The Planetary Workshop Series is an integral part of the
Planetary Scholars and Artists in Residence Program
. Each semester, the visiting scholars and artists prepare a workshop of one or more days with reference to the Fellowship theme and their own focal points. The thematic orientation as well as the organizational design of the workshop are left entirely to the Fellows, and thus the Planetary Workshop Series features exciting content, creative formats, and unusual perspectives.
Here
you can find information on all past events of this series.
Please note that the event will be held entirely in English.
This workshop recognizes soil as vibrant, alive, and communicative. Starting from the insight that soil constitutes an agency that significantly shapes planetary life,
Soil Translations
asks how humans can better understand this agency and how they may sharpen their sensibilities to become able to read its expressions and translate its semiotics, its text(ure).
Starting with a panel discussion among artists, gardeners, farmers, soil scientists and humanities scholars, the workshop invites participants to think across and beyond disciplines, schools of thought, and human perspectives. Consequently, a guided farm tour and hands-on engagement with soil is to inspire active thinking with this planetary agency and reflection on what it means to be touched by soil-worlds.
The workshop emerges against the backdrop that planetary politics hinges upon the formation of more horizontal relationships to the more-than-human world. Yet in hegemonic understandings, one of the most distinctive features between ‘humans’ and the 'more-than-human’ is the ability to speak and be communicative. Therefore, it seems taken for granted that soil—unable to express itself in human words—is unable to participate in politics. Contrary to these hegemonic understandings, many Indigenous worlds enact cosmologies grounded in mutual exchange with the more-than-human world and lived through relational ways of being—ways in which nature speaks through diverse vessels. And interestingly, the act of "reading" the soil is also part of the daily work within scientific knowledge practices in the Global North—particularly in agriculture.
Through the lens of agricultural practices, art and reflections on translation, the workshop explores how to communicate with soil and asks what it means to listen to it in times of climate change and soil devastation. If humans learned how to translate soil’s expressions, what would they get to know? And how would that knowledge change their understanding of more-than-human agency and its political relations to human society? And how would that change our understanding of what it means to be human? To be democratic?
The workshop welcomes everyone interested in soil, human-nature-relationships and planetary politics – including, artists, gardeners, farmers, and researches from the nature, social sciences, and the humanities.
13:00 | Plant-based lunch (provided for participants)
14:30 | Guided tour -
Soil at Gladbacherhof: Soil Genesis and Current Cultivation
by
Franz Schulz
(Head of Research Farm, Oberer Gladbacherhof, JLU Giessen)
16:00 | Closing remarks / departure to Giessen
Sophie von Redecker
Currently completing her PhD in Organic Agricultural Sciences at JLU Gießen with a scholarship from the Rosa-Luxemburg Foundation. In her dissertation, she proposes the Agrarian Humanities as a new research field, which complements Critical Agrarian Studies with approaches from More-than-Human Studies, Environmental Humanities, artistic research methods, and decolonial science criticism. She is a state-proved actress and has curated exhibitions that arose from scientific-artistic research. She is an associate member of the research cluster "Crisis and Socio-Ecological Transformation" at Rosa-Luxemburg Foundation. She received her first training from strawberries and sandy soil on the organic farm, where she grew up.
Brad Harmon
Studied German and Scandinavian Studies at the University of Minnesota (B.A. 2017) and Scandinavian Literature at the University of Washington (M.A. 2020) before beginning his PhD in the Department of Modern Languages & Literatures at Johns Hopkins University where his dissertation traces an ecopoetics of “flesh” in 20th century German and Scandinavian poetry. He has been a 2023-2024 American-Scandinavian Foundation Fellow in Comparative Literature at Södertörn University (Stockholm), a 2024-2025 Fulbright Fellow in German Studies at FU Berlin and a 2025 National Endowment for the Arts Translation Fellow. As a translator into English from German and the Scandinavian languages, his book-length translations include poetry by Johannes Anyuru, Katarina Frostenson, Esther Kinsky, Lív Maria Róadóttir Jæger; novels by Monika Fagerholm, Eli Levén, Birgitta Trotzig; and biographies of Avicii and Björn Borg. Since March 2025, he is a guest researcher and guest lecturer in the Department of Northern European Studies at HU Berlin.
Lisa Krall
Postdoc at the Centre for Gender Studies at the University of Cologne (GeStiK). Her new materialist doctoral thesis focused on epigenetics. Lisa is part of a collective that reflects on compost and how to work with compost practically in art and academia. Other areas of interest: interdisciplinary gender studies, feminist science and technology studies, feminist new materialisms, (queer) feminist perspectives on motherhood and care, methodologies.
Wiebke Niether
Holds a Diploma degree in Biology from the University of Greifswald, Germany, and a Master of Science degree in Sustainable International Agriculture from the Universities of Kassel and Goettingen, Germany. She finished her PhD under supervision of Prof. Dr. Gerhard Gerold at the Institute of Landscape Ecology, University of Goettingen, and in cooperation with the Research institute on Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Switzerland. She continued working at the University of Goettingen as a scientific coordinator. Thereafter she was Deputy Head of Cocoa Department at Rausch GmbH, Berlin, Germany. Since September 2020 she is senior scientist at the professorship of Organic Farming at the University of Giessen, Germany. Her research interest are the environmental interactions of crops-trees-soil-atmosphere in natural based farming systems, in particular climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies of complex agroecosystems like agroforestry systems.
