Relational Landscapes

Tracing Environmental Interconnectedness between Berlin-Brandenburg and the Amazon and the Andes.

Departing from the study of 19th-century scientific explorations into South America (such as the Prussian Langsdorff expedition to Brazil and the Alexander von Humboldt expeditions), and the earlier exchange of crops the course intends to open-up the myriad of hidden connections that relate South American and Central Europeans landscapes

Historical colonial forms of geoengineering have continued to today's globally interconnected transformations making changes in local climatic/atmospheric conditions and ecologies. This is evident, from the mining of lithium and rare minerals in Bolivia to the production of batteries at Tesla's Gigafactory, potentially impacting groundwater. Also, the collection of endemic plants and indigenous knowledge by the pharmaceutical industry in search of new medicines, to the deforestation of the Amazon for soybean fields and the feeding of animals in factory farms in Brandenburg - there are numerous examples of such ecological, social, economic, and cultural relationships inscribed in these local landscapes.

Tracing such multilayered interconnections through space and time will inform experimental (interactive) visualizations that will be developed in this class. These visual narratives will be collated in an online format where they invite to explore these relational landscapes from different worldviews playfully.

Learning objectives: Research-based learning through interdisciplinary research and design methods, intercultural dialogues, development of visual and interactive storytelling, reflection on roles as designers when visualizing intercultural narratives.

This class is part of FHP's Int'lFlex program and will be held in English.

Lead by Prof. Myriel Milicevic, Prof. Andrés Burbano (Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá), and Dr. Thiago da Costa Oliveira, anthropologist and photographer, Brazil and currently Humboldt fellow at Ethnological Museum and the Botanical garden, Botanical Museum Berlin.

The course will take place mainly on campus, if necessary, also in a hybrid format. In addition, a field trip to the Botanical Garden Berlin is planned, and an international symposium on December 9.