Sensing (with) Utterslev Marsh - Moving in Relation with Multispecies Ecologies

This performance paper grows out of my ongoing movement practice with Utterslev marshland, a group of shallow lakes in the Northwestern part of Copenhagen. Utterslev marsh is the second largest designated nature area in Copenhagen, and a home to many species of birds, plants and animals. It is protected as a cherished example of biodiversity and “urban nature”, and a target of re-wilding interventions. At the same time, the marsh suffers from pollution. As a result of spills of phosphorus and other chemicals, Utterslev marsh was declared biologically dead in 1970. While the conditions have improved, untreated wastewater continues to be leaked into the marsh, with severe consequences for its multispecies ecologies.
In a performative, embodied fashion, the paper diffracts the conflicting enactments of the marsh:
a diverse nature-culture,
shaped by spatiotemporal logics of urban greening,
environmental gentrification,
extraction,
slow violence and toxicity,
multispecies liveliness,
and environmental activism(s).

The performance paper also draws on the sensory walk Listening for Meadow Times, facilitated by the artist Liene Jurgelāne and myself in September 2024. The walk was informed by our work with voicing, movement and walking methodologies. The paper will contain interactive elements, engaging the bodies and the senses of the audience.