans. They, within a blink, transformed it forever. Do people feel joyful for what they have achieved? Are they sometimes scared of the extent of their own radicalism? Is the exploitation of the moor radicalism or simply an economic driver and exertion of power to ‘manage’ the landscape for human benefit? Is it maybe both? After all, exploitation is radical. Who gets to decide what is radical and who exploits what? Over what timescale can this be viewed and considered, how can we approach it from a 'longer than human' perspective?