For this botanically themed summer program, participating artists were invited to offer events and experiences relating to the term cultivar. Cultivar refers to a plant variety that has been produced through selective breeding. The metaphorical implications of cultivar are abundant in relation to mediated messages, colonial histories, and notions of belonging and invasive species. Our visiting artists created experiences at sites around Fogo Island to address these issues in various ways.

Geology has long been an important topic in flat earth research at the Flat Earth Society of Canada and the Museum of the Flat Earth. In 2018, four artists were invited to participate in Tectonic Shift to address notions of geology within their work at various sites on Fogo Island.

For A Raft of Auks, the three invited artists developed works in response to little-known flat earth lore suggesting that the Great Auk is not actually extinct but resides beyond the edge, on the other side of the flat earth. Through performance, audio, installation, radio, and video, an extended life is imagined for the Great Auk.

The first summer visiting artist, Marjolijn Kok of Rotterdam, participated in 2016. The Archaeologist’s Visit was a documented archaeological dig led by Professor Daisy Diggle with the assistance of Dr. Iris Taylor.