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How does the nobody shape thinking and being in the world? We take a wide view of the body, including human bodies, animal bodies, plants, machines but also institutions and structured processes.
In this seminar, we will read key sections from James Bridle's Book “Ways of Being” (2022), in which he uses his own artistic practice alongside natural and social sciences, philosophy and speculation to investigate the shifting boundaries of what we call ‘intelligence’. We will expand on this book, by looking at some of the background texts and positions, but also examining practical examples for more than human approaches in art and design.
Requirements:
- 80% Presence
- Participation in readings, group presentations and discussions
Further Resources:
Mo 11.05.2026
09:00–18:00, ZT 4.T37
On the birth on art, religion and politics by neurologically modern humans Upper Paleolithic (50'000-12'000 BC)
Lewis-Williams, David, E. Thomas Lawson, Knut Helskog, David S. Whitley, and Paul Mellars. 2003. “Review Feature: A Review of The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art by David Lewis-Williams.” Cambridge Archaeological Journal 13 (2): 263–79. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774303000155.
- Overview, David Lewis-Williams, 263-267
Lewis-Williams, J. David. 2002. The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art. Thames & Hudson.
- Chapter 7: An Origin of Image Making, read: 180-196
Watch: Werner Herzog: Cave of Forgotten Dreams, 89 min 2010, watch: 01:05:40 - 01:22:50
Afternoon
“Umwelt”: Relationship between subject and world
- Uexküll, Jakob von. 1992. “A Stroll through the Worlds of Animals and Men: A Picture Book of Invisible Worlds (1934).” Semiotica 89: 319–91, Read, 319-32 (PDF)
- Nagel, Thomas. 1974. “What Is It Like to Be a Bat?” The Philosophical Review 83 (4): 435. (PDF)
- Thomas Thwaites: Goat Man, 2016, https://www.thomasthwaites.com/a-holiday-from-being-human-goatman/
- Becoming a goat to avoid existential dread (with Thomas Thwaites), Clearer Thinking Podcast, (August 8, 2024), Start at 57:14, https://podcast.clearerthinking.org/episode/222/thomas-thwaites-becoming-a-goat-to-avoid-existential-dread/
- Thwaites, Thomas. 2016. GoatMan: How I Took a Holiday from Being Human. First edition. Princeton Architectural Press.
Tues 12.05.2026
09:00–18:00 ZT 3.K08
Analog institutions, AI systems, and Biology
- Alain Resnais. All the Memory in the World (Toute la mémoire du monde). 1956, 21 min, https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/all-the-worlds-memories-alain-resnais/
- Somaini, Antonio, ed. 2025. “A Theory of Latent Spaces.” In World through AI: Exploring Latent Spaces, with Quentin Bajac, Ada Ackerman, Noam Milgrom Elcott, and Tim Trombley. Jean Boite Editions.
- James Bridle: Ways of Being
- all: Introduction
- Group 1: Thinking Otherwise
- Group 2: Seeing like a planet
- all: Solidarity
Wed 13.05.2026
09:00–18:00 ZT 3.K13
Plant Intelligence
- Volkart, Yvonne. 2025. Editorial. Plant Intelligence – Towards a Vegetal Aesthetics / Editorial. Plant Intelligence – Towards a Vegetal Aesthetics. June 29. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.15768364. (read 1-10)
- Fuller, Matthew. 2025. Days Are as Grass. On Karel Miler’s “Felt by Fresh Grass,” Plant Intelligence and Expanded Aesthetics. June 29. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.15768436.
Afternoon
Exhibition: More than Human—Designing with Nature https://museum-gestaltung.ch/en/exhibition/more-human-designing-nature
Task: Choose one work; how is the non-human modeled? What materialities are involved? What role to they play?
Thu 14.05.2026
official holiday, school closed
Fr 15.05.2026
09:00–12:00 ZT 6.F01
Mi, You. 2025. “A Different Endpoint Qian Xuesen and Cosmotechnics.” In Machine Decision Is Not Final: China and the History and Future of Artificial Intelligence, edited by Benjamin H. Bratton, Anna Greenspan, Amy Ireland, and Bogna Konior. Urbanomic.
hi Qing (石青), Qian Xuesen and the Yangtze River Computer (钱学森和长江计算机), single-channel video, 2021.