Solawi Terra Lumbricus
We are a small, diverse farm called
Gärtnerei Terra Lumbricus
(loosely translated, “the earth of the earthworm”) in a village between Marburg and Gießen. Our main focus is a vegetable solidarity-based agriculture (SoLawi) with 60 different vegetable varieties and our own seedling cultivation. In addition, we farm a few hectares of arable land, where we grow grains, potatoes, animal feed, and materials for mulch and fertilizer.
alissa mirea weidenfeld
They are on a sensual quest: both themes and materials are explored experimentally and with curiosity; thereby moving between conceptual and intuitive approaches. As a former vegetable gardener they are still growing weeds and vegetables in different ways and various places. For them also their artistic works are like seeds. They care for them and let them grow into something nurturing. Through intense involvement, their processes lead to political positions with a fluidity between topics and fields. Societal fixation on gender roles, exploitation of people and nature are resources of rage in their practice. They have a strength in fragility and authenticity, reflecting their own lines of thinking and experiences, become visible and tangible. Their artworks often build up on one another, the proceeding is reminiscent of composting processes: in playful and tender proposals their works come together in a collage-like manner. Exchange, collaborations and creative gatherings are also a part of it. In their multimedia practice with film and video collages, drawing, text, sounds and performance, ceramic works and other sculptural objects exhibitions are often installation-based. Art is described by them as a constant companion „who can appear, and start anywhere and doesn’t have to end somewhere...“ and with whom they „want to turn inside outside, in hopes to touch others and open processes of thinking, reflecting and acting“ Instagram: @_fabaceae
Transportation by train on Fri, 24 Oct. 2025
Giessen > Aumenau
Departure
at 09:22, Track 11 with HLB RB 45 (24833) (direction: Limburg (Lahn))
Arrival
at 10:15 |
11-minute walk
(800 m) to Gladbacherhof (expected arrival 10:26)
View connection
here
.
Aumenau > Giessen
Departure
at 16:46, Track 1 with HLB RB 45 (24833) (direction: Fulda)
Arrival
at 17:38, Track 13
View connection
here
.
The Planetary Workshop Series is an integral part of the
Planetary Scholars and Artists in Residence Program
. Each semester, the visiting scholars and artists prepare a workshop of one or more days with reference to the Fellowship theme and their own focal points. The thematic orientation as well as the organizational design of the workshop are left entirely to the Fellows, and thus the Planetary Workshop Series features exciting content, creative formats, and unusual perspectives.
Here
you can find information on all past events of this series.
Please note that the event will be held entirely in English.
Planetary Times Winter Workshop
Reading the Earth and Stars: Field methods for Narrating Geological & Cosmic Time
by our Planetary Times fellows
Aisling O'Carroll
&
Lukáš Likavčan
will explore methods of narrating different modalities of (more than-) planetary time through the interpretation of observations from astronomy, geology and soil studies. Over two days, a series of talks, participatory experiments, and collective discussions will introduce and test approaches for reading histories in the archives of rocks, soil, planets, and stars. The workshop aims to expand our understanding of planetary time through geohistories found below our feet and in surrounding materials, as well as cosmological histories found in the night sky.
Date
28 - 29 November, 2024
Venue
Conference Room, Physikalischer Verein
Robert-Mayer-Strasse 2, 60325 Frankfurt am Main
Seminar Room 024, Hermann Hoffmann Academy
Senckenbergstrasse 17, 35390 Gießen
Participation
Register by
November 20, 2024
, as the number of participants is limited.
Friday, November 29 | 09:30 – 17:30 | @ Seminar room 024, Hermann Hoffmann Academy | Senckenbergstrasse 17-21 | 35390 Giessen
09:45 | Introduction by Aisling O'Carroll
10:00 | Soil chromatography workshop - part 1 by
Danielle Hewitt
(artist & historian; London Metropolitan University) - STEP 1&2 (40-45 minutes)
Step 1 - 20 minutes: The first step of the soil chromatography process entails preparing the soil solution (sieve and grind soil, mix with distilled water and sodium hydroxide solution). The solution then must sit for 1 hour.
Step 2 - 20 minutes: Whilst the solution sits filter papers are prepared with a silver nitrate solution. The solution is left to spread across the paper, this can take up to 40 minutes.
Danielle Hewitt
:
Soil Chromatography: Producing Images of and with the Soil
Marcus Fuchs
(geomorphologist; JLU):
How to Read Time in Sediments through Light
Jan Siemens
(soil scientist; JLU):
How to Assess the Impact of Time and Humans on Soils
13:00 | Lunch break
14:00 | Soil chromatography workshop - part 2
STEP 3 (1-2 hours): Final step of soil chromatography workshop — this is where the soil solution spreads over the filter paper. This step requires occasional monitoring but not active engagement for a period of 1-2 hours.
14:30 | Lecture & discussion (hybrid):
Gaiagraphies: Inside the Critical Zones
by
Alexandra Arènes
(landscape architect, researcher; IPGP Paris)
15:15 | Coffee & tea break
15:30 | Soil chromatography workshop - part 3
STEP 3 (1-2 hours) - Set soil chromatograms out to develop. Results may begin to be visible within an hour and will continue to develop over the next days.
16:30 | Reflections on the two-day workshop & conclusion
Danielle Hewitt
Danielle Hewitt
is an artist and historian, trained in both Fine Art Practice (Goldsmiths) and Architectural History (Bartlett). Her research and practice are archivally led and develop creative and critical methods to explore and communicate complex and often contested histories. Her PhD, recently completed at the Bartlett and supported by the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain, developed artistic methods of historical research as means to explore the movements of debris from London’s Second World War bombsites both through the archive, and into the contemporary landscape. This and ongoing research explore how plants, soil, and the things of the earth can be read as historical documents, thus expanding the historians' concept of the archive.
Danielle teaches history and theory of landscape on the MA/MLA Landscape Architecture programme at the Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL). Danielle is also a Senior Lecturer at London Metropolitan University where she teaches across Art, Architecture and Photography. She is a 2024 British Council / Invisible Dust Creative Fellow.
Alexandra Arènes
Alexandra Arènes
is a graduate architect (2009) and holds a PhD in Architecture (University of Manchester, 2022). Her research and practice focus on understanding and representing landscapes in the context of climate change, at S.O.C (Société d'Objets cartographiques) and Shaā, studio for architecture and urbanism (
www.shaa.io
). She is co-author of Terra Forma, a book of speculative maps published by MIT (2019). In collaboration with scientists from the Critical Zone, she is developing maps of the Earth's cycles at the IPGP (Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris).
András Cséfalvay
András Cséfalvay
is a visual artist, digital storyteller, and mytho-poet from Bratislava, and is also an Associate Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava. After studying painting and mathematics, he wrote his dissertation on the usefulness and reality of fiction. His work delves into the relationship between culture and technology, and the political and ethical aspects of listening to non-dominant voices in world interpretation. His latest works look at the relationship between astronomers and indigenous peoples in constructing the Mauna Kea telescopes, the flight of dinosaurs as a technology for survival after extinction, and the reclassification of the planet Pluto. He is a recipient of the Oskar Čepan Young Visual Artist Prize, and co-founder of the Digital Arts Platform.
