NATURE DESIGN CAMP - BUILDING NEW RELATIONS WITH NATURE BY DESIGN METHODS AND ARTISTIC PRACTICE
Dear fellow earthlings,
I am going to share a story, my story, your story, our story. A story about pollution, global warming, overpopulation, waste, ocean acidification, loss of biodiversity, deforestation, ozone layer depletion, and pandemics. And I probably could go on with this forever but, what can be radically proposed to you instead, is the need for new relations, a restored relationship with nature.
National
Austria
Vorarlberg, St. Gerold, UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Grosses Walsertal
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
2023-10-31
As an individual
First name: Christoph Last name: Matt Gender: Male Nationality: Austria If relevant, please select your other nationality: Austria Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Gartenstrasse 5 Town: Bürs Postal code: 6706 Country: Austria Direct Tel:+43 664 9591333 E-mail:info@chrismatt.at Website:http://christophmatt.com
Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): @christophmatt
Culture, art, and design can help us as a society and for each earthling to reflect on the ambivalent relationship between nature and humans in the Anthropocene. The critical question arises of how to build more sustainable relations with nature by design methods. Respectively, this design project focuses on design, organization, and sustainability. The project is a collaboration between REGIO, a biosphere reserve region organization, and the design company Studio Matt. The Studio acquired the relevant knowledge and embedded itself by conducting research and interviews with actors from politics, tourism, agriculture, sustainability, arts, and design. In the artistic phase, individuals from and around the area of the UNESCO biosphere reserve Grosses Walsertal in Vorarlberg, Austria were invited to a participatory design intervention. Following in the spring of 2022 a design camp and design workshop (both considered as design methods) dedicated to the topics of sustainability and community to build new relations between these fields, was initiated for the very first time. This project explores how the individual’s valuable perspectives and ideas on these topics were brought together in one place by design and eventually provides findings that can also be applied in other design projects to build relations with nature and humans by design methods.
more-than-human
kinship
design camp
participatory design
sustainability
The key objectives of the project are solid foundation of interdisciplinary knowledge, concerning both, human-centered and more-than-human-centered design, and experience from practical design work by gathering various design practices and methods while being highly trained in concept and communication design. Sustainability in the organisational context with the idea of the triple bottom line (TBL) frames the idea that a project should aim for and be able to measure success in three complementary arenas: economic (beneficial), social (social well-being and justice), and environmental (sustainability and environmental quality). It is important to be critical here and reflect that this can be a very human-centered perspective, where economics are often in the first place, then people and the planet at last. These three complementary arenas are also known to many as the three pillars of sustainability: planet, people, profit, I consciously put the more-than human perspective within this project into the first place. After these lessons learned I have ended up as designer, just like a swiss army knife, with a profound design toolkit, a set of different methods and relevant skills ready to be used in any kind of situation. Despite running a design studio for the last 10 years with design and sustainability in focus, studying, working with numerous practical cases, and being embedded in applied design projects with a posthumanism angle in Scandinavia there was always a wonder. Is society, the industries and other fields of engagement outside of the designer bubble ready for such unconventional design approaches and will it even be economically sustainable for a designer with such a vast design discipline in the future? This project eventually is exemplary to work with sustainability, while being sustainable with yourself as a point of departure.
The Nature Design Camp (NDC) aimed to open up a human and more-than-human discussion for the REGIO organization, its forming six municipalities, and their alpine community. Although REGIO, its community, and other organizations have somewhat a common goal based around the UNESCO biosphere reserve criteria and philosophy, yet critically spoken, it seems at times that some of the stakeholders are rather interested to push through their economic and social agendas. It can be argued, that the NDC is relevant to the human and more-than-human, as its agenda and content propose to the community the need for a common understanding of how we as humans act towards nature and sets out to build new relations with our environments. The NDC’s outcomes eventually can address local policymakers to consider new ideas, concepts, and perspectives. One could say, that is exactly what you do, as an embedded eco-social designer you are facing many different societal fields and issues at the same time. It is crucial to state that, rather than taking or claiming a specific expert role as an embedded designer, you try to embed yourself as much and sensitive as possible and benefit from an ongoing exchange of the expert’s and artist’s role. Taken from there, the Studio sees itself within this project as a mediator between the arts, environment, and science to advocate an emerging design practice that emphasizes the interrelations between humans and more-than-human actors.
