In September 2024, we were delighted to be accepted for the Free Radicals Open Call at the one-of-a-kind Floating University, a self organised space and group, where practitioners from a wide range of backgrounds meet to collaborate, co-create and imaginatively work towards futures. Located in the heart of Berlin and functioning as a rainwater collection basin for the former Tempelhof airfield, this site has evolved over the years into a natureculture learning site.
ARTS OF NOTICING
ARTS OF NOTICING
For Tsing, the arts of noticing are about recognizing and valuing the small, overlooked details of life, including how various species and ecosystems adapt and thrive in conditions of disturbance. It is a call to reject human exceptionalism progressivist notions. When we speak of the arts of noticing, we mean tending to non-human voices, to multi-species assemblages. This task asks us to attune differently to the layered worlds of different beings, to perceive their multi species histories, to listen to their stories.
With the help of a workbook we put together, we experimented with documentation methods to explore Anna Tsing’s concept of the arts of noticing. Introduced in her book The Mushroom at the End of the World, this refers to the practice of paying close attention to the entanglements of life in unexpected and often marginalized places. It involves fostering a sensibility to the complex, interdependent relationships between humans, nonhumans, and the environment, especially in contexts of uncertainty and precarity.
Amplifying the sounds of the site
Every day on site, we set out some time to take in and record the sounds of the site. This was an exercise in embodied listening and letting the mind wander with the site. We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed recording it!
Documenting the fauna onsite
