09. September 2021 / 00:00 — 00:00
The Ungovernable Structure
with HONF (House of Natural Fiber) → ENBW-Terrain ↗︎
We humans are never alone in this world. As we realize that we are only guests along with other guests – how can we live together, how can we know and respect each other? Within the practice of designing with the living, the project creates and builds an architectural infrastructure by using living organisms, as they respond to the existing built environment in Stuttgart. Following the forces of nature, the structure itself will be speculative, as it accepts that living organisms create and shape their own territory. The speculative design of the sustainable system draws on the biophilic design methodology, derived from the philosophical term ‘Biophilia’–a compound Greek word: 'Bio' = Life, 'Philia' = Love. The concept, advocated by Erich Fromm and well-known by Edward Wilson in his book Biophilia, suggests that humans have an innate tendency, transcribed in their DNA, to love any living creature and to seek connection with nature. How could designing together with living systems become the necessary change in the context of current environmental and ecological challenges? How can the agency of cell fragments relate to macroscopic dynamics of power in contemporary biopolitics? The Ungovernable Structure is indeed utopian in that it considers the best, both in humans and other living organisms, such as algae, mycelium and microbes and their potential for rising to global challenges. Understanding 'ungovernable' as 'hard to control' also reflects the pandemic situation: is it humans – or other species that are ungovernable?
The Ungovernable Structure is at once, a speculative research, an installation project and a radical design approach by the artist collective HONF, based on emerging technologies and living organisms. As an open research project rooted in principles of DIY & DIWO (Do It Yourself & Do It With Others) the resulting insights are open-source, and freely accessible for further development and adaptation by anyone interested.
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Installation
09. – 19.09.2021 / continous
Location: will be announced shortly