WORKSHOP – Visualising the Digital Environmental Humanities

Workshop: Visualising the Digital Environmental Humanities

This 4-hour workshop delves into the Digital Environmental Humanities from a visual (photographic) perspective.

Through interactive discussion, image critique and a field trip, we’ll explore the ‘digital turn’ in photography, and then move beyond this binary to discuss more pressing themes such as:

  • How the tools and techniques of the Digital Environmental Humanities affect the way we observe, visualise, record, interpret and ‘know’ the natural world.
  • Whether digitally mediated visualisations can help us conceive novel interpretations of environmental issues.
  • How the digital age disrupts notions of time, space and scale, and affects our perceptions of the environment.
  • The intersections of the environment with AI and non-human photography.
  • How we might best critique the environmental and social justice impacts of digital technologies.

PRESENTER: Alison is an ecologist and professional environmental photographer who has been documenting biodiversity and environmental change for three decades. Alison is the Volkswagen Foundation Visiting Professor at the Rachel Carson Centre until the end of 2024.

Further events can be viewed at this link.

BOOKINGS: jonatan.palmblad@rcc.lmu.de

DATE: Friday 30 September 2024

VENUE: Where: Conference room, fourth floor, RCC

TIME: 10:00–14:00

FURTHER INFO:

This event is open to all Rachel Carson Centre scholars, fellows, students and academics.

FORAY – Slow Mushrooming

FORAY: Slow Mushrooming

Fungi are diverse, delicious, and sometimes deadly. With interest in foraging for wild food on the rise, learning to accurately identify fungi reduces both poisoning risk to humans and harm to the environment. Developing the skills to find fungi requires slowness, not speed. Following the notion of “ecological foraging”—an approach based on care, conservation, and an understanding of ecosystem dynamics—participants will head to the English Garden and engage multiple senses to identify both edible and toxic fungi.

But beyond culinary mushrooms, fungi underpin the healthy functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. They create and stabilize soils, recycle organic matter, unite with plants, and provide vital nourishment for numerous creatures. During the foray, participants will look not just for mushrooms, but for the tracks and traces that reveal the presence of fungi and their workings in the subterrain.

What do fungi tell us about forest and soil health? How can we foster their flourishing in our local parks and gardens? Can fungi provide valuable metaphors to rethink human systems and actions?

As we wander, participants will consider fungi through many lenses to elaborate their ecological, cultural, social, philosophical, ecocritical, and other significances.

The foray will be followed by a shared picnic lunch and a discussion and marvel at all things fungal.

There is only a limited number of spots and preference will be given to doctoral students. More Information here.

To register, please send an email to Lotta Ortheil at lotta.ortheil@gmx.de.

Further events can be viewed at this link.

BOOKINGS:Lotta Ortheil at lotta.ortheil@gmx.de

DATE: Friday 25 October 2024

VENUE: English Garden, Munich

TIME: 10:00–13:00

MORE INFO

Open to Rachel Carson Centre doctoral students 

WORKSHOP – Visualising the Environment

Photography Workshop: Visualising the Environment

Photographic images shape perceptions and the ways we understand the environment.

This highly interactive workshop explores a wide range of environmental themes through an illustrated seminar, active discussion, constructive image critique, and a practical field trip. It goes beyond the literal representations of “nature photography” to address the thought processes behind creating compelling and meaningful environmental images.

Through discussion of individual research, participants will explore various ways to develop observational, sensory, and creative skills to improve the impact and interpretative power of images.

Where do aesthetics, environmental history, and photography converge? How can we develop visual concepts to express ideas that do not necessarily translate to words? And how can we visualize environmental issues such as climate change that are often abstract and insidious?

The workshop is suitable for people with all levels of environmental knowledge and photographic skill (although participants would be expected to know how to operate their cameras/phones). Travel and accommodation costs are covered by the RCC.

As the workshop is also open to a few students from our study programs, space is limited. Please express your interest to participate in an email to anna-maria.walter@lmu.de.

Further events can be viewed at this link.

BOOKINGS: anna-maria.walter@lmu.de.

DATES: 22.11.2024 – 24.11.2024

VENUE: Studienhaus Gut Schönwag, Schönwag 4, 82405 Wessobrunn

BOOKINGS: anna-maria.walter@lmu.de.

FURTHER INFO:

This event is open to Rachel Carson Centre scholars, fellows, students and academics.