Adriana Knouf
Adriana Knouf
, PhD (NL/US) works as an artist, writer, musician, and xenologist. She attunes herself to electromagic frequencies; studies the interferences of temporalities future, past, and present; and experiments with entities bio, silico, litho, cosmic. She is the Founding Facilitator of the tranxxenolab, a nomadic artistic research laboratory that promotes entanglements among entities trans and xeno. Adriana regularly presents her artistic research around the world and beyond, including a work that has flown aboard the International Space Station. Her work has been recognized by a number of awards, including an Award of Distinction at Prix Ars Electronica (2021), an Honorary Mention at Prix Ars Electronica (2005), BCS Futures Award Longlist selection as part of the Lumen Prize (2023), an Honorary Mention from the Science Fiction Research Association’s Innovative Research Award (2021), and as a prize winner in The Lake’s Works for Radio #4 (2020). She additionally performs with her modular synthesizer as Selestra, and designs and sells modular synthesizer modules through her company selestium modular.
Markus Fuchs
Markus Fuchs
is Professor of Physical Geography at the Department of Geography at Justus Liebig University in Giessen. As a geomorphologist, he is interested in the processes that shape the Earth and the resulting landforms. As a geoarchaeologist, he deals with questions of human-environment interaction and how humans have actively intervened in their environment since the invention of agriculture. As time is a key issue in the geosciences, Markus Fuchs’ methodological specialty is luminescence dating, a dating technique that can be used to date sediments.
Jan Siemens
Jan Siemens
is Professor for Soil Resources at Justus Liebig University Giessen since 2015. He conducts research and teaches on the role of soils as regulators of carbon and nutrient cycling as well as fate and effects of pollutants, particularly pharmaceuticals and disinfectants, in ecosystems. These topics are addressed geographically in Europe, Mexico, China and the Philippines. He has studied geoecology and soil-water-atmosphere at the Universities of Bayreuth and Wageningen. He completed his PhD on leaching of nutrients and carbon from agricultural soils to groundwater at the University of Hohenheim and TU Berlin. He is also a post-doctoral scientist and scientific assistant at TU Berlin and University of Bonn.
The Planetary Workshop Series is an integral part of the
Planetary Scholars and Artists in Residence Program
. Each semester, the visiting scholars and artists prepare a workshop of one or more days with reference to the Fellowship theme and their own focal points. The thematic orientation as well as the organizational design of the workshop are left entirely to the Fellows, and thus the Planetary Workshop Series features exciting content, creative formats, and unusual perspectives.
Here
you can find information on all past events of this series.
The Planetary Times Summer Workshop is realized as a collaboration between Kunsthalle Giessen and the Panel on Planetary Thinking
Please note that the event will be held entirely in English.
From the origin of life to the emergence of complex species, the evolution of life on earth has been driven by a corresponding evolution in the way that information is stored, transmitted, and processed. The recent emergence of computation builds upon this evolutionary lineage, weaving together biological and technological domains through informatic feedback loops. In this planet-building endeavour, a two-day workshop will be initiated by Californian media artist &
Planetary Times summer Fellow
Connor Cook
and the synthetic biologist Darren Zhu.
In the first part of this two-day workshop, we engage with the theory of an “Informatic Evolution of the Planet” through a transdisciplinary roundtable discussion. In an intensive workshop session on the second day, we aim to replicate this planetary dynamic on a micro scale, using a Raspberry Pi-enabled bioreactor (Pioreactor) to create immersive audiovisual worlds. The Pioreactor can cultivate, monitor, and control cultures of algae through real-time two-way communication with a computer. By algorithmically adjusting and monitoring the balance of light, nutrients, carbon dioxide, and algal growth, the Pioreactor acts as a simplified planetary model, illustrating the intricate interplay of biological matter, energy, and information within the Earth system. Registered participants will act as mediators, using the real-time data produced by algae as input to create live audiovisual worlds using the game design software Unreal Engine.
Ricard Solé is a research professor with ICREA (the Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies) and is currently working at Pompeu Fabra University, where he is head of the
Complex Systems Lab
in the PRBB (Barcelona Biomedical Research Park). One of his main research interests is understanding the origins and evolution of complexity and of the natural and artificial systems, including the space of possible cognitions of what he calls "liquid brains". In the last few years, he has been driving new research aimed at the "terraforming" of ecosystems in danger of collapse. He uses both theoretical and experimental approaches based on synthetic biology. He is the author of
Todas las muertes. El final de la vida: de los océanos a los robots
(Crítica, 2023).
Jochen Blom
Jochen
Blom
studied 'Computer Science in the Natural Sciences' at Bielefeld University and completed a PhD project on 'Comparative genomics on gene and single nucleotide level' in 2013. At the end of 2013, he moved to Justus Liebig Univeristy Gießen to start a PostDoc position as the coordinator of the M.Sc. course 'Bioinformatics & Systems Biology'. In his cientific work, he continues to work in the fields of 'comparative genomics' and 'phylogenomics'. Further he also maintains the analysis software 'EDGAR' which is used by scientists worldwide.
Christina Lu
Christina Lu is an AI researcher and technologist based in London. She is a doctoral student of Computer Science at the University of Oxford and formerly a software engineer at Google DeepMind. Her work combines rigorous technical research with speculative philosophy to instantiate a more viable future with synthetic intelligence.
Cécile Malaspina
Cécile Malaspina is the author of An Epistemology of Noise (Bloomsbury, 2018) and principal translator of Gilbert Simondon's On the Mode of Existence of Technical Objects (University of Minnesota Press, 2017). She is directrice de programme at the Collège International de Philosophie, Paris (Ciph) and Visiting Research Fellow at King's College London and at the University of the West of England, where her program for the Ciph is hosted by the departments of Department of French and Philosophy.
Would you like to be a part of the PLANETARY TIMES SUMMER WORKSHOP?
The working session on Day 2 (10:00 – 18:00) is for pre-registered participants only, whereas no registration is required for the other parts.
Register via
panel@planet.uni-giessen.de
for
Day 2
of the workshop by
May 21, 2024 as the number of participants is restricted to 25 people.
The Planetary Workshop Series is an integral part of the
Planetary Scholars and Artists in Residence Program
. Each semester, the visiting scholars and artists prepare a workshop of one or more days with reference to the Fellowship theme and their own focal points. The thematic orientation as well as the organizational design of the workshop are left entirely to the Fellows, and thus the Planetary Workshop Series features exciting content, creative formats, and unusual perspectives.
Here
you can find information on all past events of this series.
Please note that the event will be held entirely in English.
Click
here
to download a PDF version of the event description.
Download the "
wet reader
" to get an insight into Juan Pablo Pacheco's work (participants will receive a print version of the reader during the workshop).
How can we better understand our relationship to the ocean floor, and what can it teach us about our chances for survival? Could a speculative
inhabiting
of the ocean floor open up new insights for the ways in which we relate with our surroundings? In order to address these questions from a coastless city like Giessen, this year’s
Planetary Spaces fellow
Juan Pablo Pacheco
along with Bruno Alves de Almeida have come up with the idea of a
wet workshop
for his residency at the Panel, as an open space to expand how we relate to the multiple bodies of water within and around us. What happens when transdisciplinary conversations unfold
in
water, where our spatial coordinates are shuffled? Through this workshop, Pacheco will intra-act with a river, a lake, a pond, a pool, and an aquarium, through somatic reading and listening exercises and ask: how does water alter our conventional understanding of media, time, and space?
Using the basis of sound as a frequency that vibrates into tissue, we will explore the flesh of bodies as liquid resonator. Contributing to the previous days of research with different bodies of water in Giessen guided by Juan Pablo Pacheco Bejarano, we will dwell for a few hours in the body as water and thus pay attention to the movement that lies within and moves through it. Playful imaginaries and sounding throats will be the material of this part of the workshop.
Catalina Insignares
is a Colombian choreographer and dancer based in Brussels. She’s interested in how to use the sensorial and fictional means of the body and of touch to develop ways to communicate with the invisible. Her practice includes, among others, a duet danced with a participant over a few weeks (us as a useless duet—2015), a night reading addressed to sleeping bodies (useless land—2017), and sensory practices that listen to the connections we have with the dead (landscapes of the dead – 2019; to know the vultures so well—2022). She works always in collaboration and long-term associations for choreography, dramaturgy, teaching and performance. Since 2015, she collaborates with Carolina Mendonça, maintaining close complicity in different manners of working together in: reading groups, telepathic dances, psychic vision sessions, caress and massage populate these encounters. Since 2017, she has been working with Myriam Lefkowitz as a performer as well as in a collaboration that seeks to infiltrate sensory practices in the social and political realities of exiled people (La facultad—2017). From 2019 to 2022 Catalina developed her research as part of DAS THIRD in Amsterdam. Since 2019 she is a co-curator at the Gessnerallee in Zurich, where she developed the festival El Caldo and the curatorial program Discrete.
Would you like to be a part of the PLANETARY SPACES: WET WORKSHOP?
Register via
panel@planet.uni-giessen.de
to the entire program by October 26th.
The Planetary Workshop Series is an integral part of the
Planetary Scholars and Artists in Residence Program
. Each semester, the visiting scholars and artists prepare a workshop of one or more days with reference to the Fellowship theme and their own focal points. The thematic orientation as well as the organizational design of the workshop are left entirely to the Fellows, and thus the Planetary Workshop Series features exciting content, creative formats, and unusual perspectives.
Here
you can find information on all past events of this series.
Click
here
to download a PDF version of the event description.
Please note that the event will be held entirely in English. A digital participation via BigBlueButton will be possible for parts of the workshop. The link will be provided after registration at
panel
.
The workshop “Shrinking Spaces & Toxic Zones” is an urgent call to ‘think planetary’ as it delves into the long term environmental catastrophes of Fukushima nuclear disaster and the shrinking of Lake Chad. Can these spaces be restored to their former state? Do these catastrophes lead to inevitable territorial and mental conflicts? Are there strategies of adaptation available to these realities? What can we learn from more-than-humans about such adaptations?
Thursday, 01.06.2023 | Shrinking Spaces: From Mega-Chad to Lake Chad
From once Mega-Chad to present day Lake Chad, Oladosu explores the development of a shrinking space embodied in its name - an ecological catastrophe exacerbated by climate change that has created conflict in the region over the dwindling sustenance of livelihood.
09:30
Transport from Giessen
11:00
Presentation & Discussion: “Using Earth Observation to Restore Shrinking Planetary Spaces: A Case Study of Lake Chad”
Adenike Oladosu - Hybrid event
14:00
Lecture: “Why is Lake Chad Prone to Conflict and Climate Change?”
Patrick Flamm (Peace Research Institute)
16:00
“Climate Change, Long-term Catastrophe, and Mental Illness”
Adenike Oladosu | Jason Waite | Claudia J. Ford (SUNY, Potsdam)
20:00
Exhibition Opening & Reception
Friday, 02.06.2023 | More-Than-Humans’ Adaptation to Toxicity: From Fukushima to Hessen
As we accelerate toward planetary toxicity, how can we learn from more-than-human adaptations to damaged environments? Waite takes you on an exploration observing the behaviour of the same more-than-human species in Hessen and in the Fukushima Exclusion Zone.
09:00
Film Screening & Discussion: “Understanding More-Than-Humans: Rauischholzhausen to Fukushima”
Jason Waite | Kieran O’Mahony (Czech Academy of Sciences)
The Planetary Workshop Series is an integral part of the
Planetary Scholars and Artists in Residence Program
. Each semester, the visiting scholars and artists prepare a workshop of one or more days with reference to the Fellowship theme and their own focal points. The thematic orientation as well as the organizational design of the workshop are left entirely to the Fellows, and thus the Planetary Workshop Series features exciting content, creative formats, and unusual perspectives.
Here
you can find information on all past events of this series.
A video recording of the lecture "Gaia & Indigenous Knowledge" can be found on our
Youtube-Channel
.
Click
here
to download a PDF version of the event description.
Please note that the event will be held entirely in English.
A digital participation via
BigBlueButton
will be possible for the lecture and the film screening on Thursday, November 10.
