form Design Podcast

Live vom Driving the Human-Festival in Berlin. Mit Romy Kaiser und Paula Nerlichvom Projekt „Human-Bacteria Interfaces“.Alles wäre so viel einfacher, wenn das, was wir Natur nennen, dieselbe Sprache spräche wiewir. Wälder zu roden oder Ozeane zu verpesten würde zur moralischen Mutprobe, wenn Bäume „Ich glaub’, es hackt!” murren oder Wale: „Geht’s noch?” fluchen würden, sobald man ihnen zu Leibe rückte. Daran, dass diese Utopie bald Realität werden kann, tüfteln Anne-Sofie Belling, Bea Delgado Corrales, Romy Kaiser und Paula Nerlich. Der interdisziplinäre Zusammenschluss aus Biologinnen und Designerinnen arbeitet am Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment an Mensch-Bakterien-Interfaces. Noch ist das Projekt spekulativ, aber großes Potenzial hat es: Natürlich geht es nicht darum, einem Myzel Englisch beizubringen. Vielmehr ergründen die Forscherinnen, welche Eigenschaften verschiedene Bakterien bereits mitbringen, die so eingesetzt werden können, dass Mensch und Bakterium miteinander in Interaktion treten. Wie genau das aussehen könnte, erklären Romy und Paula im Interview.
Credits
Moderation: Anton Rahlwes, Nina Sieverding
Schnitt: Niklas Münch

Welcome to the sixth and final special episode from the Driving the Human festival! Yuri Tuma is an old acquaintance of ours – or should we say an old friend? We first met him in 2021 in the legendary summer school Domaine de Boisbuchet where he was causing some attention because he was wearing a plush tail attached to his trousers with a little red bow dangling from the end. Just recently, he had been hanging out a lot in the online message boards of the “furries” – a subculture that worships anthropomorphic animals. But apart from geeky subcultures, Yuri has a lot of other interesting things to talk about. The sound artist from São Paulo is one of the founding members of the Institute for Postnatural Studies in Madrid that challenges our concept of nature. Recently, Yuri is also diving into the field of art mediation. And that’s exactly why Driving the Human called him to give a special kind of guided tour at the festival site. Listen to the podcast to find out what connects mediation and meditation – and to enjoy a spontanious meditation session by Yuri.
Hosts: Anton Rahlwes, Nina Sieverding
Audio Editing: Tobias Hausdorf

Welcome to our fifth episode from the Driving the Human festival! When we met Brigitte Baptiste, we were kind of intimidated because her CV made such an impact on us. She is a biologist from Colombia. She was the director of the Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute for nearly 10 years. She currently serves as the President of the Ean University. She is considered an expert on environmental and biodiversity issues. And she is called an activist by some.
We talked with her about what queer ecology is, her coming-out as a transgender person 25 years ago which changed her view on ecology drastically and things that give her hope these days. This might be our favourite episode from the festival, so give it a listen.
Hosts: Anton Rahlwes, Nina Sieverding
Audio Editing: Tobias Hausdorf

Welcome to our third episode recorded at the Driving the Human festival in Berlin! If you’re living in a city, you’re probably familiar with some kind of urban gardening project – maybe there’s even one in your neighborhood. Artist Vincent Rumahloine and environmental activist Mang Dian are part of the worldwide movement, they also founded an urban gardening project in their home town of Bandung, Indonesia. But what exactly makes the project called Sedekah Benih (“Sharing Seeds”) so unique? First, they’re only harvesting chili plants. Second, they are using traditional Indonesian ways of making music to communicate with the plants. Also, the space has gotten a life on its own: With various activities like cooking competitions (“Who makes the best chili paste?”) it is slowly becoming a safer space for the LGBTQIA community of Bandung. CreditsHosted by Anton Rahlwes and Nina Sieverding Audio Editing: Niklas Münch

Welcome to our first episode recorded at the Driving the Human festival in Berlin. In this episode we talked to Andra Pop-Jurj and Lena Geerts Danau who exhibited one of the projects. “Monsters and Ghosts of the Far North“ is an interactive multiplayer experience dealing with alternative forms of cartographing. Based on scientific research and real life data, Andra and Lena created a video game where you can experience the life of a caribou, a bird or other non-human species of the Arctic region. The game also visualizes different scenarios which could happen to the Arctic region in the future due to climate change. In this special episode of the form design podcast, recorded live at the Driving the Human festival in November 2022, we talked to Andra and Lena about their project, their research and their trip to Iceland.CreditsHosted by Anton Rahlwes and Nina Sieverding Audio Editing: Niklas Münch