Introduction
These small-scale art events all resonated with the motto of TNOC Festival—”The Distance between Dreams and Reality is Action”—each bridging artistic expressions with local land stewardship. It is a theme dear to the TNOC Festival whose ethos is rooted in transdisciplinary, with its commitment to bringing art, science, and urban practices together to envision cities that are better for ‘nature’ and all people.
While so much was shared online between participants from all places and walks of life during the Virtual Festival, organizing small in-person gatherings in diverse cities was a way to root shared reflections into practice in the cities we live in.
With this intention at heart, groups of Festival participants simultaneously got involved in caring for urban nature through an artistic lens, making it more personal, intimate, and fun! On Saturday, April 20th 2024, a group of students gathered on Bogotá (Colombia)’s hills to practice an artistic ritual honoring the fire and acknowledging the effects of climate change, while in Den Haag (Nederland) a community kimchi workshop was happening in an urban garden. The same day, a mural honoring native plants started to take shape in Seine Saint Denis near Paris (France) and an exhibition of paintings depicting colorful worms welcomed a full composting facility in Sao Paulo (Brasil). On Sunday April 21st, an upcycling and natural dyeing workshop was held in Panaji (भारत Bhaarat / India). The next weekend, to finalize the Virtual Festival, more urban art labs happened! On Friday April 26th, a group walked the streets of Daejeon (한국 Hanguk / Korea) in order to gather edible weeds and turn them into tea, a few hours later in Margate (United Kingdom) other people walked the streets together to look at murals painted to advocate for a free from pollution seaside. The next day, on Saturday April 27th, more urban wilds foraging happened in Izmir (Türkiye) leading to a community meal and a plant prints workshop. While in New York City (Turtle Island / USA) a patch of urban forest was being cleaned up and trash turned into intriguing art.
about the writer
Carmen Bouyer
Carmen Bouyer is a French environmental artist and designer based in Paris.
Ethics and Aesthetics of Fire
Place: hills of Bogotá
Organizers: Landscape designer Diana Wiesner
Three actions were carried out in the hills of Bogotá, exalting fire, as part of its ethics and aesthetics. These actions were inspired by the recent fires that have affected various mountains and moors in Colombia due to climate change.
Red tea ceremonies, fire poems, and songs/narratives related to it were performed, all framed in geometric figures adorned with symbolic colored minerals. Additionally, a meditation on the transformative power of the fire element happened during the red tea ceremony, inviting participants to reflect on its ability to transmute and renew. The purpose of the event, alternating symbolic actions, was to invite citizens to reflect on possible prevention and care measures for life.
about the writer
Diana Wiesner
Diana Wiesner is a landscape architect, proprietor of the firm Architecture and Landscape, and director of the non-profit foundation Cerros de Bogotá.
Long Live the Worms!
Place: Choque Cultural Gallery
Organizers: Founder of Choque Cultural & Curator Baixo Ribeiro, Artist Erica Mizutani
The event proposes a tribute to the earthworm, an entity so important for composting. At the event, we will launch canvases by Erica Mizutani, an environmentalist-artist who has a recurring character in her paintings and graffiti that is inspired by the earthworm. We will distribute some mini worm farms and demonstrate how to make a homemade compost bin.
about the writer
Baixo Ribeiro
Baixo is President of the Choque Cultural gallery in São Paulo.
about the writer
Erica Mizutani
Trained in graphic design, she lives in São Paulo and has been working as a graphic designer, artist, performer and urban artist.
Community Kimchi. Connecting People, Place, and Food
Place: Urban garden Stadsoase Spinozahof
Workshop facilitators: Artist/Researcher Anna Andrejew and Floris Janssens
Curation: Sophie Krier
Documentation: Shaah Kamukuro
The fermentation and storytelling workshop hosted by the urban garden Stadsoase Spinozahof, started with an opening circle where participants shared their curiosity about the process of making kimchi, and the facilitators welcomed all present, including microorganisms.
The facilitators and some participants presented the veggies they brought from home or the local market. Then everyone got to work on making a “community kimchi”.
As the group advanced in the hands-on process, they shared stories about food: what associations do you have with this vegetable? Do you know how to eat/process it? Working through the steps of rinsing, cutting, grating, and kneading, the group prepared a big pot of “community kimchi”, which incorporated the stories of the day into a dish of togetherness and sharing.
