Omar de Kok-Mercado is a photographer, videographer, musician, researcher, and farmer. His technical expertise in soil microbiology and agroecology informs his creative practice. He incorporates this technical knowledge into the inner workings of his creations building sculptures that interact with the natural world. In a hyper-connected world stripped of mystery, his work reflects our innate curiosity and works to cultivate our sense of wonder. Whether that’s flying custom built drones through an oak savanna or simulating space time dynamics via video feedback generated through four foot autonomous kaleidoscopes, his work demonstrates it’s still a wild world ripe for exploration.

Omar lives on his farm with his wife and son, two dogs, two cats, and a herd of virtually fenced goats in rural Pilot Mound, Iowa, the ancestral homelands of the Ioway tribe, with Sauk and Fox tribes to the east and Omaha to the west. 

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Visit The EcoTheatre Lab's website at ecotheatrelab.com for links to Omar's work and how to connect with him, the transcript for this episode, and more information about the podcast, production team, and The EcoTheatre Lab.

This podcast series is all about finding ways to talk about climate change with each other. The EcoTheatre Lab wants to also be in dialogue with our listeners!  Please let us know your thoughts on this episode through this brief feedback form (tinyurl.com/artofclimatedialogue)!

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Thank you to our podcast funders:

Johnson Center for Land Stewardship Policy Emerging Leader Award and North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program Graduate Student Grant.*

This podcast is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under agreement number 2021-38640-34714 through the North Central Region SARE program under project number GNC22-345. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this podcast are those of the individuals and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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Thank you to our podcast production team:

Vivian M. Cook - Producer, Host, and Editor

Rosie Marcu-Rowe - Editor

Moselle Nita Singh - Cover Artist

Omar de Kok-Mercado - Musician

Charissa Menefee, Taylor Sklenar, and Mary Swander - Consultants

Louie Jordan - Sound Technician