WILD ALCHEMY LAB

An immersive evening of interactive performance and ritual screening @hangar_cia in Lisbon exploring our relationship to the more-than-human through deep time. We began with an embodied deep listening practice cultivating sensory awareness and psychometry with a guided stone meditation.  This then evolved into a collective act of dreaming together with an open-eyed meditation and screening of short film, 'Dreaming with Stones' by @jemma___foster Participants were then invited to create a temporary sigil stone sculpture as a means of attuning to the emerging field of the group, before being guided through a liminal ritual with the elements of air, fire, water and earth. The evening concluded with a Floromancy Dinner, allowing divinatory practices to unfold at embodied intervals through practices of attention, where each botanical ingredient was randomly distributed or selected, carrying a symbolic message, each plate casting an oracle. With thanks to @monicademiranda_studio @atlasresidencypt @institution.ing.s Photos by students Alyse Kaweng Fan and Jemma Thompson.

ECOMANCY: A Garden of Forking Paths HANGAR Lisbon  Exhibition April 2026 Drawing inspiration from Jorge Luis Borges’ short story The Garden of Forking Paths, this interactive installation unfolded through a series of embodied and elemental divinatory practices exploring ecology, nonlinear time, and memory. The term Ecomancy was chosen to foreground ecology as a study of relationship: a way of sensing through interconnection, attunement, and exchange. Visitors were invited to move through the garden as a living field of encounter, where meaning emerged through sensorial experience rather than fixed interpretation. Rooted in ancient practices of earth divination, the work traced a series of elemental modalities: hydromancy (water), pyromancy (fire), floromancy (air), and lithomancy (earth). These systems were approached not as symbolic frameworks alone, but as embodied practices of attention and relation. Through guided rituals of ecological time-sensing and collective acts of divination, pathways diverged and converged through a branching system of possible readings. At intervals, participants held the question: As we remember, what is being formed?  In a collective act of lithomancy, the geomantic figure Caput Draconis emerged. An archetype associated with beginnings, emergence, thresholds, and creative acts: a reflection of the shared field of the group created through our collective remembering and becoming.  Many thanks to @hangar_cia @institution.ing.s @atlasresidencypt @monicademiranda_studio for supporting this work.

[PART TWO] As part of the @atlasresidencypt , I created a series of botanical cyanotypes in collaboration with the plants of the Atlas gardens. Cyanotype is a photographic process that uses sunlight and mineral salts to create deep blue impressions through exposure and contact. Rather than working with dried or pressed plants, the images were made with fresh, living forms — and where possible still rooted — allowing each piece to hold the energetic blueprint of the plant and radiate its vibrational essence. The works were left uncovered and exposed directly to the surrounding environment, co-created with the elements and shaped by shifting conditions: the changing angle of the sun, passing clouds, a gust of wind, rainfall, the flight of birds, or the landing of insects across the page. Each image became not only a botanical trace, but a record of encounter within a wider ecological field. The series brings together 30 plants from the garden, accompanied by an Atlas Garden album composed from biosonic and field recordings, alongside a booklet tracing the medicinal, folkloric, and energetic correspondences of the plants through floriography: the language of flowers.

Deep gratitude to @monicademiranda_studio for the invitation to undertake an artist residency @atlasresidencypt , Portugal. [PART ONE] Developed from an ongoing practice of embodied geomancy, supported by Arts Council England, the residency extended an inquiry into how sensing, ritual, and material gesture might operate as forms of dialogue with the land. Working within the permaculture gardens, the site became a living field of relation. Using the body as an antenna, the work unfolded through processes of attunement, listening, and response. From these encounters, forms take shape, including bio-therapeutic soundscapes, land-responsive sculptural works, and electroculture sigils. The work explored ways of cultivating and redirecting vitality within the ecosystem. Guided in part by a loquat tree affected by fungal disease, processes emerged through close encounter: copper spirals placed in the soil, sigil-based antennas, and clay amulets infused with herbs and inscribed with an intention of healing vitality. Biosonic recordings traced shifts in plant response. Workshops and lectures with local and academic communities shared methods of plant communication and sigil practice, extending geomancy as both an artistic and relational practice.

