Cultivate is pleased to present a conversation with Hugh Pocock who talks about his current project No Man’s Land — a park for the non-human, his interest in the global movement of the Rights of Nature, and how land can be recognized as having "legal personhood".

No Man’s Land (NML) is the development of an area of land where humans are prohibited from entering. It is a space where the plants, animals, insects, minerals and fungi will have full and sole autonomy, free from the presence of human beings. The park will not be used for research or organized observation. It is not a place for humans to study or “enjoy” nature. No tagging, recording, research, or human technology of any kind is permitted in NML. While it is recognized that Humans are a part of the earth’s ecology, NML is proposed to be a legally protected place where the Non-Humans are guaranteed to be free of the presence of Humans and their actions.

Western European thinking views all land as a resource for human benefit and as the potential property of individual people. Western civilization has created a legal system that makes Humans sovereign over Nature and all of its non-human inhabitants. This legal system has created a world that is seen primarily as a place for humans to exploit and possess. There is not one place on the earth where Nature is allowed to exist free from the impacts of human beings. The purpose of “No Man’s Land” is to create that place. Pocock’s intent as an artist is to create a place that enables people to physically experience Nature as an autonomous entity, not as a possession. 

About Hugh Pocock:
Hugh Pocock was born in Aotearoa (New Zealand) and raised in the United States, England and Aotearoa. His work investigates the transactions between culture and natural phenomena. Organic materials, such as water, air, salt, wood and earth are the material platforms on which Pocock’s work are built. Time, energy, climate change and social connectivity are among the issues Pocock investigates in his sculptures, installations, performances and videos.  Over the past three decades, he has shown his work in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Santa Fe and Baltimore as well as internationally in the former Soviet Union, Germany and China.

Hugh Pocock is a faculty member at MICA and is the founding Coordinator of the Minor in Sustainability and Social Practice and a faculty member of the new studio Major titled Ecosystems, Sustainability and Justice. He is Co-Facilitator of the Global Ecologies Studio taught annually at the Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan, Ireland. https://www.hughpocock.com