Exercises week 6

Preperation

1. Think about (or actually; from the perspective of) an animal that is constantly mis-understood. For example an octopus that has a completely different form of intelligence than we have, a cow or a bog brought to the slaughterhous, or a wolve that is seen as a big dangerous animal.

2. During the reces, try to find something (art, design, ...) that is mundane in your vicinity but would be remarkable in another (e.g. a commercial that makes perfect sense in your country but would be very strange to see in The Netherlands). Take it (or a photograph of it) with you the this session.

Practical exercise

In this exercise, we are going to experience different Umwelts.

1. Choose a perspective: a non-human animal, a human with some impairments, a technical system.
2. Define the Umwelt: what does exist in this Umwel? What is perceivable and what remains hidden, what triggers reactions or interactions?
3. Create a representation: create an artwork that enacts this Umwelt, e.g. a small video, a short performance, a strange interaction.
4. Plenary presentation: we will show some of the results, on basis of which the group needs to come up with what (kind of) Umwelt is being represented.

No text

Please note that in your elaboration you are not allowed to use text or icons: the Umwelt must be felt, not explained.

What Uexküll calls Umwelt shows that every being lives in a selective world; Heidegger shows that this world is always already meaningful through involvement; and Rosa reminds us that resonance only becomes possible within such a world — when something appears that can answer us. There is no world without a filter — and no resonance without a world that can answer.

Writing exercise

Part 1: reading Read the essay about the wolf from Eva Meijer (or here in Dutch). As always, read the text closely and critically. As you go, process the text: annotate by jotting down questions or comments in the margins, underlining important points, circling keywords, and marking places you may want to revisit. Feel free to underline, scribble, or doodle.

Again, the processed text will be part of your exercises book.

Part 2: writing Imagine that you are writing a letter (of about one page) to a newspaper from the perspective of the wolf, who has a bad reputation in the current debate about wolves.

There are voices calling for more wolves to be killed, and other even want to eradicate the species entirely.

Try to write from the wolf's point of view, based on what you know about the animal – a letter in which you, as a wolf, try to foster understanding for your own place in living alongside humans.