Matter of comfort – The combination of sensitivity, empathy, and knowledge is needed, to collectively build relations with nature. Diversity of participants – The diversity of the participants’ group (gender, age, origin, profession, locals, non-locals, etc.) is needed to produce a critical outcome with many different perspectives. Community of activists – The community of likeminded individuals allows working focused on one specific topic and creates a momentum, where participants empower each other. Camp of magic – The camp format creates an atmosphere of trust and belonging for participants over a short amount of time and motivates them to carry out even complex activities together. Change of settings – The physical movement between spaces during a workshop creates curiosity and excitement as it keeps up the participants’ energy level to fully engage with each exercise. Agent of change – The mix of experiments and exercises with artistic practice enables participants with any kind of profession to work on a big topic in a small format in a playful way. Power of language – The use of native language in a relatable tonality creates understanding and identification with challenging topics where no specific educational level is required. Question of time – The facilitator needs to be empathic and flexible when participants need their own time and space to enhance their full potential with the experiments and exercises. Tools of use – The participants feel empowered and inspired to make a difference when they can engage easily and pragmatically with practical everyday design experiments and exercises. World of relations – The participants need tangible examples to realize, that humans and the planet are not separated domains, but rather interconnected and entangled in an ecological relationship.
Eight semi-structured interviews with individuals actively involved in different roles in the alpine community were conducted and included the areas of politics, tourism, agriculture, sustainability, culture, design, and where some individuals have different roles at the same time. The online interviews with the individuals took place to embed the author as designer and earn the stakeholders’ trust to collaborate shortly and beyond. The collected research data mentioned above was reviewed thoroughly and then used for the further development of the design camp setup, design workshop prototype, toolkit, experiments, and exercises. The design workshop participants described how participatory design can contribute to positive change in the alpine community of the biosphere reserve region. They argued that the format impacts participants and creates a sort of network to start a conversation with a more-than-human narrative. For some, it was like an invitation to have a conversation with nature and the outcome should be available to the public. For some, the format is a role model for how to engage individually and collectively. Others argue that inclusion in decision-making and attention to the community’s needs can foster to take action. The format was described as encouraging each other to create a positive image for the future.
The design project was initiated by Studio Matt and the REGIO organization, a team of individuals, representing the region of the UNESCO biosphere reserve. The initial idea for the project was developed in collaboration with the REGIO CEO. The collaboration
took place over 10 months from January to October 2022. The first design intervention was taking place in April 2022 on three days over the weekend. Members of the alpine community, and members from the outside were participating in the NDC and its design workshop at the living laboratory space Tal/Studio in St. Gerold, one of the six municipalities forming the biosphere reserve region. The design project included the Nature Design Camp, “Nature > Human” design workshop, and “Nature Design Guide” (NDG) print publication was funded by the KLAR! programme of the federal climate and energy fonds with the initial brief of facilitating a climate change think tank. Therefore, REGIO set the framework of the project to respond to the original think tank brief. The entire project was co-designed with the REGIO CEO, who was involved in all the decisionmaking along the process. Valuable feedback and ideas were discussed from the start until the end to have a critical stance via a constant exchange between an outsider and insider role in the biosphere reserve region.
The posthuman ambition of this design project can create a new narrative and provides a perspective that enables active co-design of the human and more-than-human. Kinship as a method can eventually guide us into new ways, how we can deepen our care and respect for the family of plants, rivers, mountains, animals, and
others who live with us in this entanglement of relations. After realizing these potentials, the combination of posthumanism, kinship, and design became the core of the NDC as a method. The relevance of NDC as a method was also acknowledged by REGIO, as public organization, and requested a continuation of the Nature Design Camp in 2023. By embodying a participatory design approach in the NDC eventually it can create more long-term relations to nature, where participatory design increases the chance that the final result of a design process represents the values of the future users. Which refers in this context to the alpine community and their values in the biosphere reserve region. Taking into account that proponents of participatory research have already recognized the need to extend the paradigm beyond the human communities, it indicates the potential of co-designing research with more-than-human communities. There is a need for a new perspective for a more sustainable future, where we perceive a community as a community of humans and more-than-humans.
