THINKING WEED – INTERSTITIAL ONTOLOGIES

10. Mai 2023 Kunstuniversität Linz, Domgasse 1, Audimax

Sliding through the membranes of experience, meaning, and representation of interstitial ontologies.

PhD-Workshop

Interstitial spaces are often marginal or neglected places that might be hidden, forgotten, or abandoned. Whether a large section of a landscape or a microscopic crack in a surface, these spaces are usually byproducts of regulated and aesthetically legitimized (capitalist) culture, represented as “unproductive” entities and disregarded by the traditional collective systems of political and economic administration.  

On the other hand, interstitial spaces can often be buoyant diversity reservoirs, where counter-cultural actors and other feral beings, such as weeds, dwell on and thrive, despite the dominant efforts to neutralize them. Interstitiality might be a physical opportunity for the creation and proliferation of (bio) diversity, as much as an immaterial space to unfold otherness. There are cracks yet to be discovered in the digital and virtual topologies surrounding us, and there are gaps in the realm of ideas and words. Like a weed growing through the interstice of a wall, we—as artistic researchers—can slide through the membranes of old concepts to find new meanings. 

Could interstitial spaces be magic circles? Could the gaps between our definitions become a kind of heterotopic “third space” - a place that is both real but freed from political designation and cultural identification, where researcher and subject could finally meet? 

The workshop Thinking Weed. Interstitial Ontologies challenges the participants to discover sub-represented lives, entities, or concepts potentially present in narrow (but rich) physical and immaterial gaps. We aim to provide a space for discussion, exploration, and alternative forms of representation of these realities, through a series of brief exercises, which include fieldwork and artistic experimentation.

Fabricio Lamoncha is an artist, designer and researcher from Spain, currently based in Austria. His practices explore the entanglements of media ecology and bioethics. Since 2018 he is PhD researcher at the Kunstuniversität Linz. Also member of the Art|Sci Center at UCLA (Los Angeles) and co-founder and organizer of the Leonardo Laser Talks Linz. His work has been exhibited internationally and awarded the Art and Artificial Life International Award Vida14.
postbiointernet.com

Catarina Reis (b. 1989) is trained as an architect and designer, currently working on her practice-based research PhD thesis at FBAUL, Lisbon, Portugal (Faculty of Fine Arts, Lisbon University), at the department of Multimedia Art. Her research project Tentacular Ecologies seeks to explore the potential of “micro third landscapes” as spatial interfaces for interspecies collaborations.
catarina-reis.com