Winterschool 2023

The overarching objective of the Winterschool laid in the process by which delving into other-than-human time. We were able to think critically and model within material temporalities that govern other-than-human cultures.

To capture  the complex depths and textures of this particular time, the geographer Stephanie Wakefield defines the current era as the ‘back loop’. For ecologists, every system goes through a cycle with two phases: a ‘front loop’ and a ‘back loop’ that together create the adaptive circle. 

Focusing and refocusing on other-than-human temporalities allowed us to think through the systems and reminds us on the idea that all perceiving subjects are dependent on the partial knowledge we possess. 

Each group had the chance to focus on a particular species, a other-than-human inhabitant of the earth. Our focus was the Cicada which is a fascinating insect of which we as humans cannot understand their way of living completely because most of their lifecycle is invisible to us.

Scamorza

Imagine 99,5% of your life is spent under ground, where you become older and stronger. Then, after 17 years you rise from the soil along with millions of peers. Once above the ground you leave your old larval skin and start a life with a new goal, which is reproduction for which you have 6 weeks. Eggs are created and the circle starts again, the nympf jumps from the tree and disappears again for a period of 17 years.

The scamorza depicts the life cycle by presenting opposing back loops. Life is always about an interaction between time and space. Cicadas spent most of their physical time underground preparing themselves for the poisonous world above the soil. The life cycle of human kind is exactly the opposite.