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Fara Peluso

@farapeluso

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Bioartist - designer
Material Curator of the Living Library Project at HfG Karlsruhe @biodesignlab_hfgk
Hydrofeminist in a constant state of becoming.

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Between 2024 and 2026, I have been working as the material curator of the Living Library project, together with: Julia Ihls (head of project, coordinator), Pleun van Dijk and Jaap Knevel (digital curators), Lilith Stumpf (coordination assistant), Luzia Holzbach and Benjamin Kaltenbach (material curation assistants), Cornelia Herzog, Pauline Kuch, and Sebastian Schilbach (digital curation assistants).

My research and practice have been focused on organic materials, bioregional resources and realities, DIY material design and remediation, and writing. For the Living Library, I have proposed a material physical archive focused on circular and resilient logics rooted in sympoietic relations and more-than-human inclusivity. This approach led me to develop concepts and writings on ‚sympoietic material library‘ and ‚wisdom of worms‘, among others. Such material practice has been developed with the precious assistance of the students Luzia Holzbach, Benjamin Kaltenbach and the support of the Living Library team, with whom I have contributed to the extracurricular educational program, workshops and field trips for the HfG students, compiling a body of reference literature on DIY material making and circularity.

The Living Library is a transdisciplinary project developed at the Bio Design Lab (@biodesignlab_hfgk ) of the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (@hfg_ka ), which reimagines how locally rooted materials, knowledge, and design practices can contribute to ecological transformation. Over two years, the project fostered practice-based learning focused on locally sourced raw materials, experimental making, and sustainable production. Through colloquia, workshops, and field trips, materials were harvested, examined, activated, and ultimately returned to the soil. Its processes and outcomes unfolded across a website, a physical archive, and an open-access publication.

(CC BY-NC 4.0) Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design. Funded by the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education Teaching.

Photos: © Bio Design Lab, Living Library

#LivingLibrary #CircularDesign #HfGKarlsruhe #BioDesign #MaterialResearch taken in Karlsruhe, Germany by @farapeluso

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6 months ago

During the two years of material curating for the Living Library project (2024-2026), we have been experimenting with material decay and remediation, employing worm compost as methodology. Constantly observing worms and monitoring the decay process enabled me to reflect further on the big agencies of worms as soil engineers, co-designers, and wisdom companions. Worm compost has been a prodigious and complex decay method, mimicking the ‚circle of Life‘. A series of experiments led to writing a rich protocol for making a DIY composter based on ‚aquarium-composter‘ method . Such experiments invited to adop composting not only as a supplement but as a constitutive methodology in which decay is a design vector and remediation a material practice

The Living Library is a transdisciplinary project developed at the Bio Design Lab (@biodesignlab_hfgk ) of the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (@hfg_ka ), which reimagines how locally rooted materials, knowledge, and design practices can contribute to ecological transformation. Over two years, the project fostered practice-based learning focused on locally sourced raw materials, experimental making, and sustainable production. Through colloquia, workshops, and field trips, materials were harvested, examined, activated, and ultimately returned to the soil. Its processes and outcomes unfolded across a website, a physical archive, and an open-access publication.

Project team: Julia Ihls (head of project, coordinator), Fara Peluso (material curator), Pleun van Dijk and Jaap Knevel (digital curators), Lilith Stumpf (coordination assistant), Luzia Holzbach and Benjamin Kaltenbach (material curation assistants), Cornelia Herzog, Pauline Kuch, and Sebastian Schilbach (digital curation assistants).

(CC BY-NC 4.0) Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design.
Funded by the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education Teaching.

Photos: © Bio Design Lab, Living Library

#LivingLibrary #CircularDesign #HfGKarlsruhe #BioDesign #MaterialResearch by @farapeluso

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6 months ago

Within the context of the Living Library project, I have developed a research and proposed a curatorial practice focused on material decay, remediation, and the sensorial and cultural dimensions of material identities. Therefore I have approached the Physical Living Library as a living ‚evolving and autonomous ecosystem rather than a static collection of samples, exploring what it means to design for sustainability and innovation through expanded lens, in which materials are understood not as neutral objects but as agents, participants, and carriers of local and ecological meaning (Jane Bennet, Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. 2010).
In this way I have been committed to delivering not a consumer identity, but to embracing a cycle where the public and scholars feel involved, prompting reflections on uses and habits on the larger material flows of which we are all part.

The Living Library is a transdisciplinary project developed at the Bio Design Lab (@biodesignlab_hfgk ) of the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (@hfg_ka ), which reimagines how locally rooted materials, knowledge, and design practices can contribute to ecological transformation. Over two years, the project fostered practice-based learning focused on locally sourced raw materials, experimental making, and sustainable production. Through colloquia, workshops, and field trips, materials were harvested, examined, activated, and ultimately returned to the soil. Its processes and outcomes unfolded across a website, a physical archive, and an open-access publication.

