The Terraforming 2021

Applications are now open for the second cycle of The Terraforming at the Strelka Institute.

The Terraforming (https://theterraforming.strelka.com/) is a three-year (2020–2022) design-research initiative of the Strelka Institute in Moscow, directed by Benjamin H. Bratton. The program runs as an interdisciplinary design think-tank and will host contributions from multiple faculty and experts including Nandita Sharma, Reza Negarestani, Nicholas De Monchaux, Helen Hester, Thomas Moynihan, Holly Jean Buck, Jussi Parikka, Chen Qiufan, Anya Bernstein, Metahaven, Nicolay Boyadjiev, Blaise Agüera y Arcas, Robert Pietrusko, Kim Stanley Robinson, Liam Young and many others. The program explores the geotechnical, geourban, and geopolitical conditions by which a viable planetarity can be conceived, modeled, and articulated. 

The next program cycle invites a group of 30 interdisciplinary researchers to join the initaitve for 5 months from March-July 2021.*

The Terraforming refers both to the terraforming that has taken place over the last century and millennia over the course of urbanisation, and to the terraforming that must now be planned and conducted as the planetary design initiative of the next century if true catastrophes are to be prevented. The term “terraforming” usually refers to transforming the ecosystems of other planets or moons to make them capable of supporting Earth-like life, but the looming ecological consequences of what is called the Anthropocene suggest that in the decades to come, we will need to terraform Earth if it is to remain a viable host for Earth-like life. 

The second cycle of think-tank continues to explore the implications of this proposition for urbanism at planetary scale, while shifting in focus and emphasis. If the first year of the program emphasized the remaking of the planet itself (and remaking ourselves thereby), the second year will emphasize remaking ourselves (and remaking the planet thereby). For this, the group will consider the difficult relation between the planetary as a precedent condition, revealed over time, and the composition of artificial totalities that not only organize that condition, but contribute to its disclosure. In addition to the themes explored in year one—from space law to carbon sequestration, from new farmers almanacs to new jobs for the military—The Terraforming 2021 is adding another chapter of motivating conundrums in the form of 4 new research themes: Populations, Zoning Earth, Anthropoforming, and Modes of Planetarity.

Watch The Terraforming 2021 Program Presentation by Benjamin H.Bratton elaborating on the new themes and research direction.

The program is free of charge (+ monthly stipend) and invites architects, urbanists, filmmakers, media theorists, historians, philosophers, science-fiction writers, artists, engineers, economists, political scientists, ecologists, anthropologists and graphic designers to apply and work collaboratively on interdisciplinary projects at the intersection of cinema, text and speculative design-research.

*The program is planned to run offline in Moscow from March-July 2021, but the team is monitoring the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions closely and may transition the program online or to a hybrid format as required. Additional announcements with regards to the format will be made in the coming month. If you have any questions contact us at apply@strelka.com.

Deadline for applications is November 10, 2020 (23:59 GMT+3) 

Strelka Institute is a non-profit educational institution founded in 2009 in Moscow, Russia.