Welcome to this issue of Matter that brings together responses to the third All My Relations Ecocamp, which took place at Gylleboverket at their permaculture farm A boat in the forest in Scania, Sweden, 4th-6th September 2024. The contributions include essays, visual material, and poems.

The All My Relations Ecocamp, emerged from a desire to create a platform for sharing performative and pedagogical practices with a focus on ecology, exploring the transformational affordances of both these practices. We wanted to create a porous structure where artists and interdisciplinary researchers could come together to reflect, sense, feel, inspire one another, and collectively imagine alternative futures. It was designed as a collaborative space where participants could explore ecological thinking not only as a concept but as a lived, felt, and shared experience. Through this lens, the aim was to bridge disciplines and heighten awareness of creativity as a vital solution to ecological challenges.

The Ecocamp became a pause from the demands of everyday life, a different spatial and temporal realm where participants would have the opportunity to connect, exchange, and nurture a sense of belonging to the place and its landscapes. It invited participants to eat food grown at the farm, to balance concentration with relaxation, and to cultivate a shared experience of connectedness.

The title All My Relations was thoughtfully borrowed, acknowledging its roots in another cultural and spiritual context. All My Relations is an English translation of a phrase deeply rooted in the cultural understanding of many Native peoples of North America. It embodies a sense of kinship, extending not only to all human beings but also to the intricate web of connections with animals, plants, and all forms of life—both animate and inanimate. For this third edition, we engaged in extensive discussions about whether to change the title out of respect for its origins. Ultimately, we decided to retain the title, honouring its origins while delving even further into the multifaceted dimensions of relationality.

Relationality
For three days, 20 artists and researchers came together to explore relationality and interconnectedness through various practices. These included collective manual labour performed in silence, reflective discussions, shared readings, communal meals, and sleeping in proximity to plants, bees, and the wet grass. Together, we studied the connections between people, animals, plants, and inanimate objects, creating a space to question what it means to coexist and thrive within a shared world. We tried to connect timely to the ones who inhabited this land before us, the ones who will inhabit it in the future and the ones who live in it right now. As is clear from the contributions, the grass, the plants, the boat, the cat, and the dog played a vital role.

Formats
As previously the hosts for this edition of All My Relations was the artist collective Gylleboverket, Etta Säfve and Jona Elfdahl. Together with them, the organisation team consisted of Aune Kallinen, Professor at Theatre Academy – Uniarts Helsinki; Steinunn Knúts-Önnudóttir, PhD student at Malmö Theatre Academy and member of Agenda 2030 Graduate School; and Sofie Lebech, Associate Professor at Malmö Theatre Academy. As organizers, we planned a series of practices—or “openings”—designed to inspire connectedness and relationality. Some of these practices are mentioned in the contributions and are therefore outlined briefly below.

Digging a Hole
Led by Etta & Jona, Digging a Hole is an ongoing project at Gylleboverket centred on silent communal labour. Over more than two hours, participants collectively dug a hole, moved soil, separated stones, and maintained a fire.

Evening reading and Theoretical Exploration
Sofie facilitated an evening of theoretical exploration as an extension of a PhD course at Malmö Theatre Academy under the Agenda 2030 Graduate School, held in connection to the Ecocamp.

Mindful Drifting
Steinunn introduced Mindful Drifting, inspired by forest bathing and the situationist drifts of Guy Debord. Participants divided into two groups and wandered intuitively through the forest without a designated leader. The aim was to move aimlessly while paying attention to beauty.

Embodied Encounter with the More-than-Human
Aune invited the group to a practice focused on embodied encounters with the more-than-human. Participants first engaged in a solitary exploration, choosing a "friend" from the grounds of Gylleboverket, a former scrap-yard turned into a cultural hub and artistic resilience centre. The practice concluded with a group ritual encountering Aune’s favourite tree.

World Café
Offered on two occasions, World Café was a platform for dialogue and idea-sharing, inspired by Open Space Technology. Participants could propose topics for exploration—whether through discussion or practice—and, during timed sessions, each member of the group chose which topics to engage with. This porous structure encouraged dynamic and collaborative exchanges.

Sharing
At the heart of the Ecocamp was the exchange of practices, which occurred both formally in dedicated sessions and informally throughout the program. This continuous and organic sharing enriched the experience, fostering an interconnected community of participants.

Contributions
The contributions to this issue of Matter, testify to a need to connect to the more than human and the surrounding landscapes through various formats and interdisciplinary practices. We invite you to engage with the different modes of disseminating critical reflections and sensations stemming from the Ecocamp. Together the issue gives an account of an encounter between interdisciplinary researchers and artists reflecting and proposing strategies for addressing ecology, more-than-human relations, and sustainable futures. Enjoy.
Steinunn Knút-Önnudóttir & Sofie Lebech

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Table of contents

Invitation
By Sofie Lebech & Steinunn Knúts-Önnudóttir

A Moment in Time By Steinunn Knúts-Önnudóttir

All my Relations. Relational practices, ecological Awareness, and More-than-Human Encounters By Jana Canavan

Poetic Volatile Compounds around Networks By Mariana Ribas Coimbra

In Mundum By Max Liljefors

You Cannot Kill My Nature If I am Already a Cyborg
By Tanja Hylling Diers

In the Silence
By Charlotte Østergaard

Life Calling
By Christine Wamsler

Sauna Experiences, Touching the (Under)Commons
By Gesa Piper & Auna Kallinen

A Visual Ode
By Ulla Britta Westerberg

Underwater, Covered in Earth
By Iury Salustiano Trojaborg

Reflections
By Jona Elfdahl & Etta Säfve


Copyright © 2025 the Authors
Cover photo: Iury Trojaborg
Graphic design by Jörgen Dahlqvist
Malmö Theatre Academy