The second phase of The Dark Forest Project involved a schools exchange between Nottingham, UK and Rio De Janiero, Brazil. These involved Active Ingredient in the UK and Silvia Leal (from Estudio Movil Experimental) in Brazil working with school groups over six sessions.
The exchange between both schools and documentation of the workshops took place on the Dark Forest NING website. Unfortunately this is not a public website in order to provide a safe place for the young people to interact and share information. A final online exhibition of the work made by the young people will be available at the end of the workshop process, alongside documentation of the process and resources for future educational activities looking at the Dark Forest themes.
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Aims of the Workshops:
1. To test and explore the sensor technology and web interface that will be used by the artists to develop an artwork connecting the two forest environments.
2. Create an education exchange between schools in Rio and Nottingham
3. Create an artwork to exhibit in the school that interprets the students relationship to both forests in the UK and Brazil
4. Create an online resource of creative and scientific data to be available to schools to explore the future of our forests
Objectives of the Workshops:
1. Look at the past, present and future of the forests in our region
2. Look at the science and technology we can use to understand what is happening to our forests in these times of climate change
3. Develop an ongoing exchange between the schools, using the online resources, sensor technologies and creative process towards cross-curriculum learning about the forests, climate change and human’s impact on their environment
The Schools :
The exchange occurred between Djanogly Academy, Nottingham and the Escola Camilo Castelo Branco with NEA, Rio Botanical Gardens Education Programme, Rio de Janiero. The school groups worked in a classroom environment for 3 sessions and in Sherwood Forest (UK) and the Tijuca Atlantic Forest (Brazil) for an additional 3 sessions.
Both school groups shared an online web space to upload photographs, audio, text and video. The groups asked each other questions and set each other tasks to investigate when they were in the forest environments and to share their findings on their return. A presentation will take place in both school groups at the end of the workshop sessions that reflects the dialogue between the two groups and the two forests.
Logs with Funghi in the Mata Atlantica and Sherwood, rotting wood is vital to support insects, birds and biodiversity in the forest
Themes:
1. Present: Exploring the present environment of the forest, capturing data in the forest including:
• Humidity
• Temperature
• Atmospheric Pressure
• Decibels
• Photographs
• Audio
• Video
• Drawings
• Collecting found objects
2. Past: Discovering information about the history and myths that surround the forest:
• Stories
• Images
• Clues in the present
3. Future:
• Discussing the future of the forest
• How will the forest survive?
• How will the sensor data change?
• Imagining the future