Image: © I. Ruegemer & USGS
Our Vision, Approach and Activities.
Vision
Symbio(s)cene is a non-profit initiative with the vision to shape a new mindset that promotes thinking beyond the Anthropocene. We see this new mindset as an important key to bringing about transformative change. The distinctive proposition of our initiative…
Approach
The pressing environmental-ecological problems of our time are highly complex, interconnected, and nonlinear phenomena. The sciences are under pressure to provide precise, rational and conclusive answers, yet unambiguous evidence of causes and…
Activities
Our activities are transdisciplinary and interconnected. The Symbio(s)cene initiative contains three core activity elements: research & development projects and education; knowledge transfer; and engagement of the general public through exhibitions…
Our Repository:A Source of Information & Inspiration
Here, we post short contributions pointing to related work in arts and sciences, summaries of our own activities and essays written by ourselves and guests. Each post is tagged, and clicking on a tag will guide you to related posts
People – Nature – Future
23 Oct 2021 – 23 Jan 2022 | Exhibition & Talk Event: Symbio(s)cene presents »People – Nature – Future«, an art exhibition and talk event…
Glenn Albrecht’s Future Vision
An Invitation to the Symbiocene – By Glenn Albrecht. The impacts of the Anthropocene, the age of human dominance over the planet, are now headline…
Ecological Restoration – Taking & Giving
June 21-24 2021 is the week of the 9 th World Conference on Ecological Restoration. Organized by the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER), the…
Interview: Phoebe Cummings
The beauty of the present moment and the briefness of existence. Ceramic sculptor Phoebe Cummings works mainly with unfired clay. Her intricate and…
Cosmo Sheldrake: Wake-up Calls
Music with and for nature. Multi-instrumentalist musician, composer and producer Cosmo Sheldrake dedicates his latest album Wake-Up Calls to…
Silence of the Tides
A visually stunning and meaningful documentary by director Pieter-Rim de Kroon – a film that inhales and exhales along with the tides of the Wadden…
A different conservation policy is needed
By Bram Büscher and Robert Fletcher. In the face of the sixth extinction, rising wildlife crime and biodiversity under dire threat around the globe,…
Connect with Nature: Mud & Mindfulness
Dorodango (Japanese: “mud dumpling”) Hikaru Dorodango are shiny balls of mud, molded by hand, dried, and polished to an artifact of utter…
Symposium: Is Beauty Enough?
This provocative question is posed by a highly interesting symposium, initiated and organized by Central Saint Martins College London and Cockpit…
Student project Symbioceno Chiquitos
A new Symbio(s)cene student project started! This time, M.A. Design Management students from Macromedia University Munich have the task to support…
Economy for the Common Good
Mini Symposium on Economy for the Common Good at Macromedia University – Live on ZOOM. Prof. Oliver Szasz, head of the M.A. Design Management…
Transdisciplinary Project Outcome
Arts & Sciences Collaboration between Macromedia University Munich and Technical University Munich. During winter term 2020/21, the first…
Vienna Biennale for Change
Planet Love. This is the motto of the Vienna Biennale for Change 2021, which will be the first event of its kind to combine art, design, and…
Forest is the Artist
What does it mean when we say that “nature” is the artist? To explore this question, American ecological artist, filmmaker and author…
Envisioning Cities
Step into the future! The development of visions and scenarios are key drivers for shaping our future. What will our cities look like? How can we…
National Park Cities?
London became the first National Park City in July 2019. A community-grassroots movement celebrating and supporting action by millions of people in…
Nature, Music & Change
The sounds of nature can be soothing and moving (see the post Nature Appreciation). Quite logically, many artists included recordings made in nature…
Forest Man
One man and his forest. Since 1979, Majuli Islander Jadav Payeng has been planting trees to save his island. To date, he has single-handedly planted…
Cities, Nature, Poetry
Sprout – The eco-urban poetry journal presents its first issue dedicated to the theme SPACE. “In inviting new work to reflect expansively…
Ove Arup Foundation
Collaboration, Interdisciplinarity and Sustainability. These are the values of the Ove Arup Foundation and the driving forces behind its…
Bioeconomy
Bioeconomy means using renewable biological resources to produce food, materials and energy. Bioeconomy includes the vision of biobased and…
World Biodiversity Forum 2021
2021 is the “Year of Impact”. “COP26 of UNFCCC, COP15 of CBD and COP15 of UNCCD are convening; parties are expected to commit to a new…
Nature Appreciation
Experiencing nature is something special. Talking a walk does not only provide one with a good portion of fresh air, it also provides calming visual…
Eyes as Big as Plates – Volume 2
Riitta Ikonen and Karoline Hjorth have created a new book. Eyes as Big as Plates is a remarkable and ongoing art project by Riitta Ikonen and…
ART AUREA & Material Awareness
Material Awareness – the mindful dialogue between man and material – is the guiding theme of the latest issue of the bilingual art, craft and design…
Competition: Post-Covid Cities
Question: How do we design post-COVID-19 cities that enrich nature? A competition by Pandemic Response CoLab. Overview View Contributions:…
NESTA TALK: Ann Pettifor
Why Radical Change is Required to Address the Climate Crisis. Nesta, the renowned innovation foundation, based in the UK, talked to Ann Pettifor. Ann…
Arts & Sciences Collaboration
Technical University Munich meets Macromedia University Munich. The first interdisciplinary research and development project with students in…
Dennis Meadows – Limits To Growth
Scientist Dennis Meadows and an international team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, began a study in 1970 –…
Architecture & The Common Good
What can Architecture contribute to the common good? Architecture and its transformative and social value is the topic which the Obel Award is…
The Conservation Revolution
Radical ideas for saving nature beyond the Anthropocene “Conservation needs a revolution. This is the only way it can contribute to the drastic…
World Hope Forum
The World Hope Forum – founded by Lidewij Edelkoort, one of the world’s most respected cultural forecasters and Philip Fimmano, a design…
From Anthropocene to “Symbiocene”
Anthropocene, the ‘age of humans’ – this is the name experts suggest for calling the current geological epoch (Crutzen & Stoermer 2000, Ellis…
The Biodiversity Crisis
The crisis – and how it can be solved. We are currently experiencing the biggest global mass extinction event since the disappearance of dinosaurs.…
The Natural Room – Exhibition
A future-minded exhibition that rethinks our interior spaces. The exhbition envisions how we might live in the future and promotes contemporary…
Good Life, People and Nature
The concept of ‘good life’ has strong roots in Western philosophy. According to Aristotle, leading a meaningful, fulfilled life means reaching…
Embodied Sensemaking
Physical stimuli as agents for knowledge creation and knowledge transfer. Scholars in philosophy of Cognitive Science have increasingly investigated…
Visions for Transition
Visions for Transition is the first major online conference of its kind, bringing together more than 20 renowned scientiest and in the fields of…
Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures Merlin Sheldrake’s book Entangled Life has received great reviews by the…
Fungi Futures
Movements in Mycelium – From plastic waste eating solutions to growing structure potentials. The live streamed talk – hosted by artist, inventor, and…
Cambio – Ecology and Design
A re-evaluation of our relationship to trees from a design perspective. Cambio is an impressive exhibition and ongoing project by the designer duo…
Seeding Sustainable Futures
The power of embodied metaphors. Seeding Sustainable Futures – a project by Culturesphere conceived to communicate the potential of individuals and…
Life of Plants by Emanuele Coccia
A philosophical perspective on plants. Emanuele Coccia, Associate Professor in the History of Philosophy at the EHESS in Paris, presents his new…