Seeds for a Seedbox University Laura Watts
Acknowledgements the following poems and writing were created as part of a 1 month residency at Seedbox, Environmental Humanities Collaboratory, Tema Genus, Linköping University.
during my residency, I interviewed 11 people involved with Seedbox. The material in this collection is inspired by those conversations.
I am grateful to all those who took the time to speak with me, and to everyone who helped with the practicalities of the residency, and made it happen.
Special thanks to Jonas Anshelm, Jacob Bull, Olga Cielemecka, Tora Holmberg, Martin Hultman, Ericka Johnson, Lauren E. Lafauci, Eva Lövbrand, Justin Makii, Jesper Olsson, Björn Pernrud, Cecilia Åsberg.
Seedbox by Starlight published online at www.sand14.com © Laura Watts, 2016
Seeds for a Seedbox
I imagine Seedbox is not black and white.
I imagine Seedbox is green, with fresh cut grass.
I imagine Seedbox as unruly; seeds don’t grow to type.
I imagine Seedbox is a safe place for growing unsafe things.
I imagine Seedbox cultivates wild people.
I imagine Seedbox with civil servants serving civil society.
I imagine Seedbox as the bread basket of Sweden.
instructions for use cut along the dotted lines. roll or curl each strip into a seed. plant each seed.
I imagine Seedbox challenges the system, with a challenging ecosystem.
I imagine Seedbox is the global grapevine.
I imagine Seedbox is a liquid planet, with floating islands that form and separate.
I imagine Seedbox slowly, and slow.
I imagine Seedbox is where we love the nature we have.
I imagine Seedbox is a practice for sustainable living.
I imagine Seedbox is a menagerie, not a research farm.
I imagine Seedbox with an owl, Haraway, watching over us.
I imagine Seedbox sees, but does not petrify.
I imagine Seedbox entangles scholars, to grow a story jungle.
I imagine Seedbox a place of care, concern, and curiosity.
I imagine Seedbox is seminars & concerts, festivals & exhibitions.
I imagine Seedbox is where small things sprout from a little soil and water.
I imagine Seedbox is not what we expect, but what we hope.
Seeds for a University I imagine a university where we tell stories retold by storytellers. I imagine a university on the sea not locked on land. I imagine a university that sets sail to generate its own energy. I imagine a university that thinks archaeological, for the next ten hundred years. I imagine a university of scavengers who make do, to make ‘new’. I imagine a university where creativity is the norm, not the reward for long service. I imagine a university when I laugh, and people play. I imagine a university when I am angry, and I am allowed to be.
instructions for use cut along the dotted lines. roll or curl each strip into a seed. plant each seed.
I imagine a university when we meditate and meet our selves not our masks. I imagine a university that means what it says, and does what it dreams. I imagine a university that never fails to imagine, but often fails. I imagine a university that publishes blank pages for other experts to fill. I imagine a university that dresses in tongues, whose clothes do not always translate. I imagine a university where what I read in my bones is as scholarly as what I read in my books. I imagine a university that takes a stand, and stands defiant. I imagine a university that is otherwise; possible, probable, and partly here.
instructions for use cut along the dotted lines. roll or curl each strip into a seed. plant each seed.