Interspecies Future: A Primer
A first collection of writing on interspecies thinking
Interspecies Future: A Primer edited by K Allado-McDowell, Julia Kaganskiy, Bettina Kames, Corinne Mynatt.
A World after the Anthropocene
LAS Art Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of Interspecies Future: A Primer, the first collection of writing on interspecies thinking, which brings together more than 60 contributions from leading artists, scientists, technologists and philosophers.
An interspecies future is one where humankind adopts a more planetary, empathetic and inclusive approach to nonhumans, recognising our shared interdependence. Incorporating advancements in technology and science, new discoveries in nonhuman intelligence, as well as posthuman theory and Indigenous knowledge, we can usher in a new era of interspecies relations – to the benefit of all living beings.
Interspecies Future: A Primer is a foundational text exploring this possibility from multiple perspectives, in the form of case studies, essays, summaries of scientific research, artists’ texts and augmented reality animations. Work by artists including Jakob Kudsk Steensen, Anicka Yi, Jenna Sutela, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Josèfa Ntjam, terra0, James Bridle and Tomás Saraceno is featured alongside texts from leading scientists such as Karen Bakker, Daniel Chamovitz, Mirjam Knörschild, Dorion Sagan, Tom Mustill and Kristin Andrews, as well as writings by notable philosophers Sue Donaldson, Tyson Yunkaporta, Vinciane Despret and Benjamin Bratton, among others.
Augmented Reality Chapters
Each chapter opens with an augmented reality animation, activated by a smartphone camera. These portals explore the five conceptual chapter headings that shape the book: Imagination, Intelligence, Communication, Cooperation and Agency, and are made by art and design studio Wang & Söderström. In addition, selected images in the book are also smartphone-activated, connecting readers to video, audio and 3D content from artists and scientists.
The origins of this book are in a symposium held in July 2022 at Berlin’s Museum für Naturkunde. Organised by LAS Art Foundation and chaired by K Allado-McDowell, Bettina Kames, Johannes Vogel and J. M. Ledgard, it sought to initiate an intellectual gathering place for interspecies ideas.
‘For too long, human civilisation has operated as if we are the only species that matters. This belief in our own exceptionalism gave rise to a planet so transformed by human activity that we have come to shape its climate, geology and ecosystems – to the detriment of ourselves and millions of other species besides. It’s time to embrace a new, planetary and interspecies modus operandi, one that understands the planet as an indivisible, entangled whole. It requires collaborating across differences in order to meet the existential challenges we face.’
- BETTINA KAMES, DIRECTOR OF LAS
Available here
01
Biographies
04
Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg
Jakob Kudsk Steensen
Josèfa Ntjam
terra0
Credits
Interspecies Future: A Primer. Commissioned by LAS Art Foundation. Berlin, April 2024.
BOOK CREDITS
LAS PROJECT TEAM
THANKS
K Allado-McDowell, The Allen Institute, Kristin Andrews, Kate Armstrong, Karen Bakker, Phillip Ball, Andrew Barron, Dayna Baumeister, Benjamin H. Bratton, James Bridle, Joanna J. Bryson, Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, Daniel Chamovitz, Alenda Y. Chang, Ian Cheng, Emanuele Coccia, Kensy Cooperrider, Shezad Dawood, Vinciane Despret, Patricia Domínguez, Sue Donaldson, Jack Faber, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Kathelin Gray, Remina Greenfield, David Gruber, Talia Heiman, Joey Holder, Ned Horning, Maya Indira Ganesh, Interspecifics, Interspecies.io, Suzanne Kite, Mirjam Knörnschild, Kei Kreutler, Jakob Kudsk Steensen, Klaas Kuitenbrouwer, Agnieszka Kurant, J.M. Ledgard, Jes Lefcourt, Tao Leigh Goffe, Andrea Leiter, Jovana Maksić, Eva Meijer, Sohrab Mohebbi, Timothy Morton, Tom Mustill, Corinne Mynatt, Nicolas Nova, Josèfa Ntjam, Nisha Owen, Chen Quifan, Dorion Sagan, Oscar Salguero, Tomás Saraceno, Aliya Say, Ted Schmitt, Robertina Sebjanič, Miriam Simun, Radha D’Souza, Daniel Steegmann Mangrané, Jenna Sutela, terra0, Jakob Johann von Uexküll, Austin Wade Smith, Grant Wilson, Christine Winter (Ngati Kahungunu, Pākehā), Günseli Yalcinkaya, Anicka Yi, Tyson Yunkaporta.
