Building on my previous work addressing geologic bodies and time scales, "Meteolore: Air Stones, Ground Holes (or how meteorites flow in our bodies)" focuses on three meteorite falling sites and their imprint onto landscapes and human perception. I will investigate the ecological, mythological, scientific and speculative affects these meteorites and their craters carry through field work, conversations, (more-than-human and human) participant observation, performative actions, material experimentation and audio-visual techniques. It is relevant to bring attention to the unique, yet changing identities of island communities who live close to these meteorite sites, engage with what is still there and give voice to the human and more-than-human stories from these peripheral areas in Eastern Europe.
In this PhD project, three sites in Estonia are chosen as departure points for my research - Kaali, Kärdla, Neugrund -, each providing different points of access, methodology of research, and artistic approachability. My artistic practice around the communication with the more-than-human is shaped within the frameworks of more-than-human theories, environmental poetry, speculative writing, folklore studies and somatic practices. Exchange and collaboration with other practitioners close to my field artists is equally relevant for this research project.
In parallel and with the knowledge gathered during the three case studies, I will create a methodological toolbox which will grow out of the field work done during this research adventure. The instructive toolbox will become a guide for my own artistic practice, but it could be used by artists, biologists and landscape architects working with landscapes and senses. Hopefully, my research will also affect the social environment in Estonia, attempting to show an expanded and more playful view on seemingly fixed identities of people and places. I want to contribute to a perspective of the world that is not so strictly divided into human and more-than-human, but instead that of a space which is more inclusive and less anthropocentric. My research will be relevant to many fields standing with the urgency of committing to studying these phenomena (humanities, arts, sciences). Meteorites themselves would be carriers of this desire - alien bodies that make their homes and landing sites on Earth, bringing both destructive and creative powers with them.