Being Time, performance 4

Red fabric flows across a mound in the vast Rift Valley desert landscape, part of the Being Time performance.

The performance BEING TIME took place on the Turkana Plateau in the Rift Valley, a cradle of humanity. The fossil-bearing sediments, unique to the geology of this part of the rift, preserves many paleontological treasures including the Turkana petrified forest, telling a majestic story of the origins of life on Earth. Kenyan paleo botanists at the Turkana Basin Institute walked the artists through time unveiling 12 million year old petrified trees. The experience of being in the presence of a fossilized syzygium (an ancestor to the eucalyptus) millions of years older than any of our human ancestors inspired the performative communication presented by the artists.

BEING TIME is based on the information derived from the non-invasive dendrochronology, with the performance exploring and expressing the annual rings of a tree. The ancient tree is presented as a time coding tool and a memory keeper, a kind of “time machine”.

Time contracted, new channels of communication between man and nature for a brief second expanded. The performance BEING TIME is a result of collaboration between EDEN (Ethics – Durability –Ecology – Nature) project spearheaded by Olga Kisseleva and the EAMAN digital project. EDEN explores a range of issues, including the protection of endangered plant species and interspecific communication between living subjects that are placed in the “inhuman” category. EAMAN/EDEN collaboration creates a new value, and exploration of interactions of art, nature, and culture in Eastnern Africa.