Join us for a study day of the "Physarum polycephalum", a slime mold, or myxomycete, popularly known as the Blob, in the context of the yearly trajectory called Otherworldly communications.

Otherworldly communications is framed by researching interspecies cohabitation and communication which, we hope, will tell us about ways of relating to and engaging with technological regimes and apparatus different from those that are damaging worlds.

This study day is meant to critically engage with different conceptions of the ’other’ (as in: other than human, otherworldly and otherings) and their myriad of entanglements as conditions for life. We have invited contributors committed to practices and theories which will help us thinking about/ with the blob through resistance/refusal, queerness, solidarity and opacity.

We have invited these contributors using one prompt: a small note written by the science-fiction author Octavia Butler on the blob. The contributors will respond to this note through their own practice, medium et sensitivities. The contributors have carte blanche but the day might be made of talks and exchanges, sound piece listening and/or a small workshop.

Participation + Reservation
Participation is free.
Reservation is required as places are limited; first come, first served.
Reserve by sending an email to: peter@constantvzw.org
The day will be from 10:00 till 17:00 with several breaks throughout the day
A small lunch will be provided but please don’t hesitate to bring some of your own delicacies to fill the collective table.

Accessibility
Wheelchair accessible entrance + toilet + meeting space
Parking in the street is usually available, we can block a parking if let us know

Language
Main communication language is English
Whisper translation to French and Dutch can be organised on the spot.

Bio’s
Helen Pritchard
Helen V. Pritchard is an artist-designer, geographer, activist and queer love theorist. Their work considers how computational infrastructures and digital media impact social and environmental practice. Helen works with participatory and creative practice methods for co-research, drawing on trans*feminist and queer approaches.
(https://criticalmedialab.ch/people/helen-pritchard/)

Luz de Amor
Works as a non-binary latinx artist currently living in Brussels, writing fiction and theorizing about feelings.
(https://issuu.com/xoxodelight)

Anne Laure Buisson
Feminist activist, statistician and data scientist, working on mobility and environmental data, finding information hidden in data, quality assessment, predictive analytics, descriptive analytics. Loves feminist queer Science-fiction and film. Anne Laure is a board member of Interface3, promoting women’s access to IT.

TBC ...
We hope to welcome someone trained as a biologist who has been in contact with the blob through their work/research.

Image: Bernard Spragg. Creative Commons Public Domain Mark.