Speculative Garden

mediating symbiotic coexistence

BA Thesis
Michelle Bocker

Köln International School of Design
Supervised by Prof. Nina Juric and Prof. Philipp Heidkamp.

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ABOUT

In my BA Thesis, I explored the discourse of a speculative garden as a space of interrelationships between humans and more-than-humans. The garden, a space produced and needed by (wo)man for centuries, is referred to as the mirror of society that entangles nodes of power and control. Like lichens, the garden is a product of symbiotic relationships and together, they teach us that none of us is a single autonomous organism.

The speculative garden is the materialisation of my BA research, which shapes living interconnected networks of humans, more-than-humans, technical objects and the environment. By engaging with the role of media and technology in the context of global capitalism and posthumanism, the final attempt to mediate about symbiosis is a reflection on the environment, self-awareness, algorithms and artificial intelligence.

This Bachelor thesis was supervised by Prof. Nina Juric (Motion Design) and Prof. Philipp Heidkamp (Interface/ Interaction Design) and was supported by the @MXL.

Speculative Garden - mediating symbiotic coexistance, Michelle Bocker, 2022.

Narratives of the Garden.

What the garden represents to us is a set of complex traditions, meanings of space, community building and needs. The way we assign the power of the different elements inside the garden provides insights into the way we have classified what belongs inside of it. It is the mirror of historical, political and cultural aspects of society and its relationship with nature. Therefore we have the opportunity to open a discourse on the relationship that humanity builds within the natural world.

(Fanon, 2007) "Decolonisation demands (...) new materialism and political ecology"

multispecies ecologies multispecies ecologies multispecies ecologies

In modern cities, the concept of nature as something to be controlled still exists, as it is against domesticity. Wild nature provides a romantic narrative of freedom. Wild nature provides a romantic narrative of freedom.

The symbiotic way of life.

Exploration and translation of lichens and the notion of symbiosis in digital media in order to construct multispecies narratives, through engagement with non-human perception, listening and observation as modes of political work.

Michelle Bocker 2021, Sensing and collecting.

The interaction between living beings and artificial systems produces social ensembles, as they are configuring dimensions of life whose complexity involves algorithmic levels, computational codes and knowledge networks (Hernández García 2018, 188).

2022, Lichen probes, analysing behaviour under ultraviolet light.

MEDIA: Michelle Bocker

MEDIA: Michelle Bocker

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Multispecies Network.

The concept of the garden is a sensorial exhibition of how it has a spatial meaning, built with empathy and care but as well with power and control.

This thesis revolves around the interconnectedness of networks between humans, nature and computational systems (computers, sensors, the internet, etc) that form and appropriate part of the garden. With climate change and technological evolution, it becomes crucial to consider the future of symbiosis with the technological object, the more-than-human and the environment.

Data from the environment, captures of images and sounds from nature, I started to develop a space where all this information would be translated and represented.

Michelle Bocker, Concept of the distributed garden-networks.

Exploring the layers of perception and technical instances.

As nature have evolved together so do technical objects. They form interconnected relationships and develop new ways of communication through signals that are transform into data.

This collection of audiovisuals show part of my explorative research by connecting the layers of perception, imagination but as well feedbacks and instances that emerge from the physical to the digital space, making an intangible figure of nature in the so called "Digital Era".