Personal reflections on the process were shared in a closing round and strung on small labels around the pot:
“release”,
“togetherness”,
“diversity”,
“red is the color of happiness”.
The community kimchi* will remain stored at Spinozahof so its nutrients and stories can be tasted during future gatherings.
*Kimchi means ‘sunken vegetables’ in Korean and is a collective name for fermented vegetables (mostly cabbage).
about the writer
Sophie Krier
Sophie Krier is an artist and researcher. Through her work, she enters into dialogue with the history, stories, and living beings connected to a specific place.
about the writer
Floris Janssens
Floris Janssens (he/his) is an archive specialist with a background in macrobiotic and literature studies, exploring how food and fermentation create alternative knowledge and narratives.
about the writer
Anna Andrejew
Anna Andrejew (she/her) is an artist-researcher based in The Hague whose practice explores landscapes as fluid, contested spaces shaped by human impact, ecological interdependencies, and memory.
about the writer
Shaah Kamuruko
Shaah Kamuruko (she/they) is a multidisciplinary artist and designer with a background in fine arts, UX, and multimedia.
Wild Local Flora Mural: the Shapes of Plant Ancestors
Place: Pépinière Pariciflore, Parc du Sausset
Organizers: Horticulturist Elodie Seguin, Artist Carmen Bouyer
The group of adults and children gathered at Pariciflore plant nursery in Seine Saint-Denis to paint a collective mural representing a selection of native plants of the Paris region.
The workshop was guided by artist Carmen Bouyer. Natural pigments derived from soil and plants were used to paint on a storage container placed at the center of the nursery.
Participants also took part in the nursery’s activities during the workshop by transplanting, gardening, and weeding. Pariciflore is the first and unique plant nursery in the Paris region cultivating herbaceous native plants for people and communities to green urban and peri-urban spaces. The association aims to help maintain local biodiversity by promoting native flora and developing the production of native plants and the harvesting of wild seeds. Those natives have been growing in the region for more than 400 years. The mural was painted to honor them as our ancestors in the region through art and community.
about the writer
Elodie Seguin
Elodie Seguin is an ecologist and botanist. In 2020, Elodie set up Pariciflore, a native seed and plant nursery located on a 1ha7 site in the Parc Départemental du Sausset in Villepinte, South of Paris, to promote local wild flora.
about the writer
Carmen Bouyer
Carmen Bouyer is a French environmental artist and designer based in Paris.
Upcycling Workshop With Natural Dyes
Place: Sensible Earth Center
Organizers: Textile Designer Juliette Ravel, Founder of Sensible Earth Sanjiv
For the workshop, participants brought their own discarded clothes in order to upcycle them with natural dyes. Sensible Earth Center also collects the discarded clothes of the locality and these could also be chosen by the participant to give those clothes a second life. It all started with making partnerships with local farmers to source our natural dyes, or with connecting with local juice stores in order to use their food waste. The workshop reinforces the bonding between people of our locality, Porvorim in Goa. Porvorim has been strongly urbanized in the past years and the inhabitants have witnessed the change.
Through this workshop not only did the participants get to upcycle their old clothes, but they also got to learn about sustainability and natural dyes. They left the workshop with a pdf helping them later in their natural dyeing practice. Through different experiences and workshops (natural dyeing, slow stitching…) at the Living Labs of Sensible Earth, we create a community and awareness on sustainability in Porvorim, Goa.
about the writer
Juliette Ravel
Juliette Ravel Roychowdhury shares her time between India and France. She works as a freelance designer and consultant, based in Goa with her husband Shubhadeep and their two sons. She is experimenting with natural dyes in her home studio surrounded by trees.
Our Friends, the Weeds
Place: City as Nature Studio
Organizers: Herbalist and Artist Suhee Kang, Artist Patrick M. Lydon, City as Nature
We normally think of weeds as enemies. In this half-day workshop, we suggested that weeds are healers of the land, of people, and they could be healers of our cities if we allowed them the chance.
This activity was divided into four parts.
