NEST (Neighborly Experiments in Stick Twining)
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Article 12 of the CRC says that children must be given a voice in matters that affect them, but in most of the world children remain voiceless as adults make the decisions that shape the future. Ecosystems and their nonhuman inhabitants, similarly, are given no voice in human projects that radically alter them–in ways that inevitably come to harm humans as well.
Children need time in nature. In this time of ecological polycrisis, the more-than-human world needs us, too–not just to advocate for it, but to recognize our own role in it, to be and feel entwined and attached so that we can learn to live in meaningful solidarity within it. In turn, this sense of connectedness to something larger can mitigate feelings of isolation, dread, and climate anxiety. How can we learn to reconsider our relations to other beings and cultivate solidarity?
Open-ended play allows children to make their own narratives. Loose parts like sticks offer endless possibilities for imaginative and constructive play. Imagining ourselves as others can help grow our capacity for empathy.
Given this, I aimed to investigate whether nest-building can be a vehicle for children to further develop awareness of and empathy with other beings. Alongside workshops with a group of children 9-11 years old, I developed and built a play sculpture to facilitate nest-building in children at the scale of their own bodies. My hope is that the building is an opening into further imaginings and questions.
The sculpture is not a nest in itself but an armature for nest-building: it is incomplete without users weaving in sticks or other materials. The sculpture was installed in a neighborhood park in Guldheden, Gothenburg for all users of the park–human and multispecies–to explore, play and experiment with.