Project team: Julia Ihls (head of project, coordinator), Fara Peluso (material curator), Pleun van Dijk and Jaap Knevel (digital curators), Lilith Stumpf (coordination assistant), Luzia Holzbach and Benjamin Kaltenbach (material curation assistants), Cornelia Herzog, Pauline Kuch, and Sebastian Schilbach (digital curation assistants).

(CC BY-NC 4.0) Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design.
Funded by the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education Teaching.

Photos: © Bio Design Lab, Living Library

#LivingLibrary #CircularDesign #HfGKarlsruhe #BioDesign #MaterialResearch taken in Karlsruhe, Germany by @farapeluso

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6 months ago

After one year of research and production for the grant Tilling Roots & Seeds (@rootsandseedsxxi I am extremely happy to present today in Ars Electronica- Linz, my new work `Synthenesis’.

This project imagines a scenario in which, in the near future, people will be able to grow Spirulina algae as their own food supply and use it in their dialy spaces and rituals.

‘Synthenesis’ is as well a living machine that helps to synthesize spirulina pills, an artwork installation which resembles the human and non-human body’s two brains, cerebral and intestinal, developing synthetic and edible Spirulina pearls through a spherification chemical reaction.

Synthenesis (2025) is developed in the context of Tilling Roots & Seeds, Production Grant Program 2024-2024. | In collaboration with QuoArtis and Tilling Roots & Seeds, the international cooperation project between Ars Electronica (AT), KILOWATT (IT), University of Barcelona (ES) and Quo Artis (ES) as lead partner. | The workshop is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

Special thanks to Tatiana Kourochkina @tatianakourochkina and Helena Pérez Guerra for supporting the project through its development.

#QuoArtis #TillingRootsAndSeeds #FaraPeluso #Spirulina #BioArt #SpeculativeDesign #FoodInnovation #EcologicalArt #ArtScienceEcology #diybiology taken in Ars Electronica Centre, Linz by @farapeluso

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a year ago

Presenting Synthenesis at Ars Electronica 2025 - PANIC edition - Theme Exhibition at the Bunker area from 3th until 7th September.

A living machine that helps to synthesize spirulina pills, an artwork installation which resembles the human and non-human body’s two brains, cerebral and intestinal, developing synthetic and edible Spirulina pearls through a spherification chemical reaction.

The project questions what we can do to shape the future remarking topics of care, decision making and empowerment. It employs a speculative methodology developing an artifact and tools that can be recognized as democatric because creator of critical thinking and emphatic attitudes.

Synthenesis has been developed in the context of Tilling Roots & Seeds, Production Grant Program 2024-2024. | In collaboration with QuoArtis and Tilling Roots & Seeds, the international cooperation project between Ars Electronica (AT), KILOWATT (IT), University of Barcelona (ES) and Quo Artis (ES) as lead partner. | Co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

Special thanks to Tatiana Kourochkina @tatianakourochkina, Helena Pérez Guerra , Quoartis and Ars Electronica for @arselectronica for supporting the project through its development.

#QuoArtis #TillingRootsAndSeeds #arselectronica #FaraPeluso #exhibition #Spirulina #BioArt #SpeculativeDesign #FoodInnovation #EcologicalArt #ArtScienceEcology #diybiology taken in Ars Electronica Centre, Linz by @farapeluso

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a year ago

Presenting Synthenesis at Ars Electronica 2025 - PANIC edition - Theme Exhibition at the Bunker area from 3th until 7th September.

A living machine that helps to synthesize spirulina pills, an artwork installation which resembles the human and non-human body’s two brains, cerebral and intestinal, developing synthetic and edible Spirulina pearls through a spherification chemical reaction.

The project questions what we can do to shape the future remarking topics of care, decision making and empowerment. It employs a speculative methodology developing an artifact and tools that can be recognized as democatric because creator of critical thinking and emphatic attitudes.

Synthenesis has been developed in the context of Tilling Roots & Seeds, Production Grant Program 2024-2024. | In collaboration with QuoArtis and Tilling Roots & Seeds, the international cooperation project between Ars Electronica (AT), KILOWATT (IT), University of Barcelona (ES) and Quo Artis (ES) as lead partner. | Co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

Special thanks to Tatiana Kourochkina @tatianakourochkina, Helena Pérez Guerra , Quoartis and Ars Electronica for @arselectronica for supporting the project through its development.

#QuoArtis #TillingRootsAndSeeds #arselectronica #FaraPeluso #exhibition #Spirulina #BioArt #SpeculativeDesign #FoodInnovation #EcologicalArt #ArtScienceEcology #diybiology by @farapeluso

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a year ago

Exited to be in QuoArtis (@quoartis ) this Friday 9th May presenting a new workshop as part of my ongoing research project ‘Synthenesis’.

A capacity building workshop blending speculative design, DIY biology, collective care practices and food production. The workshop invites participants to explore new ways of imagining how we might live and thrive in times of profound ecological and societal transformation.