According to James Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis (1972), Earth can be conceived as a “self-regulating complex system” or super-organism. If we recognize Earth as ‘Gaia’, ecological connections between humans and the planet become all about being kin, or in relationship with one another. Indigenous ecological knowledge maps onto a cosmology that privileges these kincentric ecological connections. This workshop series reflects on the Gaia hypothesis from an indigenous perspective, to deepen our understanding of planetary materials and their constellations. Understanding the Earth as a cohesive system may help us while trying to create societal responses to environmental challenges.
The workshop series
What Earth is Made Of
connects indigenous knowledge about planetary thinking and planetary materials with the climate crisis. It explores the range of possible shifts in humanity’s environmental knowledge, behaviors and practices. If we think differently about
what the Earth is made of
, will that help us make necessary changes in our environmental behaviors? How can shifts in perspectives help us move towards more sustainable care for ourselves, each other, and the planet?
Exploring these questions through art and science, the four workshops engage participants in storytelling through all of the senses – hands on farm labor, film, creative writing, lectures, listening, dialog and an exhibition of climate change and planetary materials inspired visual art. The arts pay tribute to the methodologies underlying the indigenous knowledge of all peoples, making complex scientific and philosophical topics visible to make them more accessible. The science and art together support the shifts that are needed in our attempts at planetary thinking.
| Community Meal »What’s on Your Plate?« prepared by
14:00
17:00
| Presentations & Discussions: Philipp Weckenbrock, Claudia J. Ford &
Bente Castro-Campos
| Return to Giessen
Agriculture is at the nexus of environment and culture and farming can be the center of healthy, multispecies connections and relationships. There are cultural concepts of soil; soil as soul; social, ecological and inner soils and an understanding of plants and forests as planetary materials, food, networks, archives, and libraries.
Thursday, 10.11.2022 | »Gaia & Indigenous Knowledge« | Seminar Room 315 | University Main Building | Ludwigstrasse 23 | 35390 Giessen | online on
BigBlueButton
14:15
16:15
| James Lovelock Memorial Lecture by Claudia J. Ford
| Film Screening »Inuit Knowledge & Climate Change« and Q&A
| followed by an informal gathering at the Planetary Hub, Liebigstrasse 35
There are multiple and different stories about human longing and responsibility in relationship to ‘nature’. What transpires at the intersection between environmental worldviews and Gaia principles given the cultural diversity that drives human society?
Friday, 11.11.2022 | »Klimatrauer, Gedankenexperiment« | Seminar Room 315 | University Main Building | Ludwigstrasse 23 | 35390 Giessen
10:00
13:30
14:30
| Writing Workshop
| Catered Lunch
| Readings & Final Discussion
Earth’s stories are waiting for us. Can we express our climate grief through our creative arts? The writing workshop will be an opportunity to practice and share creative nonfiction environmental writing using planetary materials as prompts.
Art making and storytelling honor different paradigms of research, knowledge making, and knowledge sharing. The artist’s talk will explain the planetary materials inspiration and studio process behind a visual arts collage exhibit. The artwork will be available for viewing and participation.
Want to be a part of the PLANETARY MATERIALS WORKSHOP?
Registration via
panel@planet.uni-giessen.de
to individual parts or the entire program
[Please register for the farm tour by
October 16th, 2022
]
[Please register for the November program by
November 3rd, 2022
]
Der Künstler Mathias Kessler hat die Veranstaltung mit seiner Kamera begleitet und wird das Material in einem Kurzfilm künstlerisch verarbeiten. Das Ergebnis wird auf
YouTube
verfügbar sein.
Klicken Sie
hier
um eine PDF Version der Event-Beschreibung herunterzuladen.
Das partizipative Kunstwerk Planetary Forest: Bringt den Wald in den Garten nimmt Bezug auf die wissenschaftliche und kulturtechnische Konstruktion von Welten. Platziert auf einer freistehenden Grünfläche neben den neu errichteten Gewächshäusern des Botanischen Gartens wird regionaler Waldboden als Skulptur künstlich nachgebildet. Das planetare Material entstammt einer ökologischen Störungsfläche aus dem vom Waldsterben betroffenen Stadtwald Rosbach vor der Höhe. Der vermeintlich natürliche Wald wird in die menschengemachte Welt des Botanischen Gartens getragen. Dort dient er als ethisches, ästhetisches, ökologisches und politisches Störungselement, das Besucher:innen bezüglich des Waldsterbens und der Künstlichkeit der Natur sensibilisiert. Wie ein Riss in der perfekt konstruierten Realität eröffnet sich hier ein Diskurs über die durch den Klimawandel und menschliches Handeln hervorgerufenen Probleme im heimischen Wald und im planetaren Kontext.
Ein Projekt von Dr. Claudia Hartl, Mathias Kessler und Clemens Finkelstein
Fellows am Panel on Planetary Thinking der Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen
Mit freundlicher Unterstützung des Botanischen Garten Giessen, des Neuen Kunstverein
Giessen e.V. und der Stadt Rosbach vor der Höhe
18. Juni - 2. Juli | »wachsende« Ausstellung @ Neuer Kunstverein Giessen e.V.
Eine über drei Wochen anwachsende Ausstellung dokumentiert die Vorbereitung,
die Ausführung und das projizierte Nachleben des »Planetary Forest« live.
23. Juni | 9 - 17 Uhr | Performative Aktion @ Stadtwald Rosbach v. d. H.
Erzählerischer Walkabout durch den Rosbacher Stadtwald, der Teilnehmer:innen
(Anmeldung via E-mail) mit allen Sinnen in die Komplexität des Waldes einführt.
Anschließend gemeinsames Sammeln von Waldmaterial für die Skulptur.
24. Juni | 12 - 17 Uhr | Kunstinstallation @ Botanischer Garten Giessen
24. Juni | 17 - 19 Uhr | Feierliche Eröffnung @ Botanischer Garten Giessen
Bau der Wald-Skulptur im Botanischen Garten, gemeinsam mit Teilnehmer:innen
der performativen Exkursion im Stadtwald Rosbach v. d. H.
