lecture:

Living Tower Talk #2

So much to learn. So much time.

23 Jun 2023

What can we learn from a mycelium pigeon tower? How can the interaction with other species reshape our perspectives?

In the spring of 2020 Arne Hendriks started building pigeon towers with living waste mycelium from an oyster mushroom farm. Since then they’ve lived, prospered and died within Amsterdam’s urban space. They’ve become part of the local ecology around Mediamatic, inviting both human and non-human life into its entangled networks.

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Living Tower Talks S4E2 -

Living Tower Talk 

The Living Tower Talk, co-curated by Arne Hendriks and Clemens Driessen, is an event taking place once a month intended to bring people together to explore what can be learned from mycelium-pigeon-towers, and more generally from other-than-human beings. Guest of this second episode: Debra Solomon

The initiative aims to foster collaborative learning and encourage innovative thinking that goes beyond conventional perceptions. What makes it particularly intriguing is that there is no predetermined outcome- rather, we chart our course together as we embark on a journey of discovery. 

We discuss our findings and insights in a circle, creating a space for open dialogue and collaboration while enjoing a tasty mushroom-based dish, straightly harvested from the towers around Mediamatic's Biotoop.  

Join us, and let's expand our horizons together.

 

The 100 Years of Learning Masterclass 

The Living Tower Talk is a thrilling segment of the 100 Years of Learning Masterclass led by artist Arne Hendriks. His goal? To turn Mycelium Pigeon Towers into teachers that we can learn from. You'll enjoy practical workshops, thought-provoking round table discussions, and even some fun gentle discos as we immerse ourselves in an exciting new culture of compassion and understanding. This journey may span a century, but it is a journey worth embarking upon, at our own pace. Along the way, be prepared to be surprised and enriched beyond your imagination! 

Information

Friday 23th of June

Full price (inc. meal) 11,00€

Student (inc. meal) 7,50€

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Arne Hendriks is guiding the pigeon tower project. He is an artist and researcher on human ecology, who explores the borders of specific cultural values that define our relationship with the planet. His projects include The Incredible Shrinking Man, that questions if it's possible to downsize the human species to better fit the earth and Fatberg, the building of an island made of fat. As a regular Mediamatic collaborator, he directed several projects to draw attention to our (sometimes twisted) relation with the planet and its resources, like Kool Abundance, The Starvation Experiment, and the building of a holy pigeon tower out of recycled newspapers.

Clemens Driessen is assistant professor at Wageningen University. The premise of his research is that nature is deeply cultural, as a result, it affects the way we comprehend concepts such as agriculture, animals, nature, and food. To study the 'moral geographies' around these themes he draws on a variety of approaches, from Science and Technology Studies (ethnography, history and philosophy of technology), as well as Animal Geography (multispecies ethnography) and the Environmental Humanities (arts and design, literary history, environmental philosophy). In combination these generate opportunities for experimental interventions within a 'more-than-human' geography.

Debra Solomon is an artist, researcher, and food forest expert who envisions an ecologically sustainable urban public space. She has collaborated with local communities since 2009 to create park-like food forests in Amsterdam and The Hague. In 2010, she founded Urbaniahoeve Design Lab for Urban Agriculture. She also wrote Culiblog.org from 2004 to 2012. Solomon is currently pursuing a PhD on multispecies urbanism at the Amsterdam Institute of Social Science Research.