This project looks at our surroundings as an emotional landscape: what virtual scars mark our living environment? Are those marks really virtual or can a profound event permanently affect a site? What happens when we bring painful memories to the surface, how do we treat or transform smaller and bigger sore spots?

During WW I and II, civilians were encouraged to create victory gardens: vegetable, fruit, and herb gardens planted at private residences and public parks to reduce the pressure on food supply brought on by the war effort. The victory gardens were a type of propaganda, showing an enemy the resilience of people: even a bomb crater can be turned into something productive and beautiful.

Agripuncture / Sore Spot Songs takes the crater garden as a metaphor and applies it to the urban present: what are the sore spots in our cities and how can we collectively care for them?

During performative public ‘Sore Spot’ sessions, residents are invited to mark painful experiences in their neighbourhood on a map. In the course of this process, we come up with propositions for ephemeral monuments, such as scattering the seeds of healing plants or singing ‘memorial songs’ in these marked locations, creating new ‘lieux de mémoire’ which together will form a subjective representation of the borough.

The sonic development of the Sore Spot Songs is based on the speculative belief that some frequencies can heal or even make plants grow. The lyrics are based on the description of the incidents.

In 2019, the first episode of this project was realized in Amsterdam-Noord.

Several performative sessions with inhabitants were organized, pointing out to each other locations where painful events have happened.

Agripuncture maps, Sore Spot Songs audio, video and lyrics become part of an installation, created in close collaboration with (vocal) artist Esther Mugambi and graphic designers Pierre Huyghebaert & Sophie Boiron (Speculoos). During the runtime of the group exhibition Far-Off Nearby at Nieuw-Dakota in Amsterdam- North, the maps were activated by visitors throughout, adding new sore spots. After their interventions, participants and visitors were given yarrow seeds to plant on their sore spot in real life.

From 2020 -2022, Sarah van Lamsweerde and Esther Mugambi continued working on Agripuncture in Belgium in a long-term residency partnership with Q-02 in Brussels. Joined by musician Raoul Carrer, they cultivated a garden: a safe haven that became the starting point for Sore Spot sessions (workshops with inhabitants and local participants of the Canal Zone), new songs, sonic walking tours and (radio) performances (Oscillations Festival 2021).

In 2022 we temporarily uprooted ourselves to Antwerp for SOKL festival, transforming the base of a colonial monument into a large planter. In that temporary garden we hosted Jardin des Déracinés, a workshop sharing songs and stories about loss and exclusion.

Credits

Concept:
Sarah van Lamsweerde

Development:
Esther Mugambi & Sarah van Lamsweerde

Cartography / Graphic design:
Sophie Boiron & Pierre Huyghebaert (Speculoos)

Songs lyrics:
Esther Mugambi & Sarah van Lamsweerde

Performance & development Brussels version:
Raoul Carrer and Esther Mugambi

Soundtrack and sonic advice:
Emmanuel Owusu Bonsu and Raoul Carrer

Vedic chanting tutor:
Shantala Sriramaiah

Video & editing, technical support, Amsterdam:
Brian Mckenna

Audio & editing, Amsterdam:
Matthijs de Bruijne

Agripuncture / Sore Spot Songs (2019-2020) is a project by Sarah van Lamsweerde icw Esther Mugambi. Kindly supported by Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, Mondriaan Fonds, the Flemish Community and Q02 in Brussels.

The first episode of the project, Georgic Gardens, was commissioned by Nieuw Dakota in Amsterdam-Noord.

Thanks to:
Christiaan Bastiaans, Tanja Karreman, Fatima Ouahou (Stichting Malak), Julia Eckhardt (Q02)