Actions to mark the un-guarding of the garden
de Appel, Amsterdam
24 January 2025
A performance reading of a foldable, multidirectional book/object called My Garden’s Boundaries Are the Horizon: A Porous Reader to Unguard the Garden by the collective To See the Inability to See.
At this event with Constanza Mendoza, we interpreted the publication in new ways. Firstly, Constanza dissected the book with a razor, then I activated the fragments to mark or annotate certain key ideas or pieces of knowledge drawn from the text. These actions unfolded in three phases:
THOUGHT RUNS LIQUID
In which water is poured through a new hole cut into the publication. This action marks the flow of ideas, the liquidity of thought and the language that lifts into the air like steam so that it cannot be contained in conventional vessels.
THE MUSIC OF VOICES TOGETHER
In which fragments of the publication are read aloud simultaneously. This action marks the power of voices together and the dissolving of ideas in others.
WRITE ARMOUR
In which a hat is constructed from the fragments of the publication. The audience is invited to wear it as part of a ceremony. This action marks writing as armour, writing as protection and writing as a ritual practice that might neutralise malign forces.
To See the Inability to See is Arefeh Riahi, Martín La Roche Contreras and Maartje Fliervoet.
Photographs by Nikola Lamburov.