Ilana Steenkamp URBAN DESIGN + PLANNING + ARCHITECTURE
Designed Realities Lab,
Situated Environs, NYC
Designed Realities Lab,
Situated Environs, NYC
After centuries of following a goal-dominated human-based ideology, the planet has been driven close to collapse. We, the remaining, attempt to live in a symbiotic state with the environments we move through.
Our emphases on consumer objects and materiality are shifted towards processes: relations with each other and with living lifeforms on Earth, processes of symbiosis with biological entities and synchronicity with other humans. We have agreed on the manifesto of the Situated Unions that defines relations as the value system which organizes societies.
The Arrivals
An apparatus that is fabricated for introducing our existent to the site. Before leaving the vessel, we observe the environment and construct a smulica. We leave our imprints on the construction by interacting with it - sounds, touch, breath, etc. The construction captures the energy and vitality which can not be materialized but only embedded through the residue of interaction. We install it on the site and wait for the return signal from the site.
H-Manifesto
In this world, humans are trying to achieve a sustainable symbiotic state with the environment they live in. To approach that goal, they agree on a global manifesto that defines relations as the value system which organizes societies. Unified under this global manifesto, communities have developed localized practices.
1)We, humans, want to live in symbiosis with our environment, as we reject the anthropocentric worldview which distinguishes ourselves from all other beings.
2) We do not claim ownership, as there is nothing to be owned by an individual.
3)We cannot create anything, as we can only transform already existing matter.
4)We do not abstract universal principles from situations, as we only develop an empathetic understanding from our situated relations.
5) We consider relationships to be the only valuation system in our society, as they are the means to our symbiotic goal.
6) Relations need to be fed through personal actions to be maintained over time, as relations cannot be accumulated.
7) We do not categorize or identify according to form or function, as everything can be connected according to its associated relevance.
8) We do not claim any territory or recognize any authority, as our community is only bonded by consent.
The Receptors
A device that is designed for collecting the imprints from the site - lights, humidity, particle, passage of time, the growth and decay of all forms of life. These residues are absorbed by the device over time. We examine, contemplate and react to the vitality carried by the device.
We cannot assume a certain scientific methodology for examining but rather through attentive, personal interaction.
