Strayscapes: Porous boundary making through the eye of the bog

Abstract

Is the bog a “stray” in today’s world? And are there insights to be learned from a stray ethics, which lie between or outside of controlled binaries? Through a transdisciplinary and Concept-Driven Interaction Design approach this arts thesis delves into the dark side of the bog, grounded in the western world’s theoretical and cultural history. The bog represents a concrete metaphor for the darker aspects of contemporary life and fears. The research investigates forms of potential bog straying, oppressive stray systems, and stray boundaries. In addition to the theoretical work, practical hands-on experimental fieldwork and a practical wearable art component were carried out. This work culminated in a wearable system designed to protect both the boundaries and porosity of the body during bog encounters.

The use of fear and panic of invasion into the domestic space led by hygiene and sanitation produces the need for further distancing boundaries from strays to ensure immunity for animals, people and territories but what would happen if we chose to stop demarcating ourselves from our environment and our bodies? Learn to become dirty, to stop controlling and organizing the planet to “death”. This thesis is a broad look at some of the areas that are responsible for western societies’ disdain for bogs and swamps, and their subsequent destruction; from folklore to capitalism. Wetlands are not considered “wild” but rather “wasted” and are replaced by amiable domesticated farmland and forests, allowing all to forget the existence of the bogs in the first place. For bogs, the method of destruction and permanent erasure has been trenching and draining. This process has had the grave effect of destroying peatlands, subsequently dismantling the planet’s largest fresh water manufacturers and carbon sinks.