Galadriel González Romero is a human being who uses art, research, folklore and earth-related research to explore the relationship between humans and ecosystems in times of climate disasters. By inviting other creatures from their ecosystem to collaborate, they create art that is rooted in the earth, art springs from, but also speaks into the wider context of the life that surrounds it. Furthermore, she, i.e. art, proposes ways to develop sustainable polyandry relationships, our post-apocalyptic reality.
A Portal to the End of the World is a series of exhibitions in three parts where I collect, in collaboration with soil, seeds, hidden people, völva, geophysicist and botanists, soil from Akureyri's Lystigarð. I help the soil to travel in time, to its past and future by heating it to 29.4°C over a longer period of time. This temperature is the highest measured temperature in Akureyri over time, but according to weather forecasts, there will be a typical summer peak around the year 2300.
Observations of this soil time-travel experiment in a greenhouse and research on the effects of warming on Icelandic tundra and grasslands allowed me to temporarily assume the role of the völva in the Völuspá — Iceland's story of the end of the world, which was written in the 10th century. century — and to compose four interconnected poetic sections related to a specific place in the Lystigarður in Akureyri. In the second part of this project, presented in this exhibition, this new doomsday prophecy is recited. We bear witness to the seed of a new story that will be planted into the local folklore.
When I return the soil to its original place in the amusement park, I will also plant a laurel seed – plant that I chose in collaboration with a hidden woman called Pía. This seed does not grow in the climate that prevails in Iceland today, but global warming will enable it to grow in the garden and then it will testify that irreversible climate change has taken place in Akureyri. Soil and seeds will merge into an oracle that heralds the climate impact and the end of the world.
Galadriel González Romero is a human using art, research, speculative folklore, and ground-responsive investigation to explore relationships between humans and their ecosystem in an era of climate catastrophe. By knowing other things from their ecosystem as collaborators, they make art that is rooted in the ground it emerges from, but also speaks to the broader context of life around it and prophecies ways in which to develop sustainable multi-being intermediary relationships in our post-apocalyptic reality.
A Portal to the End of the World is a three chapter exhibition series where—in collaboration with soil, a seed, a hidden person, a völva, a soil scientist, and botanists—I gathered soil from the Akureyri Botanical Garden and assisted it to time travel to its past and future by heating it up to 29,4°C for a prolonged period of time. This is historically Akureyri’s highest temperature, and, according to climate predictions, will become a typical daily maximum in the summertime around the year 2300.
Observation of the soil’s journey in an incubator, and research into the effects of global warming on Icelandic tundra and grassland landscapes, allowed me to temporarily adopt the role of the völva (seer) in Völuspá—Iceland’s own tale of the apocalypse, dating back to the 10th century—and formulate four parallel stanzas: a prophecy relating to this specific spot in the Akureyri Botanical Garden. During this project’s second chapter, presented in this exhibition, this new apocalyptic prophecy is uttered. We witness the seed of a new story that will soon be planted into the local folklore.
When I return the soil to its original spot in the botanical garden, I will plant in it a Laurus nobilis seed—a plant I selected in collaboration with a Hidden woman named Pía. This seed doesn’t grow in Iceland’s current climate, but when global warming causes it to sprout in the garden, it will signal an irreversible change in the climate of Akureyri. Together, soil and seed will become an oracle-portal to gather collective urgency and announce the climate apocalypse.
The world is ending.
Below,a seed splits open,
roots grow into ground.
Triumphant, a sprout stretch towards the sun.
Soil
remembers,
a dandelion withers; a worm
burrows away from the hot surface.
The moss stays the same.
Grass grows longer and
spreads further.
The seed becomes tree: a messenger.
grass will grow far.
The tree will become tall: a witness
a shelter from the scorching sun.
Plants, worms, humans, mushrooms, moss, elves, and soil.
Gather around.
A new world begins.
A Portal to the End of the World
Chapter 2: The Future
