The third encounter in the Splinterfields series is organised by OKNo. In 2013 OKNO launched ALOTOF (A Laboratory On The Open Fields), an international long-term experiment exploring the potential of open-air modes of creation. Within the scope of ALOTOF, OKNO has invited media artist Shu Lea Cheang for a residency focusing on Seeds Underground.

For the past two decades, vast areas of farmland have been colonized by  genetically manipulated crops. This year in May the European Commission  approved a new seed policy subjecting circulation to strict regulation. As an artistic project, Seeds Underground stages seed exchange parties as underground events to raise awareness about these concerning trends. By swapping homegrown seeds, transmitted by nature and fertile with traces of their origins and migration routes, participants can plant them in their own gardens, add them to a location-based online database, and strive to protect biodiversity in the process.

In October 2013, Shu Lea’s residency at OKNO will draw to a close with a Seeds Underground workshop and exchange party at the OpenGreens rooftop garden.

OKNO is an artist-run organisation connecting new media and ecology. It approaches art and culture from a collaborative, DIY and post-disciplinary point of view, discovering new materials and aesthetics in the process.

http://okno.be/