07.05.2024, 6:15-7:45pm GEO1, R.323(hybrid),
08.05, 10-12am (Workshop, R.323)

Cornelia Steinhäuser (Department of Landscape Ecology, Uni Münster),
Mayra Rojo Gomez (artist and interdisciplinary researcher, Mexico):

Shifting boundaries: exploring approaches in a  more-than-human world

Our times are characterized by velocity and efficiency, immersed in evanescent relationships. It is urgent to pause and imagine a present-future towards interdependence as a way of inhabiting the world. In our talk, we explore how incorporating affective and aesthetic interdependencies can enrich academic and artistic work. To do this, we reinterpret figures such as Humboldt, Lenkersdorf, Latour, Haraway, and Abram. We question to what extent the more-than-human world is included in knowledge generation and the importance of considering intersubjective aspects in interdisciplinary research. We discuss our empirical experiences with concepts like "nosotrificación" in Mexico and "pachamama" in the Argentine Andes, emphasizing the importance of cultural interaction for creating symbolic repertoires that facilitate the reactivation of non-Western and non-human imaginations. We advocate for recognizing changing boundaries in research practices in art and science, and we invite sharing tensions and convergences between these fields as a strategy.

Workshop: "Shifting boundaries: exploring approaches in a  more-than-human world"

From our experience of resonating together from our conditions as hybrids between the Latin American and European, arts and sciences, we decided to undertake this adventure to be part of the lecture Series Interdependencies. During the workshop, building upon our discussion from the previous day, we will ask questions like: How do we engage in interdisciplinary and interspecies dialogue? Do we really need a common language? How should I speak so that it doesn't seem like a concept from a practice or field of knowledge belongs to me? How can we create effective mechanisms for communities of learning and listening? How do our interdisciplinary experiences bring nuances within our research collaborations? What are the changes or emplacements that arise when considering and practicing ways of learning together as scientists and artists?