Emerging Uncertainties: speculative approximations between hybrid ecology and ecosystemic intelligence

• Grant number: 23/14314-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: March 01, 2024
• End date: January 01, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Arts
• Principal Investigator: Cesar Augusto Baio Santos
• Grantee: Claudio de Melo Filho
• Supervisor: Laura Beloff
• Host Institution: Instituto de Artes (IA). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Aalto University, Finland
• Associated to the scholarship: 21/11186-4 - Art, science and multispecies landscapes: collaborations between organic and digital systems, BP.DR

Abstract

We live in a world of emergencies. Climate change, economic crises, and social uncertainties have become common in the contemporary lexicon. These emergencies represent a significant shift from stable relationships among society, knowledge, and ecosystems to an unstable and uncertain environment. The works of Laura Beloff (Aalto University, Finland) and Cesar Baio (Unicamp, Brazil) identify environmental changes as one of the driving forces behind the structure of informational, economic, and governance systems. This research internship project explores the interplay between emerging uncertainties (Melo Filho, 2023) with hybrid ecology (Beloff, 2018) and ecosystemic intelligence (Baio & Solomon, 2021). Together, they operate in theoretical and practical frameworks, employing biohybrid systems and data visualization as poetic media. These concepts enable the exploration of speculative artworks that stimulate collaboration between interspecies entities, encompassing living and non-living organisms and digital technologies. Several artworks under analysis shared innovative strategies, fostering imagination and envisioning alternative relationships between nature, technology, and social systems in contemporary society. The research period seeks to motivate the collaboration between research groups in Brazil and Finland through intermittent research cycles, culminating in a remote international conference-additionally, the project endeavors to create a biohybrid art experiment. In the Information Age, artistic experiments have been crucial in deepening our understanding of intricate relationships between technology and the Earth's ecosystems. This research project explores alternative relational forms between prehuman, non-human, and posthuman knowledge. It involves practical-theoretical investigations at the intersection of Art, Science, and Technology. Through art, we can explore and demonstrate the capacity for speculative actions in response to emergencies of our time. The research aims to intertwine the concepts of hybrid ecology defined by Laura Beloff (2018) and ecosystemic intelligence by Cesar Baio & Lucy H.G. Solomon (2021). The study will explore collaborative activities centered around these concepts and their epistemological frameworks, focusing on the emancipatory potential of environmental issues through biohybrid interfaces. The analysis will examine recent works by artists such as Laura Beloff (R-bus, 2023; Pissing Point, 2020), Cesar & Lois (Boreal Intelligence, 2023; Mycorrhizal Insurrection, 2022), Antii Tenetz (Perihelion, 2020) and the Kodos collective (Data-river, 2023), among others. The research highlights possibilities and perspectives concerning art, technology, and ecology by linking their works to emerging uncertainties.