An enquiry into ecological space through art practice: fermentation, drawing and diagramming

Abstract

This thesis presents a multivalent exploration of ecological space through artistic research, using practices of fermentation, drawing and diagramming as methodological lenses.

The primary contribution resides in the methodology, which uses diagramming and speculative enquiry to articulate relational space, while emphasising more-than-human relations underpinned by an ethics of ecosocial care.

The research is unorthodox in two main ways: it moves between perceptual and conceptual modes of understanding; and it employs a range of art practices to engage with scientific, theoretical and practical issues.

Drawing is central to the research and the project deploys a drawing process that both mimics the burgeoning relations of fermenting communities and traces the transformative interactions which bind input and outworking together.

Rather than posing a single research question, the enquiry develops an understanding of ecological entanglements which resist reduction to fixed categories, making connections across multiple dimensions and scales, and infusing the development of theoretical understanding with experience.

Throughout, art practice is used to engage with a plurality of academic, scientific, artistic and cultural sources, providing a means by which to understand ecological space in terms of experienced relations.

The project is framed by the urgent need for societal change due to continuing and accelerating environmental and health crises.

Bringing about this change demands reimagining the world and building solidarity between disparate positions. This thesis demonstrates how fragmented concerns can be brought together and organically worked with, offering hope to bridge divides through an open and creative sharing of ideas and practices.

Date of Award	Mar 2025
Original language	English
Sponsors	Department for the Economy
Supervisor	Aisling O'Beirn (Supervisor) & Daniel Shipsides (Supervisor)