The Institute for Technology in the Interest of Worms
"Masterclass" Sint Lucas, 11-15 December 2023

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EN: What might an Institute for Technology in the Interest of Worms look like, what would it do and how would it work? Would there be hybrid meetings, muddy gatherings or underground artificial networks? How would such an imaginary institute archive, communicate and resolve conflicts, if at all? This workshop is an experiment, a collective exercise to design a technological infrastructure that radically accommodates other species, such as, for example ... worms.

Digital infrastructure does not stop at zeros and ones, cables and devices. It also involves the interaction between social, material, political and emotional structures. The way those structures are organized supports some lives and not others. Therefore, during this intensive week we will try out protocols, standards and images for an imaginary institution that centers wormlike creatures. Zoumana, Martino and Femke set the scene with micro-excursions, movement exercises and playful experiments with electronic devices. Nematodes (microscopic worms), teletypes (an early machine to send and receive messages over a network), imbricated servers and beaver burrows inspire The Institute for Technology in the Interest of Worms to organize technology differently.
 
"In the wormhole, the worm creates an infrastructure to maintain itself in the world: the hole fits the worm, but only if it moves." (On the inconvenience of other people, Lauren Berlant)

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NL: Hoe zou een Instituut voor Technologie in het Belang van Wormen er uit kunnen zien, wat zou het doen en hoe zou het werken? Zouden er hybride vergaderingen zijn, modderige bijeenkomsten of ondergrondse artificiele netwerken? Hoe zou zo'n imaginair instituut archiveren, communiceren en conflicten oplossen, als het dat al doet? Of hebben wormen daar geen belang bij? Deze werkweek is een experiment, een collectieve oefening om een technologische infrastructuur te ontwerpen die radicaal plaats maakt voor andere soorten, zoals bijvoorbeeld ... wormen. 

Digitale infrastructuur bestaat uit nullen en enen, kabels en apparaten. Maar het is ook een wisselwerking tussen sociale, materiële, politieke en emotionele structuren. De manier waarop die structuren zijn georganiseerd ondersteunt sommige levens wel en andere niet. Tijdens deze intensieve week verzinnen we daarom nieuwe protocollen, regels en beelden voor een imaginair instituut waarin wormen centraal staan. Zoumana, Martino en Femke zetten de toon met micro-excursies, bewegingsoefeningen en speelse experimenten met elektronische apparaten. We laten ons daarbij inspireren door nematoden (microscopisch kleine aaltjes), teletypes (de eerste machines om berichten over een netwerk te versturen), ingebedde servers en beverholen. The Institute for Technology in the Interest of Worms gaat over technologie die niet enkel het belang van (sommige) mensen dient.
 
"In het wormgat creëert de worm een infrastructuur om zichzelf in de wereld te handhaven: het gat past de worm, maar alleen zolang de worm beweegt." (Over het ongemak van andere mensen, Lauren Berlant)

PRACTICAL

Our shared language is English, but we are happy to translate to French, Italian and Dutch. Both master students Sint Lucas (all week) and artists working at Fameus/De Connectie (in and out) will participate in this week. We'll work together on ways to welcome each other.

Changing protocol

PROGRAMME

Monday 11 December at SLA Campus M1 Van Schoonbekestraat 143, 2018 Antwerpen
[Fameus/De Connectie: for the first day it is preferred to join the whole day]

Tuesday 12 December at Fameus (Rehearsal space) Zirkstraat 36, 2000 Antwerpen + Slachthuislaan 23, 2060 Antwerpen
[Fameus/De Connectie: you are welcome to join, just the morning at fameus or the afternoon at archipel is fine]

Wednesday 13 December excursion to Brussels
[Fameus/De Connectie: you are welcome to join, for the whole day or just for the museum visit in the morning]

Thursday 14 December: Fameus (Theatre space) Zirkstraat 36, 2000 Antwerpen
[Fameus/De Connectie: you are welcome to join, also just the morning or just the afternoon]

Friday 15 December: SLA Campus K.02.14 Van Schoonbekestraat 143, 2018 Antwerpen
[Fameus/De Connectie: if you haven't joined the group before, you are welcome to the afternoon presentation]

BIOGRAPHIES
 
Zoumana Meïte is a performing artist and dramaturge. With a background in improvisation, Zoumana questions the place of the performer’s imagination in the scenic creation process. In his performances he moves with radio-waves, ink-drops and the memories of his own and other bodies. He worked as an actor, director and dramaturgical consultant and participated in the a.pass program for artistic research in Brussels where he investigated common modes of representation and their reproduction through artistic techniques, divination devices and new media technologies.
 
Martino Morandi searches for residual potentials in the genealogies of present technology to support recalcitrant futures. He researches the tangle of and our entanglements with socio-technical systems and is interested in the politics of our interactions with technology at different scales, from power plants to bio texts.
 
Femke snelting develops projects at the intersection of publishing, feminisms, and Free Software. In various constellations she works on re-imagining computational practices to disinvest from technological monoculture. With Miriyam Aouragh, Seda Gürses and Helen Pritchard she runs The Institute for Technology in the Public Interest. With Jara Rocha, she edited Volumetric Regimes: Material Cultures of Quantified Presence (Open Humanities Press, 2022).

READING/VIEWING

“The Commons: Infrastructures for Troubling Times.” In On the Inconvenience of Other People. London: Duke University Press, 2022. (start at p92 “Turning from men” and end at p98 “with no boundary lines.”)

Herbert, Frank. Dune, 1965. (p129-p141, but you can play a game too)

Lewis, Sophie, and Bini Adamczak. “Six Years (and Counting) of Circlusion.” The New Inquiry, August 22, 2022. https://thenewinquiry.com/six-years-and-counting-of-circlusion/

Political, Feminist Constitution of the State: The Impossible Country We Build as Women https://hemisphericinstitute.org/en/emisferica-11-1-decolonial-gesture/11-1-dossier/constitucion-politica-feminista-del-estado-el-pais-imposible-que-construimos-las-mujeres.html (this text was written by María Galindo and the Mujeres Creando collective during the Bolivian constitutional process)

Diawara, Manthia, dir. 2010. Edouard Glissant: One World in Relation. (50mins.)

Bennet, Jane. “Political Ecologies.” In Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things, 94–109. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2010. (p100-109, more worms)