[Botanischer Garten, Senckenbergstr. 6, 35390 Giessen]
25. Juni | 13 - 15 Uhr | Führung @ Botanischer Garten Giessen
25. Juni | 15 Uhr | Ausstellungseröffnung @ Neuer Kunstverein Giessen e.V.
Führung und Vorstellung der Skulptur »Planetary Forest« im Botanischen
Garten und anschließende Eröffnung der begleitenden Ausstellung im Neuen
Kunstverein Giessen e.V. [Licherstr., Nahrungsberg Ecke, 35394 Giessen]
Interesse Teil des partizipativen Kunstwerks zu werden?
Anmeldung via
panel@planet.uni-giessen.de
Transport für eine begrenzte Anzahl von Teilnehmer:innen ab Giessen
[Anmeldeschluss: 22. Juni 2022]
Rückblick: Planetary Materials-Workshopreihe vom 18.10. bis 11.11.2022
James Lovelock Memorial Lecture
Die Workshop-Reihe "
What Earth is Made of
" unserer Gastwissenschaftlerin
Claudia J. Ford
fand dieses Jahr am 18. Oktober und am 10. - 11. November 2022 statt. Die Veranstaltungsreihe reflektierte James Lovelocks Gaia-Hypothese aus einer indigenen Perspektive, mit dem Ziel, unser Verständnis von planetarischen Materialien und ihren Konstellationen durch Kunst und Wissenschaft zu vertiefen. Dabei verknüpften die Veranstaltungen indigene Vorstellungen von Ökologie mit der Klimakrise und bezogen die Teilnehmer:innen mit allen Sinnen ein – etwa durch praktische Arbeit auf einem ökologische Bauernhof, einem gemeinsamen Filmscreening, in kreativem Schreiben, sowie durch Vorträge und Dialoge und zuletzt eine Ausstellung mit visueller Kunst, die vom Klimawandel und planetaren Materialien inspiriert wurde.
Die Workshopreihe begann am 18. Oktober mit einer Exkursion zum
Gladbacherhof
der JLU. Im Mittelpunkt stand eine der grundlegendsten Beziehungen zwischen Mensch und Umwelt - die Lebensmittelproduktion und Ernährung.
Am 10. November hielt Ford zunächst eine anregende Hybridvorlesung über indigenes Wissen und die Gaia-Hypothese. Der Vortrag erinnerte an James Lovelock (1919 - 2022), der in den 1970er Jahren zusammen mit Lynn Margulis (1938 - 2011) die Gaia-Hypothese formulierte. Ford erinnerte daran, dass die Erde ein Lebewesen ist, das sich in einem empfindlichen Zustand des Gleichgewichts und der Harmonie befindet und zu dessen Wohlergehen wir alle verpflichtet sind. Sie würdigte auch den französischen Philosophen und Anthropologen Bruno Latour (1947 - 2022), dessen Ideen in sehr vielen Punkten mit Lovelocks Gaia-Theorie übereinstimmen. Ford wies darauf hin, dass diese geschätzten Denker es versäumt hätten, darauf hinzuweisen, dass ihre Vorstellungen von der Erde als einem globalen, in sich abhängigen System gar nicht so neu seien. Schon Jahrtausende vor Lovelocks Überlegungen haben indigene Denker:innen und Geschichtenerzähler:innen darüber nachgedacht, wie die Erde als lebendiges, selbstbewusstes System zu Rückkopplung und Selbstkorrektur fähig sein könnte, insbesondere bei der Selbstregulierung des Klimas.
Ford betonte, dass angesichts der aktuellen Klimakrise die Geschichten, die wir über die "Natur" erzählen, von globalen zu planetaren Vorstellungen wechseln müssen. Um dies zu erreichen, rief sie dazu auf, das bereits vorhandene indigene Wissen in der westlichen Wissenschaft anzuerkennen und zu nutzen, da es alternative Paradigmen bietet, die wirklich transdisziplinär sind. Die umfangreiche Bibliographie, die sie für ihren Vortrag recherchiert hat, finden Sie
hier
.
Im Anschluss an den Vortrag wurde der Dokumentarfilm "
Inuit Knowledge & Climate Change
" (2010) gezeigt, der erste Film in Inuktitut-Sprache unter der Regie von Zacharias Kunuk und Ian Mauro. Der Film nahm die Zuschauer mit auf eine Reise mit den Ältesten und Jägern der Inuit und erforschte dabei die sozialen und ökologischen Auswirkungen der Erwärmung der Arktis. Der Tag endete mit einem informellen Beisammensein im Planetary Hub, wo das Gremium und die Gäste den Abend mit veganem Fingerfood und angenehmen Gesprächen ausklingen ließen.
Am 11. November führte Ford einen Schreibworkshop durch, um Klimatrauer durch Kunst Ausdruck zu verleihen. Die Teilnehmer:innen bekamen die Gelegenheit, sich in kreativem nicht-fiktionalen Schreiben über ihren Umgang mit dem Gefühl der Klimatrauer zu versuchen. Dabei konnten sie unter Anderem Materialien aus ihrer unmittelbaren Umgebung als Anregung nutzten. Anschließend erhielten die Teilnehmenden die Möglichkeit, ihre Texte vorzutragen.
Am Abend fand die Workshop-Reihe mit einer feierlichen Eröffnung der Ausstellung "Planetary Origin Stories" ihren Abschluss. Im
MAGIE - Makerspace Gießen
wurde Collagen gezeigt, die Ford während ihres Aufenthalts am Panel erstellt hatte.
Mehr Impulse
eröffnete den Empfang mit einem Konzert, danach erläuterte Ford in einem Künstlergespräch ihre Inspiration für die Ausstellung. Diese war eng mit dem Thema der Umweltzerstörung und der Klimakatastrophe verwoben – Entwicklungen, die zumeist als unangenehm empfunden werden. Dagegen zollte die Eleganz und Raffinesse von Fords Werken den Farben, Formen und Gestalten der natürlichen Welt Tribut und ihre Werke erzählten von unserer kollektiven Verantwortung, die Schönheit und die Ressourcen der Erde zu schützen.
Unser aufrichtiger Dank gilt Claudia für die Konzeption dieses vielseitigen Programms, ebenso wie unseren begeisterten Teilnehmer:innen und Johannes und dem Team des
Makerspace Gießen
für ihre Unterstützung, die diese Workshop-Reihe gemeinsam zu einem großen Erfolg gemacht haben!