Interview with @dr.masharu of @museum_of_edible_earth in latest zine 04 The Museum of Edible Earth (MEE) is a cross-disciplinary project that brings together a global collection of edible soils, inviting the audience to question our relationship with the environment and rethink their understanding of the earth  and cultural traditions through creative thinking. The Museum of Edible Earth explores questions such as:  How do earth eating traditions differ across cultures? Where does edible earth come from? What are the possible benefits and dangers of eating earth? How do the material properties in earth affect its flavor? The museum’s mission is to collect an extensive collection of edible soils from as many  countries as possible and examine the diversity of their historical contexts and cultural meanings. Through cross-disciplinary partnerships, workshops and collaborations, it aims to reshape our conception of earth consumption, also known as geophagy.   Geophagy is the scientific name for the intentional custom of eating earth, which includes soil and earth-like substances such as clay and chalk. It is an ancient global practice driven by diverse nutritional, cultural and medicinal factors. For reference and archival documentation , masharu studio has developed  an extensive database of edible soils available on the market. This database, in addition to extensive description of earth samples and their respective background, also collects taste descriptions and experiences shared by visitors. The collection of MEE now consists of more than 600 earth samples. Catch the last few days of Museum of Edible Earth @somersethouse until 26th April Zine access to read interview >>> link in bio

Latest Zine 04 is out now and includesTelling the Bees, a solo exhibition by Kyriaki Goni, that brings together a major multimedia installation and the presentation of the Beeseeker’s Character Inventory part of Telling the Bees (The Game), a speculative video game developed as part of the same evolving artistic universe. Rooted in field research, rural traditions, and feminist critical theory, such as Donna Haraways’ speculative fabulation, the exhibition unfolds as an immersive environment that moves between naturalistic precision and poetic worldbuilding, foregrounding questions of ecological collapse, interspecies communication, and collective care. Bees are not treated solely as symbols, but as co-agents and knowledge-bearers. Goni’s work draws attention to the hive as a dynamic social formation, one in which innate systems of communication, movement, and collaboration exceed narrow ideas of efficiency and productivity also contributing to the collective emotional wellbeing of all members of the hive. These qualities surface across the installation, from embroidered banners tracing the geometry of bee dances to videos combining found headlines, artificial intelligence generated imagery, and field recordings of bee sounds. A portable shrine dedicated to the mythical bee goddess gathers materials such as beeswax, seeds, soil, and tools, activating the exhibition space through scent, sound, and ritual presence. Images courtesy of the artist @kyriaki.goni.studio and The Breeder gallery, Athens Zine access ‐ link in bio

School of Thought — Myth and Magic Making: Art as a Sacred Act At ESAD.CR, we had the privilege of sharing a gathering led by resident artist Jemma Foster, where artistic practice unfolded as a sacred act—both intimate and collective at once. The session moved like a ritual: beginning with a moment of meditation, an invitation to slow down and attune. A screening of short films expanded the collective imagination, preparing the ground for creation—where each student built and transformed magical sigils, shaping personal symbols charged with meaning The encounter closed with a ritual of lithomancy, exploring our relationship with stones—the possibility of dreaming with living matter, of listening to ancestral stories inscribed in the world. 📸Pedro Cá ———— School of Thought — Mito e criação de magia: a arte como ato sagrado Na ESAD.CR, tivemos o privilégio de partilhar um encontro conduzido pela artista residente Jemma Foster, onde a prática artística se revelou como ato sagrado, íntimo e coletivo ao mesmo tempo. A sessão desenrolou-se como um ritual: começando com um momento de meditação, um convite a desacelerar e a entrar em sintonia. A exibição de curtas-metragens expandiu o imaginário coletivo, preparando o terreno para a criação — onde cada estudante construiu e transformou sigilos mágicos, dando forma a símbolos pessoais carregados de significado. Encerrando com um ritual de litomancia, explorando a relação com as pedras, a possibilidade de sonhar com matéria viva, de escutar histórias ancestrais inscritas no mundo. 📸Pedro Cá

Ecomancy: A Garden of Forking Paths - Interactive installation by Jemma Foster @wildalchemylab Opening hours: 28 April - from 18:00 / 29 April - 15:00-19:00 @hangar_cia Ecomancy: A Garden of Forking Paths is an interactive installation that invites participants into a sequence of embodied and elemental divinatory practices. Moving through plant, fire, water, and stone, the work unfolds as a guided ritual of ecological time-sensing, where attention replaces prediction, and meaning emerges through sensorial encounter. Upon entering the space, each participant selects three objects from glass vessels: a white candle, a flower, and a stone. Seated on a cushion, they are first guided to attend closely to the flower through the divinatory practice of floromancy—observing its form, colour, texture, and associations as a way of listening to vegetal time and intelligence. Framed within a feminist and ecological ritual logic, these practices are approached not as belief systems but as methodologies of attention—ways of listening to material processes, layered temporalities, and shared meaning-making in a time of planetary uncertainty. The installation unfolds slowly, privileging reflection, care, and collective imagination over immediacy or resolution. This activity is organised in the frame of Mónica de Miranda's seed archive for Institution(ing)s, curated by Mónica de Miranda. @monicademiranda_studio Hangar is an associated partner of Institution(ing)s in Lisbon. More information on Institution(ings)s website, link in bio.

