V.I.S.T.A.: TRANSMUTATIONIST FIELD JOURNAL:
While at Bellevalia Olive Grove Residency I hope to create the next installment of my ongoing research project: a site-specific intermodal and multidisciplinary experimental film incorporating integrating writing, photography, video/film, music/sound composition and digital/new media explorations.
You may watch the first field journal in an experimental film format at this link: https://youtu.be/9__dQAT0W-Y
Project Description and Research Question: What if the Origin of Species narrative occurred outside of the bounds of the social constructs of the Western, patriarchal, European and Victorian/colonialist framework available in 1831? What if Darwin’s primordial soup was a primordial ether, and consciousness was a self-generative digital apparition, defying binary classification? What if evolution is a mode of consciousness and Darwin’s early contributions existed concurrently with parallel, multitudinous inquiries into terrestrial experience across another expression of reality? The V.I.S.T.A.: Transmutationist Field Journal project was inspired through the artist’s personal orientation to the landscape, legacy and mythology of the American Southwest, psychodynamic theory, research into Natural Selection and the Darwin narrative; in particular expedition archives, travel logs and subsequent sociocultural critiques.
V.I.S.T.A. is part of an ongoing intermodal and multi-disciplinary arts-based, research project, within which there are multiple field journal “entries.” The second field journal is currently in post-production and the third and fourth iterations are forthcoming and will be site-specific explorations integrating writing, photography, video/film, music/sound composition and digital painting.
The first V.I.S.T.A. field journal was installed at the international new media festival PASEO in 2023 in Taos, New Mexico. It has since been included in the CICA Museum’s International Symposium for Visual Culture in South Korea in 2024. In 2025, V.I.S.T.A. was screened and read during the interdisciplinary exhibition, 'Between a Frame and a Soft Place' curated by Michèle Saint-Michel at the Millennium Film Workshop in NYC and at the COOP Microcinema Festival in Nashville, Tennessee. V.I.S.T.A. was an official selection in the 2026 Alpine International Film Festival and recently screened at the 2026 Taos Film Festival. It has been recognized as a Quarter-Finalist in the Zed Fest Film Festival and Screenplay Competition and is an Official Nominee for the 2026 Cannes Independent Shorts Festival; awards to be announced in late 2026.
V.I.S.T.A.: Transmutationist Field Journal (part i) is a short original film composition (duration 5:32), featuring activated digital objects and a three-channel, interactive, narrative soundscape. It may be screened as a short, experimental film but can also be installed as an experiential and immersive sound/video experience. In its immersive iteration, multiple simultaneous participants are invited to observe the projected film while wearing multi-channel Bluetooth headsets to journey through a personalized temporal-visual-spatial-aural experience. Composite audio, photographic and video data has been gathered from the high desert mesa of Arroyo Hondo, New Mexico, in the American Southwest, to create this sensory-saturated experience. Community-sourced vocal samples (resulting from a call into the artist’s community in New Mexico and internationally) from an original script have been manipulated to compose narration accompanying the video field journal itself. The digital object referenced in this work is part of the artist’s broader cataloging of her digital work over the last three years: Inspired by internal geometries and cellular landscapes, each object is familiar, yet unidentifiable.
The V.I.S.T.A.: Transmutationist Field Journal project references themes of natural selection, naturalism, evolution, colonialism, Darwinism and altered human consciousness through the socially-activated collective; a creative, anti-racist and non-binary approach to the Origin of Species narrative.
Abbreviated Bibliography:
American Museum of Natural History. Pocket Diary (Journal) 1838-1881 (DAR 158). (n.d.). Retrieved March 1, 2023, from https://www.amnh.org/research/darwin-manuscripts/journals-diaries/journal-1838-1881
Coppola, P., Allanson, J., Naci, L., Adapa, R., Finoia, P., Williams, G. B., Pickard, J. D., Owen, A. M., Menon, D. K., & Stamatakis, E. A. (2022). The complexity of the stream of consciousness. Communications Biology, 5(1), 1173. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-022-04109-x
Darwin, C. (1989). The voyage of the Beagle. (J. Brown & M. Neve, Eds). Penguin Books. (Original work published 1839)
Dennis, R. M. (1995). Social Darwinism, Scientific Racism, and the Metaphysics of Race. The Journal of Negro Education, 64(3), 243–252. https://doi.org/10.2307/2967206* JNE was published from 1932-2019 The Journal of Negro Education (JNE), a refereed scholarly periodical, was founded at Howard University in 1932 to fill the need for a scholarly journal that would identify and define the problems that characterized the education of Black people in the United States and elsewhere, provide a forum for analysis and solutions, and serve as a vehicle for sharing statistics and research on a national basis
Ginsburg, S., & Jablonka, E. (2020). Consciousness as a mode of being. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 27(9-10), 148-162.
Glaveanu, V. et al. (2019). Advancing creativity theory and research: A Sociocultural Manifesto. Journal of Creative Behavior, 54(3), 741-745. https://doi.org/10.1002/jocb.395
Leith, Brian (Producer). (2009). Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life [Film]. BBC Natural History Unit; Open University.
Peretó, J., Bada, J. L., & Lazcano, A. (2009). Charles Darwin and the origin of life. Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere : the journal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life, 39(5), 395–406. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11084-009-9172-7
Rose S. (2009). Darwin, race and gender. EMBO reports, 10(4), 297–298. https://doi.org/10.1038/embor.2009.40
Rosenthal, D. M., Consciousness and its function, Neuropsychologia (2007), doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2007.11.012
Additional Information
I have completed the first two field journals of the V.I.S.T.A. project in the high desert of the American Southwest. New Mexico offers a deep and mythic connection to land. I am now seeking a unique residency experience to inspire additional inquiries into the spirit and consciousness of place. I am drawn to the landscape of Hydra, in particular as it is an island with an opportunity for contemplation and proximity to nature on a profound scale. At this residency, I hope to gather photography, videography while working on the written composition of new narrative poems/scripts to accompany my remaining short films. I would also gather composite site-specific audio from time spent in the grove itself and by the water.
Although I practice now as a multidisciplinary artist, writer, professor and art psychotherapist, the foundations of my education begin with studying Latin language, Greek and Roman mythology, early poetry, literature and theatre. Many of my contemporary writings incorporate ancient myth and archetype as I find expansive opportunities to research consciousness and relationship through these more philosophical and poetic frames. The last time I was in Greece was thirty years ago. I am inspired to apply to Bellevalia Olive Grove Residency as I appreciate your interest in research-driven consciousness-centered artistic projects. My project spans film, music composition, photography, videography, digital media and writing/poetics. It does not easily fit into a single category. It would be an honor to create my next V.I.S.T.A. Field Journal installment during the Bellevalia Olive Grove Residency. I am available to answer any questions about my anticipated process during the residency and this project.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Lauren Dana Smith