Claudia Fords Artist Talk zur Eröffnung der Vernissage Planetary Origin Stories
10. und 11. November 2022: "Narratives of Environmental Knowledge in the Anthropocene" & "Sacred Feminine Birthing the New" - Gastbeiträge zu "What Earth Is Made Of"
Wir freuen uns Dr. Ayşe Dayı (Founder & Director, Orca Dreams: Platform for Mindful Living) und Dr. Matthias Klestil (Universität Klagenfurt) im Rahmen unserer
Planetary Materials Workshop-Serie
„What Earth is Made Of” als Respondenten begrüßen zu dürfen.
Matthias Klestils
Kurzbeitrag zum Thema "Narratives of Environmental Knowledge in the Anthropocene” am 10.11. (14:15 Uhr) antwortete auf Claudia J. Fords James Lovelock Memorial Lecture und eröffnete so die Diskussion unter den Teilnehmenden.
Er ist derzeit Postdoc am Institut für Amerikanistik an der Universität Klagenfurt in Österreich. Er promovierte an der Universität Bayreuth, und war Bavarian Fellow an der Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. In seiner Dissertation untersuchte er das Zusammenspiel von Mensch und Natur und betrachtete afroamerikanische Texte aus einer ökokritischen Perspektive. Klestils erstes Buch
Environmental Knowledge, Race, and African American Literature
erscheint demnächst bei Palgrave Macmillan (2023); zu seinen jüngsten Veröffentlichungen gehören wissenschaftliche Artikel über Colson Whitehead und die Kurzgeschichten von Ted Chiang. Klestils derzeitiges Forschungsprojekt konzentriert sich auf Erzähltheorie, das Anthropozän und zeitgenössische nordamerikanische Belletristik und Filme.
Dr. Ayşe Dayı
s Beitrag "Sacred Feminine Birthing the New“ antwortete im Zuge der Vernissage zur Ausstellung "Planetary Origin Stories" (11.11., 17:30 Uhr) auf Claudia Fords Artist’s Talk.
Sie ist Psychologin, medizinische Soziologin, Heilerin und Achtsamkeitstrainerin. Nach ihrer Promotion an der Penn State University arbeitete Ayşe Dayı über 15 Jahre lang an Universitäten in den USA, der Türkei, Frankreich, der Schweiz und Deutschland, wo sie über die Rechte der Frauen im Bereich der sexuellen und reproduktiven Gesundheit lehrte und forschte. Ihre jüngste Veröffentlichung ist das Buch
"
The Politics of the Female Body in Contemporary Turkey Reproduction, Maternity, Sexuality
", das sie gemeinsam mit Dr. Alkan, Yarar und Topçu herausgegeben hat (2021, IB Tauris). Im Jahr 2020 gründete Ayşe Orca Dreams: Platform for Mindful Living (
www.orca-dreams.com
), wo sie Einzelpersonen und Organisationen auf der ganzen Welt Bildung und Beratung zu ganzheitlicher Gesundheit und Achtsamkeit anbietet. In dieser Plattform verbindet Ayşe ihr akademisches und aktivistisches Wissen über Gesundheit mit ihrem Wissen und ihrer Praxis der Achtsamkeit, um Einzelpersonen, Gruppen und Institutionen durch den großen Bewusstseinswandel zu unterstützen, den GAIA und wir selbst erleben. Sie wird einen Frauenheilkreis "
Remembering & Honoring my Sacred Feminine
" im Februar-März 2023 an der VHS-Mitte, Berlin, leiten.
Am 18.10 fand die Kickoff-Veranstaltung für die Workshop-Series “
What Earth is made of?
” unseres Fellows Claudia Ford statt. Die Veranstaltungsreihe verbindet verschiedene Perspektiven aus angewandten Bereichen, der Wissenschaft und der Kunst in einem Versuch, unser Verhältnis zur Erde und ihren Materialitäten neu zu denken. Im ersten Workshop lag der Fokus auf einer der fundamentalsten Beziehungen zwischen Mensch und Umwelt - die der Nahrungsproduktion und der Ernährung. Dazu führte uns unsere Exkursion auf den
Gladbacherhof
, der Ökolandwirtschaft und Forschung verbindet: auf dem produktiv wirtschaftenden Ökolandbaubetrieb wird in Kooperation mit der JLU Forschung betrieben, um Ökolandbau neu zu denken und zukunftsfähige Konzepte zu entwickeln.
Der Tag startete mit einer Tour durch den neu erbauten Milchviehversuchsstall. Mit Hilfe eines Melkroboters und eines vollautomatischen Fütterungs- und Reinigungssystem erforschen die Mitarbeiter:innen des
Green Dairy Projekts
wie Klimagasemissionen im Ökolandbau reduziert, und das Maß an Selbstbestimmung und Bewegungsfreiheit der Tiere dabei gesteigert werden kann.
Nach einem mit hofeigenen Produkten durch
Veganatural
zubereiteten Mittagessen wurde sich in wissenschaftlichen Vorträgen mit diversen Themen auseinandergesetzt. Neben Überlegungen zu Entscheidungskriterien für Landwirte im Umgang mit nachhaltigen Technologien wurden auch neue Ansätze in der Agroforstwirtschaft und ein Plädoyer für mehr Fürsorge in der Landwirtschaft im Sinne des 'Biodynamic Farming' diskutiert. Auch fand eine Führung durch die sich vor Ort befindlichen Laborräume statt.
Zuletzt durften die Teilnehmer:innen die im Vortrag vorgestellten Techniken der
Agroforstwirtschaft
in Anwendung betrachten. Philipp Weckenbrock stellte der Gruppe das Agroforstprojekt des Hofes vor und erklärte im Detail, wie dabei über bestimmte Pflanzungsstrategien versucht wird, mehrere Ebenen der Nahrungsmittelproduktion in einem zusammenhängenden System anzuordnen. In den Versuchaufbauten des Hofes wird dabei konkret die Produktivität von Mischsystemen zwischen Bäumen und klassischen landwirtschaftlichen Kulturen wie z.B. Getreide oder Kartoffeln untersucht. Obwohl sie in der Praxis bisher wenig Anwendung finden, versprechen Agroforstsysteme einige Vorteile, beispielsweise eine stärkere Resilienz und Widerstandsfähigkeit gegenüber klimatischen Veränderungen, Erosion und eine erhöhte Wasserspeicherkapazität des Bodens.
