Biophilia: A handful of earth

Biophilia, as holy as it may sound, is the hope for the wounded lives of earth that have been under the threat of the global pandemic and environmental disasters caused by human activities. With the advent of a time referred to as the post-corona age defined by the (post) viral pandemic, we’ve eventually come to look into humanity as one of the species of the ecosystem. In fact, the discourses of lives on earth are not new. The abstractness of the campaigns for environment protection that have been lingering around us for decades made us regard them as a sort of civic group- or the government-led propaganda. News about climate anomaly or glacier melting seem far distant compared to the turbulent civilization around us; we’ve often thought them as activists making a fuss about nothing. However, now in 2020, those shouts for earth that used to be considered merely as slogans have become a code of conduct for survival. Only now when the virus attack has caused the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives every day, a retaliation of violating the territory of nature, humans are realizing that the they are actually in the same cycle with nature. Humans who have arrogantly distinguished themselves from nature have awakened biophilia innate within them and are readying themselves to learn the attitude and ethics for coexistence. From limitless competition to balance, isolation to interdependence, destructive Anthropocene to a creative and peaceful Anthropocene, humans are moving forward towards a new change. Human nature of love of life that stems from the sense of awe in the diversity of lives latent in a handful of earth will fill in positive energy that can transform the world.

2020 ACC_R Residency
Seeing its 5th year after its inception in May, 2016, ACC_R Residency has been shifting from the existing formats and expanding genres and fields. This experimental platform has been inviting creators and researchers from Asia and other parts of the world. To reflect on the challenges the humanity is facing and create contemporary discourse, 2020 Residency program has chosen Biophilia as its theme. Three programs, ACC_R Creators, ACC_R Design and ACC_R Dialogue were run in close connection, organically supplementing each other. Participants ranging from the fields of research, critic, design, culture, art and theory have been inspirations for each other, exchanging ideas and developing unique projects through works based on science and technology, workshops, seminars, research tours and matching programs, the outcomes of which are presented here. ACC_R Residency will continue to offer platforms for different professionals including artists, engineers, designers and researchers to promote the exchange of knowledge, experience and technique and play the role as a multicultural interface.

#ACC_R Creators
ACC_R Creators supports experiments based on art and technology testing creative and future-oriented ideas. Specialists in various fields such as artists, researchers and engineers are invited to use the infrastructure of ACT Studio to create their own project and lead the overall process from planning, researching, production to collaboration and exhibition.

#ACC_R Design
ACC_R Design is a residency program for the development of cultural goods based on graphic contents specifically designed for ACC. This exhibition presents objects and videos embodying the design process and the graphics created by participants will be applied to various items that will symbolize and remember ACC.

#ACC_R Dialogue
ACC_R Dialogue, first presented in 2020, attempts to reflect on and make positive changes for the society by exploring various perspectives and social discourses with thinkers, sociologists, scientists and many others. Starting from culture and art, it aims at realizing interdisciplinary collaboration with humanities studies, sociology and science and will share the research in various forms such as publications and academic events.