"A snake eating its own tale" - Photographer © João Quirino - Artist Residency 'A Strange Loop', OSSO, 2026
a strange loop
“An en-vir-onment is not a closed circle but a veering loop. A thing is in a loop with itself: a thing and a thing-pattern, asymmetrical, which is why there can be patterns at all - which is why there can be replication”
Timothy Morton, Dark Ecology
A residency dedicated to creating a site-specific work inspired by the concept of Dark Ecology. Drawing on frottage techniques using natural elements and the reuse of pigments sourced from magazines, the project explores interdependence, temporality and ecology, offering a sensitive and contemplative perception of the environment. The entire process is constructed in direct dialogue with the ecological surroundings of the OSSO premises, which become an integral part of the artwork itself.
Timothy Morton’s concept of dark ecology challenges the idea of nature as pure, beautiful, and separate from human life. Instead, he describes ecology as an interconnected system that is often unsettling, complex, and beyond human control. Dark ecology rejects the notion of untouched nature and asks us to confront our entanglement within unstable and damaged systems.
A key idea in Dark Ecology is the loop. The loop disrupts the boundary between subject and object, reflecting the circular and interconnected causality of ecological systems. It is both a formal structure and an emotional experience. Ecological awareness unfolds through art, perception, and feeling. Emotions such as guilt, discomfort, and wonder return to the viewer, who begins to realise they are not outside the system but inside it. These looping aesthetics undo the illusion of distance or control. There is no stepping outside the system to master or resolve it; we must remain within it and navigate its complexity.
During this residency, whilst gathering natural etherema to incorperate into the work, I chanced upon a freshly shed snakeskin. The image of the ouroboros appears thoughout Dark Ecology - a snake swallowing his own tale, a metaphor for the strange loop, "a twisted coexistance with strangeness".
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Countryside of São Gregorio, Caldas da Rainha, PT
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