Exploring the Drilosphere: The Motion Picture
Our project is a proposal and justification for a more inspired form of community social practice and artistic mediation that both reflect and respond to the ecological role of earthworm activity while recognising the importance of the drilosphere to the global ecosystem. This work invites the viewer, the artist, the composter and the conscious citizen to reframe and reorient their perspectives on their respective environmental duties as being ritualistic in nature. This project intends to communicate the sense of ‘profound interconnectedness’ (McIntosh, 2004) and the notion of ‘earth-spiritually’ (Escobar, 2018) concerning the practices of vermiculture and vermicomposting. The ultimate aim is to steer communities towards a ‘dynamic balance’ (Raworth, 2018) through the hypothesis of, and the eventual creation of a ‘socio-cultural drilosphere’; a network that connects social practice and acts as a cultural support and framework for earthworm-related interventions through regenerative agriculture, environmentally responsible food production and organic matter waste processing.
Our project is a proposal and justification for a more inspired form of community social practice and artistic mediation that both reflect and respond to the ecological role of earthworm activity while recognising the importance of the drilosphere to the global ecosystem. This work invites the viewer, the artist, the composter and the conscious citizen to reframe and reorient their perspectives on their respective environmental duties as being ritualistic in nature. This project intends to communicate the sense of ‘profound interconnectedness’ (McIntosh, 2004) and the notion of ‘earth-spiritually’ (Escobar, 2018) concerning the practices of vermiculture and vermicomposting. The ultimate aim is to steer communities towards a ‘dynamic balance’ (Raworth, 2018) through the hypothesis of, and the eventual creation of a ‘socio-cultural drilosphere’; a network that connects social practice and acts as a cultural support and framework for earthworm-related interventions through regenerative agriculture, environmentally responsible food production and organic matter waste processing.
- 2023
- Grantee: Michael O’Brien
Michael O’Brien is trained as a product designer, with significant international experience with time spent studying and working in Hong Kong, Hanoi, Barcelona and Mexico City. Born, raised and educated in Sydney, Australia, Michael graduated with honours a BA from the University of Technology Sydney and a MA in Design from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Most notably Michael is the author of the academic report and design proposal entitled ‘Exploring the Drilosphere-Vermi-Mediation and the Socio-Cultural Drilosphere’, obviously the publication that forms the basis for this project and proposal. Michaels' design practice relies upon a participatory method by employing; ethnographic research techniques, Human Centered Design strategies and Inclusive Design. For 5 years Michael was based in Vietnam and designed respiratory medical equipment for neonatal wards across South East Asia, Africa and Europe. After moving to Hong Kong in 2019, he worked for the MakerBay Foundation as a programme manager cooperating with the local community and Hong Kong youth in the collaborative design of an open-source ocean drone to assist with coral reef observation and citizen science. Since early 2022, Michael has been based at the School of Design at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University working in pedagogies for Virtual Teaching and Learning.
- Organisation: The Drilosphere collective
The Drilosphere collective is composed of nine creative, talented and passionate individuals. Our team is both interdisciplinary and internationally diverse, hailing from five different nation-states and converging on one didactic artistic endeavour, a film about earthworms. Christina Bartosch from Austria is an art historian, Roberto Pirelli is a film and documentary maker from Italy, Sui Ting Kwok from Hong Kong is a marketing consultant and event manager, who along with Michael O’Brien the project creator from Australia forms the core production team. Stella Sieh is an actress from Hong Kong, Giovanni Lion is a machine learning researcher and AI expert from Italy, Ada Chan is a designer, maker and artist from Hong Kong, Lai Wei is a researcher and visual designer from mainland China and Esther Hoi Ming Chan is a contemporary dancer from Hong Kong. While at the moment we are nine people, we are an expanding network of creatives. This eclectic crew will collaborate to produce a truly original and creative project