In Progress… | Colloquium

Art Laboratory Berlin is delighted to invite you to take part in our new discursive format – a colloquium on research in art, science and humanities, curated by Regine Rapp (next to our new Reading Club, curated by Tuçe Erel).

The Colloquium addresses an international interdisciplinary research audience to present and discuss past, present or future projects by artists and scholars, curators or editors from the fields of art, science and the humanities. The topics could refer to an art project, a book, text or chapter, a research or exhibition project, a lab experiment, a lecture series, a conference concept or other.

The presentations and exchange will focus on the work-in-progress. Methodological approaches – theoretical or practical – are also of great interest here. While researching, we often tend to shift between practical inquiry and theoretical research, browsing various disciplines. Following the original meaning of colloquium as “speaking together”, we want to provide a platform for exchange and embrace various kinds of work processes which are often not seen or talked about.

Structure of the sessions: Each session will include two presentations followed by discussions, altogether 90 min. The colloquium welcomes informal conversations amongst the participants.

Speakers on 12 April Session

Fara Peluso | Art and design based research with Algae

Fara Peluso is an artist and designer based in Berlin working at the interconnection between design, art and science. Through a speculative design practice she wants to raise critical questions about which possible relationships between human beings and living organisms can be envisioned for near possible futures. After the successful eradication of the concept that the human being is the most important living organism on earth, she wants to contribute to cancelling the hierarchies between us and nature, to become more conscious and participative with ecological systems. She is a founding member of the Berlin art science research collective DIY Hack the Panke.

In the Colloquium she will elaborate on her process-oriented research practice with Algae and co-existence from an artist’s and designer’s perspective.

James Whitehead | Quantifying Urbanity

James Whitehead is an ecologist investigating the microbial soil communities inhabiting Berlin’s grasslands. Currently working as a PhD candidate at the Freie Universität Berlin (Rillig Lab | Plant Ecologies), he uses a variety of techniques to explore microbial community composition and the impacts this has on soil properties. These techniques range from molecular analysis, to measuring properties such as the stability of aggregates, the building blocks of soils. He is a member of the Berlin art science research collective DIY Hack the Panke.

In the colloquium James Whitehead will discuss the technique he uses to quantify urbanity, despite its apparently qualitative nature, and discuss his most recent paper where he observed shifts in the intimate symbiotic relationships between plants and fungi across an urban landscape.