MEEP
the multispecies engagement evaluation program
Vent 1 – 1.1m/second, Vent 2 – 1.2m/second, Vent 3 – 1.2m/second (like wool on skin) Vent 4 – 0.8m/second (the colour of dawn on a grass hillside) Drones, swarms, nests. (No one mentioned the wifi password.) I felt I wanted some space away from my microbiome for a while” “I need more water” - MEEP Report SPECTRA 2022
“Are all persons here? All persons are here. Are there intentions present? There are multiple intentions present. Are there forces present There are animal, technological, vegetal, fungal, insect, lithic, alien, oceanic, algorithmic, cosmic, socio-cultural, economic, forces present. Are there stories present? All things are made of story. All things are made through story.” MEEP response Ministry of Multiple Futures, 2022
The Multispecies Engagement Evaluation Program (MEEP) is an iterative participatory future work artwork originally commissioned by The Australian Network of Art and Technology (ANAT) for the SPECTRA symposium in 2022. Curated by David Pledger.ANAT SPECTRA: Multiplicity 2022 is an artistic and discursive platform inspired by the intersection of art, science and technology.
An initiative by the future Department of Interbeing, MEEP (Luna Mrozik Gawler and Ana Tiquia) are future envoys and independent art evaluators from the year 2082, Intent on subverting and refusing anthropocentric delusion in art and research institutions, MEEP intervenes within institutional practices to effect socio-ecological change, with a focus on generating more-than-human justice, care, and inclusion.
MEEP completed a 3-day audit of 2022 SPECTRA symposium to assess participant and organisational relations with species, forces, and agencies beyond the human. Using sensory, somatic, conversational and visionary processes alongside empirical observation and field recordings, MEEP engaged and advocated for 900 species in attendance at the symposium, including animal, vegetal, fungal, atmospheric, lithic, and algorithmic persons.
Symposium attendees who identified as human at the time of MEEP’s audit were engaged in reflective mapping practices to identify their multispecies inhabitants, kin, co-workers and regular collaborators across all scales and sites.
The outcomes of these encounters were shared in two parts, a performance during A Ministry for Multiple Futures on the final day of the symposium, and as a 10-page report delivered to ANAT and featuring key findings and recommendations to safeguard more-than-human equity and representation within future ANAT SPECTRA symposiums.
You can read the report and its recommendations here. And see more about ANAT and SPECTRA here.
