On March 22, 2024, Berlin Kunstgewerbemuseum will launch a new discursive platform with pop-up exhibitions, lectures, workshops and discussion panels to address the complex concept of “More Than Human” from the perspective of design disciplines. The project starts on March 22, 2024 with an international symposium and will continue until 2025.
Image above: IMAGINE – CORAL REEF – REGENERATIVE DESIGN, Test construction of the coral structure, ©IDRV
“More Than Human” encompasses a spectrum of transdisciplinary theories and approaches in which conventional anthropocentric perspectives are questioned and a paradigm shift towards a more intensive connection between humans and the environment is called for. The American feminist scientist Donna Haraway introduced the term “natureculture” into the discourse to point out the existing interconnections between human and non-human species on our planet. The abolition of the boundaries between nature and culture also requires new ways of thinking in terms of power and agency, difference and community, atmospheres and epistemology.
The project starts on March 22, 2024 with the symposium “Multispecies Engagement. Curated by Claudia Banz in cooperation with Lynn Harles. Non Human Beings as Clients of Design?”, in which international researchers and designers present the topic from the perspective of design, anthropology and the natural sciences using best practice examples. The aim is to examine possible application potential for an inclusive, post-anthropocentric future design, ranging from the deep sea to urban space to virtual environments. In a workshop of the same name on Saturday, March 23, 2024 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., participants are invited to collect and discuss ideas and approaches for “More Than Human” transformation processes. Participation in both formats is free of charge; registration is required for the workshop.
On Friday, April 26, 2024, the special exhibition “IMAGINE: Coral Reef. Regenerative Design“, curated by the Institute of Design Research Vienna and sponsored by the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, will open at the Kunstgewerbemuseum. Regenerative Design”. The experimental design exhibition focuses on the search for a new orientation for design in a world characterized by numerous crises. The complex coral ecosystems, which are home to a fascinating diversity of species, serve as a metaphor. These “rainforests of the oceans” are under increasing pressure from man-made climate change, threatening to disappear in the near future. The exhibition attempts to transfer the logic of nature to design processes and thus establish guidelines for regenerative design. The aim of the project is to show spaces of possibility that lead us from an extractive, degenerative culture to one in which we see ourselves as part of nature and share its creative principles.
On May 30 and 31, 2024, a multi-part event entitled “Transitioning through Transformative Cycles & Regenerative Connections. Fungal Mycelium in Design, Architecture, Art & Beyond“, a multi-part event curated by Maurizio Montalti (Officina Corpuscoli) will take place, consisting of a lecture, a panel discussion and a workshop. It will focus on shaping a future of coexistence between all species and ecosystems. This will be achieved in particular by immersing ourselves in the realm of fungi in order to learn about the many possibilities that arise from active interdependence and cooperation with microbial partners. Much can be learned from fungi and the regenerative processes they initiate for the urgently needed paradigm shift in the sense of a “culture of nature”.
Opening on July 12, 2024, the exhibition “Matters of South. Biomaterial Cultures from Latin America“, which opens on July 12, 2024 and is being organized by Heidi Jalkh, Gisela Pozzetti and Valentina Aliaga, examines how biomaterial initiatives in this region use local cultures and their biodiversity to (re)create new material cultures. This project asks how our relationship with the immediate environment can be reshaped and what alternatives to the established extractivist model can be developed. At the center is the Biomaterial Archive, an installation with samples and an interactive map that illustrates the diverse landscape of Latin American biomaterials. This archive is the result of the interdisciplinary collaboration of an independent network as a kind of knowledge repository and aims to document and present projects, groups and individuals that deal with biomaterials and bioproduction processes throughout Latin America.
Parallel to these pop-up exhibitions, the Kunstgewerbemuseum’s collection will be re-examined in the context of the “More Than Human” discourse. The result is a speculative cabinet of curiosities (Wunderkammer) that creates a new dialog between collection objects and exhibits from other collections as well as current research objects by contemporary designers and artefacts by other actors.
“More Than Human. Design after the Anthropocene” is curated by Claudia Banz, curator at the Kunstgewerbemuseum. The project is designed as a process that develops in exchange and collaboration with international actors from transdisciplinary contexts and will materialize in various formats at the Kunstgewerbemuseum until 2025.
WHEN?
from March 22, 2024
Opening hours:
Tue-Fri 10 am – 6 pm
Sat-Sun 11 am – 6 pm
Mo closed
Opening symposium: Friday, March 22, 2024, 1 – 7 p.m.
WHERE?
Kulturforum, Kunstgewerbemuseum
Matthäikirchplatz,
10785 Berlin
