Graduation project
Presence of Peat
Olga Korosteleva
Based on research into peat and the Dutch landscape, a performance explores what it means to make relationships with the natural environment.
Presence of Peat explores how peat and other characteristics of the Dutch landscape are instrumental to the idea of human mastery over land. Categorized as dead, alive, organic, a commodity or a refuge, materials like peat and peat moss possess no natural language, and have no say on land governance conventions. How can these natural entities, devoid of language, still hold a presence in human-centred processes? In a choreographed performance, Olga Korosteleva entangles her body with these materials through gestures and movements, embodying what it means to make new reciprocal relationships with the natural environment.