Considering once again how to build relations with nature by design methods, there is a strong argument for a design camp and design workshop as a method to connect humans and the landscape. Also, the participants refer to the NDC as a method of an all-over positive atmosphere, where it is possible to create a dynamic to work with a complex topic. The observations show that the method can create an enriching discussion in a small bubble for a big topic. The participant group was highly engaged in the exercises and interacted with the design workshop toolkit independently. The examination of the design toolkits after the NDC shows that the participants took ownership and individualized their toolkits in various creative ways such as writing free texts, noting down further thoughts, or sketching on the cover and blank spreads.
The participants refer to the NDC as a method of an all-over positive atmosphere, where it is possible to create a dynamic to work with a complex topic. The observations show that the method can create an enriching discussion in a small bubble for a big topic. The participant group was highly engaged in the exercises and interacted with the design workshop toolkit independently. The examination of the design toolkits after the NDC shows that the participants took ownership and individualized their toolkits in various creative ways such as writing free texts, noting down further thoughts, or sketching on the cover and blank spreads. Although the feedback shows that the NDC as a method can contribute to a critical reflection between nature and humans, the question remains how long this effect lasts. The question here is how to create relations in the long term and turn them into lasting relationships. In the NDC’s final discussions the participants explained at times they are far away from a deep relationship with nature and yet the design workshop offers a new experimental format where it can feel partially out of their comfort zone. The participants discussed that awareness building is not for everyone, yet the format can be adjusted to reach out to individuals which are currently not participating in the ongoing sustainability discourse. An adjusted format can spark ideas for a broader audience to come up with follow-up initiatives. It is essential for future design projects that everyone regardless of their background can participate in such a design intervention. In that way, the format might be a catalyst for all.
Employing my previous practice background in the fields of design and sustainability and growing up in an Austrian alpine region was essential to collect data and
work with the alpine community. The data collection was conducted with the following different methods. To inform the design intervention, relevant literature
and case studies were researched to find the clues of community, more-than-human perception, and building relations with nature when facing environmental, social, and economic challenges. Valuable findings from applied design practices in comparable case studies were adapted later for this design project context.
After this initial research critical questions for the semistructured interviews were developed. Qualitative data was collected by conducting eight semi-structured
interviews with individuals actively involved in different roles in the alpine community, which included: politics, tourism, agriculture, sustainability, culture,
design, and where some individuals have different roles at the same time. The online interviews with the individuals took place to embed the author as designer
and earn the stakeholders’ trust to collaborate shortly and beyond. The collected research data mentioned above was reviewed thoroughly and then used for the further development of the design camp setup, design workshop prototype, toolkit, experiments, and exercises. The toolkit was tested with a group of 2nd year embedded design master students at HDK-Valand. A reflection experiment and crafting exercise was tested within a design and posthumanism guest lecture and workshop at KV Konstskola. The outcome of the tests was further reflected and developed by scholars from posthumanism, design, art, and research of HDKValand.
All activities mentioned above took place in Gothenburg, Sweden. After the design intervention, the participants filled out a feedback form to finalize the data collection.
The Studio recommends involving other designers in the NDC’s development and execution. It can be challenging working individually with such complex topics, as the designer does not want to bias the design method and influence the outcome as little as possible and only as much as necessary. With this kind of design intervention, the Studio claims that the most positive impact is made by reflecting and then sharing the experiences with the design community. This enables other designers and artists to pick up the design method and artistic practice and to use it as a template to start similar design interventions themselves. For this reason, the Studio will continue his work beyond this project to contribute further to the research and design community. This project eventually leads in a direction where we can create meaningful relationships for the more-than-human by applying an embedded eco-social design and artistic practice. This project might act as a trailblazer, incubator, and template for further design projects with more-than-human ambitions in the entangled community of nature and humans.
