In the fictional spacetimes of Planeta Kampus, the natural phenomena are shifted. Plants are growing enormously; atmospheres are saturated with acid, and fungi decompose everything. How do we reconnect with these shifted environments? On Planeta Kampus, we are searching for creative forms of being in a state of climate change. The project uses imagination as a tool to explore the possibilities of our minds and the abilities of our bodies to live on a 'damaged planet.'
Planeta Kampus originated from the collective frustration among master’s program students of Environmental Design for Architecture regarding the discourse surrounding climate change. The project aims to confront ourselves by moving away from the anthropocentric narrative that is deeply embedded in various aspects of Western life and identified as a primary driver of accelerating global warming. In the Anthropocene era, where humans are recognized as a geological force with far-reaching consequences, it is acknowledged that responsibility is not evenly distributed. However, we do not want to merely point fingers. How do we deal with climate change?
Much responsibility is expected from the daily actions of individual beings, but change needs to be created systematically. And the system is emerging through multiplicities of particular activities. We humans act based on the beliefs and values that we share within our communities. The collective ethos of Planeta Kampus centers around a belief in multispecies symbiosis and care. We want to re-establish our relationship with the environment to find our position within ecosystems. We want humans to acknowledge the world-making capabilities of many other-than-human animals. They deserve to be noticed. With the mindset of a businessman looking for progress and growth, we “developed” climate change, and it is more than clear that our approach needs to change.
Approaching it through Planeta Kampus, we explore what is thinkable. We try to think through utopias, dystopias, speculations, dreams, memes, pop culture, and all other possible imaginations. We try to think through artistic practices. We try to think with other species, even those traditionally deemed dangerous for us. We try to collect, observe, analyze, archive. We test what we can try, even though sometimes it doesn’t make sense.
In the first Great Shift on Planeta Kampus, we collaborated with mold to design three-dimensional artifacts celebrating the possibilities of interspecies communication. Humans usually want to eliminate mold in their habitations, perceiving it as a hostile organism without realizing its importance in our micro and macro biomes. We provided habitat to the molds collected on the school’s campus. Cohabiting an art studio with the many mold species made us think about possibilities of co-creation with them. We developed technological tools for mold-human communication that deepen our relationships. The multispecies collaboration practices made us think and reflect on many topics.
The transformative journey prompted a reconsideration of our thoughts about the environment. The inherent uncertainty of working with molds, initially frustrating, became an opportunity for appreciation. The uncertainty comes from the significant otherness of our reality with theirs.
We have a human goal to make a work of art (even though it never was the motivation); they have their own, whatever it is (they are probably proliferating). We have specific aesthetic preferences based on our culture, causing us to make decisions in our artistic practice. And we were always taught that molds are disgusting. The processes of Planeta Kampus made us unlearn these prejudices, which make us bleach the molds away.
Amidst uncertainties surrounding the planet’s future, our approach is to look for ways to adapt to these evolving landscapes and climates. Scientists are developing complex systems to simulate and predict what the future holds for us. We want to experiment with these technologies as well. Still, the ecosystems of Earth are too complex, and we have started to realize that to know everything is impossible, and maybe should not even be desired. Understanding long-term patterns from datasets doesn’t necessarily make us attentive to individual details and characteristics, which are just as important. In these shifting conditions, we find it impossible to make a plan, a perfectly designed way to live life, that would create stability. And maybe humans need to stop imagining such a future. It was never a reality. The world is moving, and humans and all the other living existences make it move.
The first Great Shift happening on Planeta Kampus made us think about all the other (im)possible shifts of the ecosystems. Different actors create different climates by balancing each other towards each other. When molds thrive, humans are troubled. When humans thrive, the biosphere suffers. Different spacetimes encourage different ways of living. We started exploring unique adaptation strategies, and after adapting our minds in the first Great Shift, we looked for ways to adjust our bodies in the second Great Shift.
In the second Great Shift on Planeta Kampus, we envision the land being poisoned by acid. An increasing
number of industrial buildings and factories surround the campus area. Acidification occurs as excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere dissolves, the leading cause of which are fossil fuels. How do we need to adapt our bodies to such inhospitable conditions? When looking for answers, we started conversations with ChatGPT artificial intelligence, which turned our attention to mucus. This slimy bodily substance is associated with much unpleasantness. It is a protection strategy for many, mainly marine, organisms. Humans start to produce more mucus when some part of the body is irritated by external conditions. Much inspiration for the Second Great Shift came from pop culture. Mermaid bodies, Toxic, Actimel. How far can our resources go? Now, Planeta Kampus is still in this climatic state, and our adaptation takes time and requires much care.
The project serves as a thought-provoking exploration of alternative perspectives and creative solutions in the realm of environmental design.