Underneath the Pine Grove

An introduction to the collective investigation “Invasive Species?”

Curator and cultural scholar Avital Barak presents Reflections from a Collective Investigation, a text emerging from the research project Invasive Species?, developed at AiR 351.

The project brings together artists, researchers, and activists to explore the concept of “Invasive Species” as both an ecological category and a politically charged metaphor. Beginning from Barak’s personal and historical reflections on afforestation in Israel/Palestine and the layered histories embedded in landscapes, the investigation unfolds as a transdisciplinary inquiry into migration, displacement, colonialism, ecology, and belonging.

Rather than approaching “Invasive Species” solely from a biological perspective, the group examines how the term circulates across environmental science, political rhetoric, and cultural discourse. The project reflects on how metaphors of invasion shape public perception, national identity, and migration debates, particularly in contemporary Portugal.

Developed through the Collective Investigation method — a research practice grounded in spatial exploration, shared inquiry, and transdisciplinary dialogue — the project convened ten artists working across diverse media. Together, they engaged with invited experts from colonial history, migration studies, and ecology, before undertaking a series of expeditions across Lisbon and its surroundings, from informal roadside gardens to botanical institutions, urban neighborhoods, riverbanks, and coastal dunes.

Without a predetermined outcome, the investigation prioritized collective presence, critical reflection, and movement across physical and conceptual terrains. The result is not a fixed conclusion, but a layered exploration of how ecological categories intersect with histories of empire, systems of labor, political rhetoric, and lived experience.

The full text is available here.