Ecotone

In this episode hosted by computational designer Shankar Saanthakumar (ximulacra.com), we speak with Refik Anadol, an artist who transforms vast data sets from a variety of sources into immersive, hallucinatory video installations. In this way, he does alchemy with vital but sometimes-dry information sources such as climate projections or medical data, transmuting them into overwhelming and evocative aesthetic experiences. These works the suggest intelligent and malleable architectures that resonate with the liquid structure of dreams, memories, and imagination.

In many cultures, ritual ceremonies transmit knowledge about human relationships with the natural world through socially and spiritually important communal experiences. In the context of climate crisis, artists are developing new rituals to contribute to the development of more reciprocal and respectful ecological relationships. We spoke with three fascinating artists about the rituals they've developed.

Freyja Sewell (ig @freyjasewell) has adapted her product design and furniture making skills to the development of an immersive biophilic ceremony.

Ioana Man (ig @ioana_man) is working with metagenomics to visualise the urban microbiome and propose infrastructure for microbial and human health alike.

As part of her PhD at SymbioticA at the University of Western Australia, WhiteFeather Hunter (ig @whitefeather.hunter) is growing cultured meat from her own menstrual blood, bringing symbols and practices from witchcraft into the molecular biology lab.

WhiteFeather's call for papers:
http://aaanz.info/aaanz-home/conferences/2021-conference-impact/call-for-papers/#htoc-feminist-collaborations-across-arts-and-bioscience-technologies

Ioana's project at the Design Museum https://designersinresidence.designmuseum.org/ioana-man

What can Cuba teach us about local food systems? What do WW2 and Climate Change have in common? Urban Agroecology expert Laney Siegner explains how urban farming can promote food justice, build resilient communities and support local biodiversity, encouraging us all to take a more active hand in how the food we eat ends up on our tables.

Animation auteur Hayao Miyazaki has produced timeless masterpieces at Studio Ghibli, featuring gorgeous fantastical worlds and complex characters. We discuss three of these films which have a particular focus on the relationship between human civilization and the environment.

In Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, an agrarian society on the border of a toxic jungle is invaded by a violent industrial civilization bent on destroying the jungle. In Princess Mononoke, a young woman defends a magical forest from the encroachment of Iron Town's clear-cutting and mining. And then in Laputa / Castle in the Sky a floating city provides an example of a harmonious technologically-augmented nature - but is it a utopia or a cautionary tale?

Host Charlie Boyd is joined by designers Aurora Li and Shankar Saanthakumar (studiowavy.com) to explore these worlds and the lessons embedded within.

Tiny organisms all around and inside us are influencing who we love, how we think, what we eat and much more. We get to the bottom of how and why with ecologist Jake Robinson (@_jake_robinson), and explore how we can work in harmony with them to design healthier cities.

This episode written and Produced by Charles Boyd and Timothée Ryan. Charlie is developing materials that can host life in the built environment. Timothée is working towards ecological architectures with carbon-negative and microbially-active materials.