Die Exkursion erlaubte uns vertiefende Einblicke in eine faszinierende Verbindung von Forschung und landwirtschaftlicher Praxis im Ökolandbau.
18. Oktober und 10. - 11. November 2022: Planetary Materials Workshop "What Earth is Made of"
Am 18. Oktober sowie am 10. und 11. November findet die Workshop-Reihe von Planetary-Material-Fellow
Claudia J. Ford
statt. Ford fokussiert in ihrer Arbeit unsere Beziehung zu planetaren Materialen. Als Wissenschaftlerin und Künstlerin ist es Ford wichtig, die eigene Beziehung zur Erde für die Teilnehmenden mit allen Sinnen erfahrbar zu machen. Entsprechend bildet den Auftakt der Reihe der Ausflug zum
Gladbacherhof
am 18. Oktober. Hier wird mit landwirtschaftlicher Arbeit die Beziehung zu unserer Nahrung und ihrer Herstellung in den Mittelpunkt gestellt. Die Veranstaltungen am 10. und 11. November erweitern den Fokus und lenken den Blick auf das Erfahren der eigenen Beziehung zur Natur im Kontext der Gesellschaft und der aktuellen Klimakrise. Welche Rolle können James Lovelock's Gaia Theorie und ein relationales Verständnis unserer Erde in diesem Gefüge spielen? Neben der Erkundung wissenschaftlicher Aspekte in einem Vortrag und einer Filmvorführung, werden die Teilnehmenden auch eingeladen sich in einem Schreibworkshop zu Klimatrauer und einer Vernissage mit Collagen zum Thema "Planetary Materials" kreativ mit der Fragestellung auseinanderzusetzen. Wir laden alle Interessierten herzlich ein, bei einer oder mehreren Veranstaltungen des spannenden Programms dabei zu sein.
Hier
finden Sie weitere Informationen zu den einzelnen Veranstaltungen und der Anmeldung.
Poster: What Earth is Made of
23.-25. Juni 2022 - "Planetary Forest - Bringt den Wald in den Garten": Workshop, Vernissage und begleitende Ausstellung
Den Höhepunkt des ersten Jahrgangs im
Planetary Scholars and Artists in Residence
Programms bildete vom 23.-25. Juni 2022 die performative Aktion
„Planetary Forest: Bringt den Wald in den Garten“
. Die ersten Fellows,
Claudia Hartl, Clemens Finkelstein und Mathias Kessler
, näherten sich in diesem Semester aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven dem Thema „Planetary Materials“. Als integraler Bestandteil der Bäume und somit des Waldes, wurde Holz dabei zum planetaren Fokusmaterial des Semesters sowie zum zentralen Leitmotiv für den Planetary Workshop: Angeleitet durch die Fellows, erkundete eine bunt gemischte Kleingruppe am Donnerstagmorgen im Rosbacher Stadtwald die planetare Dimension von Mensch-Wald-Klima Interaktionen. Clemens Finkelstein bot mit einer historischen und sozio-kulturellen Perspektive interessante Einblicke in die Nutzungsgeschichte des Bestandes und die Beziehung der Menschen zu „ihrem Wald“. Claudia Hartl konnte den Teilnehmenden eine klimatologische und dendrochronologische Sichtweise näherbringen: Sie demonstrierte die Entnahme eines Bohrkernes und nutzte die Probe um das weite Feld der Jahrringforschung und die komplexen Zusammenhänge zwischen Waldgesundheit und Klima zu erläutern.
Neben der Wissensvermittlung bildete auch das Erfahren des Waldes und der Austausch in und mit der Gruppe einen zentralen Bestandteil des Tages. So bereicherten u.a. ein Mitglied des BUND-Ortsverband, eine Expertin für Hydrogeologie, ein Mitarbeiter des Fuhrparks der JLU, verschiedene KollegInnen des Fachbereichs 09, und zeitweise sogar der Rosbacher Bürgermeister Steffen Maar den Workshop. Letzterer stand für Fragen zur Verfügung und erklärte die Hintergründe der Störungsfläche sowie die geplanten forstlichen Maßnahmen. Im Anschluss sammelten alle Anwesenden Waldmaterial für die von Mathias Kessler geplante lebendige Skulptur: Streu, Totholz, Oberboden, Wurzeln und auch der ein oder andere Keimling fanden den Weg in den Anhänger. Mathias Kessler begleitete den Ausflug zudem mit seiner Kamera und wird die Aufnahmen in einem Kurzfilm künstlerisch verarbeiten – in Kürze verfügbar auf unserem
YouTube-Channel
.
Am darauffolgenden Tag gestalteten die Fellows die lebendige Skulptur als Abbild eines Wald-Lebensraumes im Botanischen Garten. Das eingezäunte Stück forstliche Störungsfläche bleibt vorerst für drei Jahre unangetastet und seine Entwicklung wird erwartungsvoll beobachtet: Hält der Wald Einzug in den Garten, erobert der Garten die Fläche zurück oder passiert vielleicht erst einmal gar nichts? Die Skulptur wurde in dem feierlichen Rahmen einer Vernissage mit Catering und Live-Musik eröffnet, zu welcher wir auch den Präsidenten der JLU, Prof. Dr. Joybrato Mukherjee, begrüßen durften. In einem darauffolgenden
Beitrag
pries die
Gießener Allgemeine
die Aktion für ihren Charakter als planetaren Denkanstoß. Wir laden Sie alle herzlich dazu ein, das lebendige Kunstwerk zu besuchen und datierte Fotos an
panel
zu senden. Machen Sie sich selbst ein Bild vom Rosbacher Stadtwald im Botanischen Garten Gießen!
Zwei Wochen lang zeigte der Neue Kunstverein Gießen e.V. in seinen Räumlichkeiten zudem eine begleitende Ausstellung, welche die Arbeit der drei Fellows am Panel on Planetary Thinking dokumentierte. Zu sehen waren u.a.
Line Drawings
und
„Das Eismeer – die gescheiterte Hoffnung“
von Mathias Kessler,
Vibrascapes
von Clemens Finkelstein und Dendro-Art von Claudia Hartl.
