Aesthethics of Interconnectedness

School of Machines, Making & Make-Believe presents a 5-wk online class on how to collaborate with fellow Earthlings.

About this event

Which tools does society need in order to be proactive towards biodiversity?

/ Five-week Live* Online class begins 17. November ends 15. December
/ Every Wednesday, 8pm-10pm CET
/ Small class of participants
/ For more info and tickets please visit https://www.eventbrite.de/e/aesthethics-of-interconnectedness-tickets-182730912077

Course Description

For more than 10.000 years, we have been domesticating non-human specimens. Plants (which were the first ones), horses, cats, dogs, amongst other species have become more and more a part of our daily lives, cohabiting with us on one hand in symbiosis, on the other hand as a necessary resource.

In the past, and still now in the indigenious communities such as Inuits in Arctic or Pygmy Baka Tribe in Africa, living beings were considered “non-human persons” - there was a knowledge that if these non-human persons are not respected, the equilibrium would be destroyed and nature would turn against the humans. But somewhere along the line, this understanding was lost.

In this course we will look at city-dwellers’ attitudes towards other living organisms, and whether it is possible to find ways to accept non-human persons agency and develop reciprocal relationships while sharing this predominantly human-made space.

How do we foster meaningful and conversational relations to fellow Earthlings within urban environments? What can we learn from other specimens?

Participants will be invited to select a living organism of their choice from their immediate surrounding (it can be a plant, an ant, a snail, lichen, a piece of mould from the wall, a moss, a bird living across the road, etc), who will become their focus for coming weeks. (*They can select the life-form with any criteria: affection, form, smell, texture, etc.) Through a mixture of scientific and design thinking methods as well as tools developed by Kasia Molga & Ivan Henriques they will be encouraged to uncover as much as possible about the biology, sociology, ecosystem of their selected non-human person, and their own interdependencies to it.

They will be introduced to selection of sensors (both analogue and digital) for greater observation and understanding of their organisms as well as bio-semiotics - an area of science concerned with interspecies communication - and how we can use it to communicate with their selected living organisms.

Finally participants, individually or in groups, will imagine and create a design work, art installation, design fiction or a ritual which will put their organisms in focus.

Week 1: INTRODUCTION
Together with the participants of the course Ivan & Kasia will introduce themselves.
Participants will be invited to select one living organism and we make our first mind map - the living organism and its relations/interdependencies on the environment.

Week 2: DOMESTICATION
In this class we will look into mechanisms used in design thinking behind the concept of interconnectedness. We also will learn about History of Domestication and what it means for us and non-human makers, and for the eco / socio / economical and political systems. (Who has been domesticating whom).

Week 3: SENSOR TECHNIQUES
We will look into science of how organisms communicate and technologies and tools which help to discover it; and into art - how artists are using this science in their practices. We also will learn some sensors and observations techniques and the Double Diamond Design Thinking method and how to apply it to participants’ research.

Week 4: INTERCONNECTED
We will introduce a few case studies about what it means to be interdependent and interconnected and learn about the meaning of bio-semiotics.

Week 5: MAKING THE FINAL PROPOSAL
It is the last class, so we will individually present our projects and publish them to the class instagram.