Becoming-with the Land

Becoming-with the Land is a research project developed through a deep-mapping methodology to explore ecosemiotics and the ways communication takes place between humans and more-than-human beings across the pastoralist and nomadic landscapes of Mongolia. The project traces the interconnections and interrelations between human, animal, vegetal, and geological forms of life, asking how different forms of knowledge and ecological wisdom are perceived, communicated, and translated across species and ways-of-knowing.

The artwork consists of three chapters: Sky Speaks, Finding Kin, and Fire Ritual, which follow the embodied experience of ecosemiotics in Terelj and Khentii throughout the research process. Moving between field recordings, storytelling, environmental sounds, and lived encounters, the work explores the landscape as an active participant in the production and transmission of knowledge.

The work is presented in collaboration with the experimental music duo Deelt, featuring Narmandakh Erdenebayar and Amartuvshin Erdenechuluun, whose practice works closely with the sensory rhythms and movements of nature.

Example of one of the chapters that carries the name Sky Speaks. The audio work collects weather patterns in July and August in Khentii Region, Mongolia. Weather patterns are narrated by Oyun through diary excerpts from the research and accompanied by music composed and performed by Deelt.

(For all the chapters of the work, email dariatesto@gmail.com)

Sky Speaks
Oyun Daria Testo & Deelt
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Speculative Kitchens