Developed through the Tilling Roots & Seeds Production Grant (@rootsandseedsxxi )

Can’t wait to arrive in Barcelona 🙏🌱🪐

#workshop #diybiology #bioart #algae #speculativedesign #foodinnovation #biodesign by @farapeluso

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a year ago

Presenting this Friday my new participative workshop ’Synthenesis’, as part of my ongoing transdisciplinary research on Spirulina microalgae. The project imagines a scenario where, in the near future, people will be able to grow Spirulina as their own food supply using transdisciplinary methods in their daily spaces and food intakes.

The research questions how we can shape the future promoting collective practices of care and decision-making as well linked to mental and physical well-being and social empowerment.

The workshop is based on practices of speculative design and DIY biology, which encourage people to immerse themselves in the existence of microalgae and to promote the values of speculative and critical thinking in design, art, science, economy and social aspects.

A special intervention by the Alícia Foundation will be host bringing food to the center of a conversation on health, nutrition and innovation. (@fundacioalicia )

‘Synthenesis’ is developed in collaboration with QuoArtis (@quoartis ) through the Production Grant Tilling Roots & Seeds (@rootsandseedsxxi ), co-funded by @europacreativacultura_es
The new artwork ‘Synthenesis’ will be also exposed this year in Ars Electronica (@arselectronica )

Special thanks to:
Tatiana Kourochkina - @tatianakourochkina
QuoArtis - @quoartis
Tilling Roots & Seeds - @rootsandseedsxxi
Ars Electronica - @arselectronica

#diybiology #speculativedesign #algae #biodesign #workshop #bioart #artandscience by @farapeluso

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a year ago

How we can shape the future promoting collective practices of care and decision-making as well linked to mental and physical well-being and social empowerment? How can microalgae become a vital part of our everyday lives as a food source for the future?
Can we build a future where people will be able to grow Spirulina as their own food?

This is what is questioning my ongoing art&science research ‘Synthenesis’ developed in collaboration with QuoArtis (@quoartis ) - Tilling Roots & Seeds (@rootsandseedsxxi ) which will be showed this year in Ars Electronica (@arselectronica )

#artandscience #biodesign #circulareconomy #circulareconomy #bioart #diybio #quoartis #speculativedesign #algae taken in Karlsruhe, Germany by @farapeluso

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a year ago

I am very glad to share that my new presentation and ongoing research ‘Towards radical complexity on becoming others’ has been selected for the next Taboo-Transgression-Transcendence in Art & Science 2025 conference, happening in September 9th - 13th 2025 - Kino Šiška - Ljubljana - (https://lnkd.in/eCGCHbis) - @tttinartsci

Happy and honoured to speak publicly about lichen symbionts, similar companions and ‘monsters’, remarking how the understanding and acceptance of complexity is the key for coexistence and sustainability, a truly human progress aimed to promote planetary justice.
Have a look to the very enriching and inspiring TTT 2025 Program .
Can’t wait to land in Ljubljana!!!

Photo ©Fara Peluso

#symbioses #algae #complexity #sustainability #lichen #planetaryalignment #artandscience by @farapeluso

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2 years ago

‘Towards radical complexity on becoming others’ is an ongoing research I have been developing about the topics of complexity, radical intimacy, sustainability and coexistence by observing the symbionts lichen and other similar companions and ‚monsters‘.

TRCBO questions what are the models and the lessons that sustainability and innovation should take into account today and put into action in order to advance the interactions between man, society and nature and the systemic human constructions (Margulis 1998). What-if non-human entities and more-than-human encounters are to be called upon to support these explorations?

The research will be publicly showed in September 9th - 13th 2025 at TTT Conference 2025 (Taboo - Transgression - Transcendence in Art & Science) - Kino Šiška - Ljubljana @tttinartsci .
Have a look at the program to which I am very glad and honored to be part, it very enriching and inspiring (https://lnkd.in/eCGCHbis)

Photo ©Fara Peluso

#symbioses #algae #complexity #sustainability #lichen #planetaryalignment #artandscience taken in Karlsruhe, Germany by @farapeluso

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2 years ago

,Towards radical complexity on becoming others’ is a new ongoing research I am developing by observing and studying symbionts that are in an ‚intimate‘ relationship (symbiosis) with micro algae organism, like lichens, slugs and salamanders, as well similar companions and monsters like the earthworms. TRCBO suggests possible pathways that interdisciplinary fields and technological developments could consider in order to achieve truly human progress. By studying the diverse, the complex, the symbiotic, the alien, the caring, the embodied, the vulnerable (Pevere 2023), the intelligent (Bridle 2022), the ‚troubled‘ and the ‚sympoietic‘ (Haraway 2016), it questions how humans approach complexity through the neurotypical systemic lens (Manning 2016), with the aim of supporting unlearning practices aimed at learning how truly planetary coexist (Lykke, Aglert, Henriksen 2024).

TRCBO will be presented at TTT Conference 2025 @tttinartsci in September 9th - 13th 2025 - Kino Šiška - Ljubljana - (https://lnkd.in/eCGCHbis). Can’t wait to be in Ljubljana!
Photo ©Fara Peluso 2025

#symbioses #algae #complexity #sustainability #lichen #planetaryalignment #artandscience taken in Karlsruhe, Germany by @farapeluso

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2 years ago