Seed, Image, Ground

“Seed, Image, Ground” deals with air, wind, and the soil as the video montage addresses seed bombing–a technique used in forestry, agriculture, and environmental restoration where biodegradable containers filled with seeds and soil nutrients are dropped from flying aircrafts to the ground. The work investigates the link between seeds, aerial operations, photographic images, and the transformation of earth surfaces into data. It demonstrates how the history of botanic knowledge and visual surveys of green surfaces is a history of images but also a history of circulation, speed, and motorized aircraft. Growth and energy, but also wind and air become elemental parts in the split-screen space that conveys how our understanding of the environment is interlinked with the technological tools we use to intervene in ecological processes. Modification of surfaces of earth is part of the long history of ecological engineering.