Belonging to a territory is the phenomenon most in need of rethinking and careful 
redescription; learning new ways to inhabit the Earth is our biggest challenge. 

Bringing us down to earth is the task of politics today. 
Bruno Latour. Down to Earth: Politics in the new climatic regime (2018) 
 

The key conceptual tool for overcoming our current environmental problems is 
temporality, not spatiality.

Appreciating the temporal involves emphasising rhythmicities, timings and 
tempos, changes and contiguities. 
Barbara Adams. Timescapes of Modernity: The environment and invisible hazards (1998) 

 

Considering both Latour and Adams’ quotes requires conceptualising the landscape as a place that is extensive, intensive and full of temporal and material qualities. As such, we frame this studio as exploring Vibrant Matter. We deploy this lens as a concept, exploring an oscillation in scale, between the scale of Vibrant Matter, of embodiments of humans and other species, objects, and technologies, in relation to the territorial scale of a regional landscape, extending from the local, to the global and even to the planetary/cosmic. Working through these scales involves scoping out the multitude of systemic reference points, structures, systems and processes that have potential in shaping the future landscape. 

Situated in South-East of Scotland, as a place where many relational scales converge, intersect and extend from, this region offers many sites of interest, and given its long history of extraction industries, offers space to sculpt space and process in bold, intensive and ambitious ways. The aim of this studio is toward the dynamic staging and cultivation of new ecologies, as Vibrant Matter including social, ecological, and technological aggregations.