Cloudberry Dreams

 

 

 

Wetland areas are often considered to be a form of 'waste lands', excessive, unusable pieces of land. It is little known that these areas belong to nature's most important 'nurseries', being breeding places to several species. Wetlands provide a wide range of biodiversity and natural habitats all over the world. They are also key stopover places for migrating birds. It is not so well known either that people used to live in these areas: specifically in a special type of wetlands, the so-called peat lands (mires).

Interpretation

It is our view that there is a story to tell about landscapes such as wetlands. Art can be an excellent help to interpret these unique environments in a new way to visitors. This, in short, is the basic idea that lead up to a transnational partnership. The core of the network was established at a meeting in Brussels at the Central Sweden office in November 2004.

The mission of the Cloudberry Dreams Partnership is to share ideas and to explore new ways to interpret landscapes through art and creativity.

A major objective of the partnership is to develop innovative practices of art-based interpretation to foster long-term understanding and care of neglected overlooked European sites and landscapes.

What, then, is the story of the cloudberry swamps? Through the ages, local people harvested the products of these Nordic marsh lands: picking berries, cutting peat for heating, harvesting reed for roof coverage and hay for their livestock, as so on.
Such 'forgotten' areas - systems of interconnected swamps, lakes and rivers - are still to be found in many parts of Europe. They provoke associations of eeriness, of mystique; their aesthetic quality is expressed in many songs, poetry, novels and even films. In fact they have a significant biological, cultural as well as economical value. Their (future) importance as locations for eco-tourism activities can hardly be overestimated.

Please let us know your own ideas and if you want to get involved. You can also suggest links and inform us of examples of projects that use the arts to interpret the landscape. Thanks on forehand!

 

 


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