WEAVING A CONDUIT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE

Common Ground emerged as a response to a visceral feeling of concern for our world, advocating for heightened care towards the land, its people and the future. Rooted in circumstances devoid of due care – land management in Tairāwhiti – the research underpinning Common Ground suggests that, when environmental knowledge is depleted, unsustainable practice ensues. The scheme aims to reverse this trend by reinvigorating vernacular knowledge in a tacit, hands-on manner, where spending time on the land is imperative. Situated at Hiwiroa Station, a relative’s farm north of Tūranganui-a-kiwa Gisborne, Common Ground speculates on a future ‘knowledge architecture’ for a world grappling with environmental disaster. The outcome is a ‘forum for vernacular environmental knowledge’: a regional touchpoint fostering the generation and proliferation of ideas. It aims to weave diverse knowledge strands…