A lively body of work in the social sciences is highlighting the role of design in rethinking our relationship with the more-than-human, whether through the development of learning methods based on experimentation and sensory immersion, or through so-called "ontological" design – a concept borrowed to anthropologist Arturo Escobar –, which would participate in opening alternative ways of relating and cobecoming with other entities in complex ecological entanglements. 

My research draws from these foundations to explore alternative methods to compose with the more-than-human in urban practices. It is part of my doctoral thesis, at the crossroads of Science and technology studies (STS) and design research, in an attempt to break with the indicator-based tools that flourish in the urban field in France. I investigate the extent to which tools based on an ontological design approach can concretely work towards alternative urban realities where humans and non-humans were led to develop more interdependent relationships.

In this talk, I will present my doctoral thesis research, as well as past projects designing sensitive interfaces with the urban living environment and the research-creation work I carry out at ARCUS Research residency program this summer

About Léone-Alix Mazaud

Léone-Alix Mazaud is an artist and a PhD candidate at the Center for the Sociology of Innovation (CSI) in Paris, France, and in collaboration with the architectural practice PCA-Stream. She works at the intersection of Science and technology studies and Design research. Her work focuses on the relationships human societies develop with the rest of the living world in relation with the way they design their built environments and the tools and technologies they use for that purpose. Through design experiments of alternative tools based on sentient and sensitive approaches, combining visual, computational and sonic materials, she explores speculated alternative urban realities to make more-than-human entities count in urban production and allow for multispecies worldings.

• The workshop and talk will be in English
• Participation is free
• Please register for the Workshop on Peatix (free), to secure your place!
• Go to our BioClub Discord to get in touch with Léone-Alix (@leonalixma)