CoVolutions Residency Project 2009
LOCATION Mimiwhangata Coastal Park
Artists’ Group Residency coordinated by roomservices.org, James Charlton (AUT) and CoLab.
A short residency at Mimiwhangata Coastal Park in Northland activated research into the strange relations between science and the non-human through new technologies of science. GIS data generated by the patterns of bird-tracking information is aligned with ‘surface’ observations of the animals by non-professional observers. The endangered pateke (New Zealand Brown Teal) is a species that is monitored by radio-tracking instruments by the Department of Conservation (DOC). While on the Mimiwhangata residency, first hand experiences of the process of identifying, capturing pateke and attaching radio antennae around their necks for tracking, were related to me. I collected video and sound recordings of the pateke from various sites around Mimiwhangata. Non-scientific methods of observation are combined with fragments of scientific mapping processes.