Lithomancy: Dreaming with Stones - Ritual screening and participatory performance by Jemma Foster @wildalchemylab 28 April 2026 - 18:00 @hangar_cia A participatory ritual and film screening exploring dreaming as a bridge between human and more-than-human fields of intelligence. Participants engage in guided sensory practices with stones as carriers of memory and deep time, moving from individual perception toward a shared field of awareness. A collective sigil emerges within the space, followed by a spoken word sound work and a screening of Dreaming with Stones, experienced as a meditative transmission. The ritual concludes with the release of the sigil and redistribution of stones. Participants take a stone home and receive a printed guide to continue the practice through dreaming. This activity is organised in the frame of Mónica de Miranda's seed archive for Institution(ing)s, curated by Mónica de Miranda. @monicademiranda_studio Hangar is an associated partner of Institution(ing)s in Lisbon. More information on Institution(ings)s website, link in bio.

Earth School | Workshop 18th of April 2026 — 15:00 📍 Atlas Studio, Carvalhal Floromancy: Listening to Plants — This field workshop by artist-in-residence Jemma Foster introduces floromancy – divination with flowers – as a practice of ecological and somatic listening. Working with local plants, participants are invited to engage with the ecological intelligence of flora through sensory prompts, guided ritual, and biotherapeutic sound recordings. Jemma Foster shares plant knowledge drawn from floriography, myth, and folklore, alongside land-based practices such as dowsing and earth acupuncture. Floromancy is approached here not as prediction, but as a way of cultivating person-plant intimacy, relational awareness, and non-linear forms of interspecies communication that are felt, embodied, and responsive. ABOUT Jemma Foster: an inter-disciplinary artist, writer and creative director. Her work researches human and more-than-human consciousness and imagination at the intersection of art and technology. Rooted in a background in plant and vibrational medicine, her practice draws from alchemy, geomancy and social dreaming to create biotherapeutic soundscapes, immersive installations and guided rituals for interspecies communication. Her work has been exhibited and performed at galleries and institutions worldwide including Somerset House, The Barbican, ICA London, Ars Electronica, and the UN Conference of Parties. For more info: [email protected]

Joana Bernd's guide on 'How To Not Kill Your Tender Heart' features in this month's latest zine. Follow link in bio to access the zine and @joana.bernd for the complete guide. Excerpt from Joana's artist statement: The world feels like a divide - a crossroads of rupture and longing. My work opens windows into both paths: one shaped by feminist rage, despair, and the aching grief for our earth, for each other, and for all who are marginalized. The other path carries a soft resistance: tenderness, longing, and a quiet magic. Like harbingers from another realm, my objects, paintings and gestures appear - fragments of a world trying to mend. I resist singularity. My practice spans performance, video, installation, and object-based work, guided by process and instinct. I travel through cinematic, symbolic forms - color and shape - and translate raw, fleeting moments into visual languages that speak plainly, yet hold deeper metaphorical weight. Whether I lie in a bed of stones (State of Woman), try to hold the moon close (Lasso and the Moon), or send lashes to strangers to make a wish upon, each gesture becomes a small offering, both personal and collective. Symbols are essential to my work because they create bridges - connecting across differences and opening dialogue. I use text, the sounds of nature, and draw inspiration from spiritual and psychological practices, such as Jungian psychology. I also engage deeply with many interconnected “-isms” - feminism, anti-racism, environmentalism, and beyond. These are not separate ideas but parts of one whole, shaping how I see the world and my art. My feminism is intersectional, recognizing how these struggles overlap and intertwine. The conversations sparked - the shared recognition of rage and hope - are at the heart of my practice. Two themes echo through my work: Don’t kill your tender heart and Il patriarcato è finito (Patriarchy is Over). They are portals inviting viewers to look again - softer, but also burning brighter. What is rage? What is love? What is grief? What shape is hope?

Open edition reproduction Giclée prints of original meditation drawings dated circa 1932, printed on Hahnemuhle German Etching 310gsm, now available via link in bio. Between 1927 and 1934, Fröbe-Kapteyn produced her “meditation drawings” as finely rendered screenprints, developed alongside her founding of the Eranos research centre in Ascona, conceived as a site of exchange between Eastern and Western philosophical traditions. The prints feature diagrams functioning both as aids for meditation and portals to higher planes of consciousness. Encouraged by Carl Jung, she assembled symposia and visual archives dedicated to archetypal symbolism. Her 1938 Eranos conference, The Great Mother, featured visual material depicting significant goddesses represented in sculptures from Aztec, Minoan, and Babylonian civilisations. Over time, Fröbe-Kapteyn assembled a collection of more than 6,000 images that illustrated Jung’s writings, forming the Archive for Research inArchetypal Symbolism (ARAS). Her interlacing circles, axial symmetries, and proportional systems, often guided by the golden ratio, were conceived as contemplative diagrams: symbolic frameworks that act as thresholds for altered states of consciousness.