FERAL FUTURESCAPES: INTERSPECIES ART TO SEED THE SYMBIOCENE

Delivered as a guest lecture at the University of Bergen Digital Narratives Masters program, this inquiry delved into the transformative potential of interspecies art when approached as a ‘feral’ force. Drawing from the learnings of an experiential, multispecies art practice it asked; How can imagining with and through other species seed the soil of public imagination with affirmative visions of thriving futures for all earthly beings?

As iterative and cascading environmental crises rapidly reshape earthly experiences, the urgency of challenging dystopic narratives and exploring feral futures becomes apparent.

What possibilities for reworlding arise from centering and celebrating the feral ideas, ecosystems and relations that refuse or queer anthropocentric containment?

How might doing so in creative practice contribute to the generation of the Symbiocene—a future epoch where human and non-human lives are entwined in mutual care, respect and collaboration?