1) A short introduction about the importance of weeds
2) Walk to a local park in Busa Dong where pesticides and chemicals are banned, to collect various weeds including mugwort, broadleaf plantain, dandelion, and clover.
3) Learning to blend our own herbal tea using these weeds as ingredients.
4) Giving thanks to the weeds and enjoy a nourishing weed tea tasting together with commemorative printing using hand-carved weed wood block stamps. This is related to the exhibition “City as Weeds”.
about the writer
Suhee Kang
Suhee Kang is a writer, photographer, and certified herbalist from Korea. She runs Bear and Tiger Herb (곰과 호랑이 허브), where she focuses on herbal tea blending and traditional plant-based practices.
about the writer
Patrick M. Lydon
Patrick M. Lydon is an American ecological writer and artist based in Korea whose seeks to re-connect cities and their inhabitants with nature. He is an Arts Editor here at The Nature of Cities.
Urban Art & Nature: Mural walkshop
Meeting point: Margate School
Organizers: Poet Jessica Taggart Rose and Rise Up Clean Up Margate
Rise Up Clean Up hosted a facilitated ‘walkshop’ to some of the incredible murals created as part of the Rise Up Residency. The group gathered at the Margate School and, after a welcome and introduction from Rachel, went for an accessible walk to some selected murals. At each mural, Rachel offered some information and prompts for creative responses to the murals and the issues they raise.
Walking together, participants were invited to have conversations and to connect. The “walkshop” did run for an hour and a half until the group returned to the Margate School for refreshments and to debrief and share reflections.
Participants were invited to bring a pen and paper for writing, sketching materials, cameras, or any devices to create their own responses to the walk. No artistic or writing experience was required in this personal, non-judgmental walkshop. Some participants share their reflections and creations with the group. It was followed by the screening of the “Rise Up Residency” film presenting interviews with various artists who painted large-scale nature-inspired murals throughout the town.
about the writer
Jessica Taggart Rose
Jessica Taggart Rose is a poet and performer concerned with humanity, nature and how they interact. She lives by the sea in Margate, where she’s part of the Margate Bookie lit fest team and runs Margate Stanza.
Foraging Walk and Meal, and Print Workshop
Meeting point: Maquis Projects
Organizers: Dilek Himam and Maquis Projects (Thomas G. Keogh, Ali Kemal Ertem, Hande Bozbıyık)
Maquis Projects group guided a foraging walk in the Kadifekale neighborhood. The participants were invited to walk through parks and community gardens, along old city walls, past the castle and the old Roman theater, through the old Ottoman historic streets, near ancient ochre sources of Smyrna, over a buried river, under a motorway, and, finally, ended their walk at the Maquis Projects space on Ismet Inonu Sokak where the collected wild edible plants were used to prepare a shared meal. On this walk the facilitators referred to the ancient role of food gathering, drawing inspiration from the plants growing around this urban area.
After the foraging morning walk, the group participated in a hands-on creative activity led by Dilek using an eco-friendly technique. This technique, commonly known as “Hapazome”, involved hammering foraged herbs onto fabric or paper to create colorful prints. The process involves releasing pigments from the foraged plants onto the material, resulting in beautiful natural patterns.
about the writer
Dilek Himam
F. Dilek Himam served as a faculty member at Izmir University of Economics, Faculty of Fine Arts and Design, Department of Fashion and Textile Design between 2001 and 2025. She gives various workshops on natural dyeing, ethical collecting and ecoprinting.
Walk/Clean/Make at Mosholu Teaching Forest
Place: Mosholu Forest, near the north exit of the Mosholu Parkway 4-Train stop, The Bronx, New York
Organizer: Artist Matthew López-Jensen
This two-hour stewardship-centric session was designed around a slow walk through the Mosholu Teaching Forest. Participants met each other, looked at plants, visited old trees, checked on newly planted wildflowers, and talked about what urban forests can do for communities.
We focused our attention on removing the litter that had made its way into the forest. We looked closely at this material and creatively disposed of it at the end of the walk. The experience blurred the lines between stewardship, care, community building, and artmaking.
about the writer
Matthew Jensen
Matthew Jensen is an interdisciplinary artist whose rigorous explorations of landscape combine walking, collecting, photography, mapping and extensive research. His projects investigate the relationships between people and local landscapes.
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