GMU:PostCompost

Projektmodul
Lecturer(s): M.F.A. Christian Doeller, Dr. Klaus Fritze
Credits: 16 SWS
Date: Thursdays 13:30 - 18:00
Venue: Room 204 / EOW site in Oberweimar
First meeting: 20.04.2023, 13:30, Room 204

Description:

What happens when an area enters a state of self-abandonment, the boundaries and frameworks collapse, cultures go wild? What processes of decay and growth follow the loss of control and how can we position ourselves and develop empathy?

In the project module »PostCompost« we dedicate ourselves to the ecosystem of an industrial wasteland, which is currently in the process of renaturation / succession, and investigate its conditions, layers and possible developments.

Students from different disciplines form an artistic research group that sets out on a speculative expedition through the area of the former EOW site in Oberweimar. We draw inspiration from the approaches of various scientific disciplines, incorporate them into our own experiments, and subject them to critical reflection. We focus on documenting the existing as well as on new processes of development and growth. We test digital and analog techniques of viewing, listening, making visible, collecting, digging, monitoring, archiving, ordering, identifying, linking, interpreting, transforming and extrapolating. We do not see ourselves as external observers, but as empathetic co-creators and actors of the ecosystem. Our goal is the fragmentary description and development of a place on different temporal levels, where »natural« processes and the legacies of »human civilization processes« directly confront each other.

Our weekly meetings take place mainly on the site of the former EOW complex in Oberweimar. Here we offer introductions to strategies and techniques from the fields of biology and DIY electronics / data processing. We deal with relevant artistic and theoretical positions as well as with the historical context of the site. Field trips and workshops are planned, results of the project module will be presented in the context of Summaery 2023.

Students from all disciplines are welcome. Prerequisites for participation are an interest in working outdoors and a willingness to engage with the site outside of weekly meetings. No prior technical experience is necessary.

Please send applications with a short motivation letter (4-5 sentences) by mail to christian.doeller@uni-weimar.de.

Participants / Working Groups

• NAME / DESCRIPTION
• NAME / DESCRIPTION
• NAME / DESCRIPTION
• NAME / DESCRIPTION

Artists / Links:

• Zheng Bo
• Futurefarmers
• Hicham Berrada
• Agnes Denes
• Kyriaki Goni
• Lois Weinberger
• Ingo Vetter
• Peter Hutchinson
• Hieronimus Bosch
• Mel Chin
• David Hahlbrock

Schedule:

April 20 – introduction

- remote investigation of the site

- first growth experiment

April 27 – EOW Nr. I

- getting in touch with the site / phenomena

- first experiments / perception exercises

• GROUP EXPERIMENT 1
• GROUP EXPERIMENT 2
• GROUP EXPERIMENT 3
• GROUP EXPERIMENT 4

May 04 – Infrastructures

- first presentations

- practical framework: tools and methods

- research structure, group strcuture

Literature:

Theory

• Gilles Clement: Garten, Landschaft und das Genie der Natur (ISBN 978-3-95757-025-3)
• Eva Horn, Hannes Bergthaller: Anthropozän zur Einführung (ISBN 978-3-96060-311-5)
• Snaebjörnsdottir, Wilson, Sanders: Beyond Plant Blindness (ISBN ‎ 978-3962160012)
• Jennifer Gabrys: How to do Things with Sensors (ISBN 978-1-5179-0831-7)
• Jennifer Gabrys: Program Earth (ISBN 978-0-8166-9314-6)
• Bruno Latour: Circulating Reference (LINK )

Art

• Friedrich von Borries, Hiller, Renfordt: Klima Kunst Forschung (ISBN 978-3883962993)
• Ursula Damm, Mindaugas Gapsevicius: Shared Habitats (ISBN 978-3-8376-5647-3)
• Bruno Latour, Peter Weibel: Critical Zones (ISBN 978-0262044455)
• Dr. Stephanie Rosenthal: Garten der irdischen Freuden (ISBN 9788836644544)

Science

• Tim Kaysers: Phyto For Future - Mit Pflanzen aus der Klimakrise (ISBN 978-3-96317-291-5)
• Kosmos: Was blüht denn da (ISBN 978-3440170731)
• R. Wall-Kimmerer: Gathering Moss (ISBN 978-0870714993)
• Tompkins: Das geheime Leben der Pflanzen (ISBN 978-3596702565)
• J. C. Bose: Die Pflanzenschrift und ihre Offenbarungen
• Ronald/Adamchak: Tomorrow's Table (ISBN 978-0195301755)

Topics:

Electronics & Biology:

• Arduino & ESP32
• Connecting and reading different sensors
• LoRa communication
• data visualization (online)
• categorization of plants
• growth experiments
• climate chamber

Art & Thinking:

• Contemporary (media) art positions that relate to the subject matter
• Sensors as interfaces between beings and their environments
• perceptual awareness and sensors as magnifying glasses of everyday processes
• Strategies in working with sensor technologies and input/output systems
• Relations between the physical and the digital

Criteria for passing:

• experiment, attend the classes and develop your own experiments relating to the topic
• get involved with the research site on a regular basis - also outside of seminar meetings
• document your process on the wiki (solo or group), presentation at Summaery 2023