The Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Decorative Arts) is launching a new discursive platform with pop-up exhibitions, lectures, workshops and discussion panels to explore the complex more-than-human concept from the perspective of the creative disciplines, particularly design. At the same time, a speculative cabinet of curiosities considering previously neglected contributions by non-human agents will develop.

The more-than-human viewpoint encompasses a spectrum of transdisciplinary theories and approaches that question conventional anthropocentric perspectives and call for a paradigm shift towards a more intensive interconnectedness between humans and the environment. The American feminist scholar Donna Haraway introduced the term “natureculture” into the discourse to draw attention to existing interdependencies between human and non-human species on our planet. The blurring of boundaries between nature and culture calls for new ways of thinking about power and agency, difference and communality, atmospheres and epistemology.

Against the backdrop of the current climate crisis and growing resource scarcity, creative disciplines such as architecture and design are also being scrutinised. Therefore, the question arises: How does the more-than-human idea impact a design concept or philosophy focused on people and their needs? What does design imply in a world no longer dominated by modernity’s prevailing vision of progress? Which alternative action spaces emerge when production practices are no longer geared to exploiting life forms and resources? What might a holistic design process entail that allows for the integration of non-human life forms and ecosystems? Who are the agents in such a transformation? What role do technologies and artificial intelligence play in these entangled histories?

From the perspective of a museum dedicated to design, and thus to all facets of shaping society and the world we live in, we must pose the question: In the areas of storytelling and civic engagement, what other forms and possibilities arise from a more-than-human approach?

Curator

The More than Human platform is curated by Claudia Banz, curator at the Kunstgewerbemuseum. The project has been devised as a project developing in dialogue and collaboration with international participants from transdisciplinary contexts that will materialise in various formats at the Kunstgewerbemuseum in 2024.

More than Human has its own website presenting details about the individual subprojects and their dates.

A special exhibition by the Kunstgewerbemuseum – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin