Free The Land (FTLHQ) is an evolving collaborative project initiated in 2013 by Jesse Sanes. A media diary of environmental impressions natural and domestic, it has manifested in print, collage work, soundmap contributions, guerrilla internet performance, live electronics, sculpture and immersive audio and visual installation. In equal measures exploratory and earnest, FTL pulls field recordings, found material, and digital media into a compost of synthesis and free manipulation.
Since 2017 and the Global Ecophony exhibition at Fylkingen, H. Söderström has been an active collaborator in Free The Land.
FЯΣΣ ƬΉΣ ᄂΛПD takes the form of a vernacular, a shared language, a frame of reference that evolves through usage. We talk about plants, then land, then housing, then find ourselves talking about our bodies, then spatial confines then back to land. We build a model of a north east LA living room and a model of a Redwood tree sit and realize they are more similar than different. Our interests, our habitats, our passions and our fears are all lines in the topography of our alienation - as we are subjugated to capitalism, that which we desire (nourishment for our minds and bodies, freedom to pursue our passions) is withheld from us, and that which we have (a safe home, soft grass under our feet and clean air) is always at risk to be taken away. Perhaps our knowledge of our alienation from ourselves and each other (by another word - our class consciousness) allows us to understand our alienation from the land, the land that has been forcibly alienated from us. When simply living in a Redwood tree is a form of resistance, perhaps the same applies to unapologetically loving the community we inhabit. Perhaps planting seeds and cultivating a garden can be a fertile soil for new friendships and solidarities to sprout from.
"Out in the open" (HD video, found YouTube footage, Unity 3D animation). Created for the residency exhibition "Free The Land HQ" at Coaxial in Los Angeles.