FIRST ENCOUNTERS: ANTICIPATORY ECOLOGY MEETS SPECULATIVE DESIGN

Day02 Thursday, July 08, 15:00 EDT

We are currently experiencing a global redistribution of life on Earth with species shifting their distributions in response to recent and ongoing climate change. This is creating novel species interactions, as species that have evolved in isolation from one another come into contact for the first time. This talk discusses how speculative design projects can foster visions of planetary inter-species dependencies, and speculate about the possible impacts in ecosystems and the global biosphere.

What happens if two species, that have never interacted before, are now going to encounter due to anthropocentrically changed climatic circumstances? We are currently experiencing a global redistribution of life on Earth. Across all ecosystems species are shifting their distributions in response to recent and ongoing climate change in order to track their preferred climatic conditions. This creates novel species interactions, as species that have evolved in isolation from one another come into contact for the first time. With this shift in global animal movement patterns species will not only cross into new habitats but also new geopolitical areas. Moreover, shifts in foundation species can initiate cascading effects on other species and act as biotic multipliers of climate change. An ecological momentum of its own has been generated, that evolved out of our history of anthropogenic impact on biological processes.

The current Pandemic has shown how the impacts of the encounter of bat and pangolin on a wildlife market can travel the globe within days. With more species inevitably crossing paths in the future, events like these are expected to happen more often. Patterns of movement become patterns of encounter. With two species meeting that would have never encountered under natural circumstances, two worlds are being cobbled together by human hand and the possibility for the emergence of new life is being multiplied. A momentum of consequences is being generated that in turn deeply impacts all aspects of human life on Earth.

Affecting the very architecture of our human systems we are prompted to take action, reaching from rethinking systems of trade to turning over human healthcare to restructuring our societies and shared spaces.The research and design project "First Encounters" tells the stories of species encounters building on empirical data of documented species range shifts, developed in close exchange with scientists from the fields of Evolutionary Ecology, Animal Migration and Marine Biology. The investigation drafts scenarios of documented and potential ‚first encounters‚ and envisions possible consequences for our human lives and systems through the lens of Speculative Design - a project to visualise the entanglements of the planet’s ecosystems with human-made structures and the vast complexity of trophic cascades. Transforming empirical facts into an emotional reality the project’s mission is to make the consequences we set off with our own actions a spatial experience.

Showing that we are just one species amongst many ”First Encounters” aims at fostering visions of planetary inter-species dependencies. The installation speculates about possible impacts, starting in the transformation of local ecosystems, consecutively impacting the global biosphere generating impacts which surface in human systems of trade, food security, geopolitical policies and jurisdictional structures as well as human health. As human species we are standing in the center - but in the center of consequences; with observer-status only. We understand that the only option left is to adapt to the changes we have set off.

Sophie Falkeis is a multidisciplinary designer from Vienna, Austria and recent graduate in Industrial Design, Studio Design Investigations, University of Applied Arts Vienna. Her work has been presented in exhibitions including the London Design Biennale, Vienna Design Biennale, KADK and The Guldminen Copenhagen and has been featured in the New York Times. She has previously worked at Iris van Herpen Couture in Amsterdam and was a research fellow at Terreform One in New York. Upcoming Events:Speaker at the ‚ Human-Animal Relations Conference 2021‚ Vienna Biennale Climate Care; Exhibition of the project‚ First Encounters,