Imagined Landscapes For A Post-Anthropocene
Nov. 30th-Dec. 1st 2024, 10am-4pm
@ the Gabriola Arts & Heritage Centre (476 South Rd, Gabriola, BC V0R 1X0, Canada)
Nov. 30th-Dec. 1st 2024, 10am-4pm
@ the Gabriola Arts & Heritage Centre (476 South Rd, Gabriola, BC V0R 1X0, Canada)
Approximately one-month and a half was spent at the Kasahara Gabriola Trust Artist Residency—on Gabriola Island, BC, Canada—learning about the local landscape, researching and writing, as well as designing. During the residency, the landscape was thoroughly explored to get to know and understand local non-human populations and available natural resources; by walking, feeling and foraging all corners of the island, as well as engaging in dialogue with residents. With that understanding, a series of Post-Anthropocene Architecture structures were designed that could be built within and for the local landscape.
The research into Post-Anthropocene Architecture produced during the Kasahara Gabriola Trust Artist Residency provided innumerable opportunities for critical analysis, developing varied approaches, a crystallization of philosophy as well as an introductory understanding the local environment. By working immersed in as well as learning from the local biome, a process of discovery was undertaken whereby the conceptualization of new designs was enabled through the process of addressing the needs of the surrounding environment, thereby resulting in an intimate relationship with the landscape in combination with a more developed conceptualization of Post-Anthropocene Architecture.
The culmination of the residency was presented as a performative and interactive Post-Anthropocene Consultancy Office at the Gabriola Arts & Heritage Centre from Nov. 30th to Dec. 1st 2024, from 10am-4pm. During open hours, visitors were asked to sit in the waiting room, where they were presented with a video directing them to: sit, remove their shoes, partake in some refreshments, peruse the available reading material, and wait for their turn. Once called upon, visitors were invited into the center of the Post-Anthropocene Consultancy Office where they were free to view local designs for Post-Anthropocene Architectures, the Designing For Other Species Checklist (see below), as well as enter into a consultancy discussion with Justin Tyler Tate.
In all of this, the body of research developed through the Kasahara Gabriola Trust Artist Residency looked to develop site-specific approaches for interacting with the environment of Gabriola Island by trying to understand and build for the complexity and specificity of the Gabriola ecosystems, looking to create architectural designs for non-humans that could be implemented to build the resilience of the surrounding landscape. This work imagined how architectural methodologies can function as tools for support environments to endure the detriment of industry, colonialism as well as the climate crisis: by making oddkin and developing pathways for interspecies collaboration.
The research into Post-Anthropocene Architecture produced during the Kasahara Gabriola Trust Artist Residency provided innumerable opportunities for critical analysis, developing varied approaches, a crystallization of philosophy as well as an introductory understanding the local environment. By working immersed in as well as learning from the local biome, a process of discovery was undertaken whereby the conceptualization of new designs was enabled through the process of addressing the needs of the surrounding environment, thereby resulting in an intimate relationship with the landscape in combination with a more developed conceptualization of Post-Anthropocene Architecture.
The culmination of the residency was presented as a performative and interactive Post-Anthropocene Consultancy Office at the Gabriola Arts & Heritage Centre from Nov. 30th to Dec. 1st 2024, from 10am-4pm. During open hours, visitors were asked to sit in the waiting room, where they were presented with a video directing them to: sit, remove their shoes, partake in some refreshments, peruse the available reading material, and wait for their turn. Once called upon, visitors were invited into the center of the Post-Anthropocene Consultancy Office where they were free to view local designs for Post-Anthropocene Architectures, the Designing For Other Species Checklist (see below), as well as enter into a consultancy discussion with Justin Tyler Tate.
In all of this, the body of research developed through the Kasahara Gabriola Trust Artist Residency looked to develop site-specific approaches for interacting with the environment of Gabriola Island by trying to understand and build for the complexity and specificity of the Gabriola ecosystems, looking to create architectural designs for non-humans that could be implemented to build the resilience of the surrounding landscape. This work imagined how architectural methodologies can function as tools for support environments to endure the detriment of industry, colonialism as well as the climate crisis: by making oddkin and developing pathways for interspecies collaboration.
DESIGNING FOR OTHER SPECIES CHECKLIST
- What (keystone) species live in the locality?
- What are their needs (water/food/shelter)?
- What other species do they interact with?
- What are they good at?
- How can a structure enhance those abilities?
- How can a structure enhance biodiversity?
- How can we maximize the structure’s beneficial impact, while minimizing its detrimental footprint?
- Where is the best location for such a structure?
- What are the best materials for such a structure, how will they interact with the local biodiversity, and how will they decompose?
- How will this structure function, grow and decay?
- How can you be sure that the structure doesn’t do more harm than good?
