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systemsofmatter

@systemsofmatter

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Workshops, events, and fieldtrips linking us back to the ecosystems we are part of. Announcing new workshops weekly! 🌞

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Come join us for an afternoon of natural dyes where we explore color as a material @lepelotonstudio ! All color in paintings, buildings, objects, and clothing that predate the 1850s come from animal, vegetable or mineral. Nature is vibrant! Nov.1st Taught by designer and educator @lilysayhey . Sign up systemsofmatter.com or via link in bio! by @systemsofmatter

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4 days ago

I am so excited to announce @systemsofmatter , a community aimed at celebrating the ecosystems we are a part of. Our work is grounded in research and design projects that center the ecological, political, and historical power of materials. We host public workshops, fieldtrips, and events led by designers, artists, scholars, and scientists, to invite exploration of the more-than-human world. Our first events will be happening in Paris April-June and a Seed bomb guerrilla garden bike ride and a mycelial workshop with @alea_work are open for enrollment on the website. This project is close to my heart, something I want to see and have in this city. Be in touch if you want to get involved or partner in some ways. So excited to get into it with you all! by @systemsofmatter

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7 months ago

@systemsofmatter off to an amazing start! I began this creative programming around ecology because it is something I craved in Paris! And the momentum and response has been humbling. So grateful for this growing community and for the incredible teachers who have been part of it so far (even in this heatwave)! From watercoloring with river water on the Seine with @fernandaballesterosf to a lecture about the sublime with @anitra_l to herbalism blends with @panaceaplants , to seed bombing and a trees of Paris bike ride with me @lepelotonstudio ! Programming for the fall is in full swing, and I can’t wait to share. We have dye workshops, clay meditations, lectures on beauty, local plant cyanotypes, seed keeping and gathering, and and and!!!! Watch this space! And if you want to propose a workshop, please do! No time like now to be engaged with the more-than-human world. Xx by @systemsofmatter

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3 months ago

It’s the season

From our mushroom walk with @systemsofmatter

💅 @karinarikun by @systemsofmatter

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3 days ago

Thank you to everyone who joined us this past weekend to wander and learn in the mystical Fontainebleau Forest.

We felt the effects of the summer’s heatwaves, and as parts of the forest recovers from the recent fires, we were reminded of how constantly is changes and the role fungi play in these processes.

Hoping to make it back very soon for those who couldn’t make it this time.

Follow @systemsofmatter for more wonderful events! by @systemsofmatter

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5 days ago

Natural dye workshop! Nov.1! Bringing color to the gray. by @systemsofmatter

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9 days ago

Come gather with @alea_work in Fontainebleau Forest! We will encounter the fall ecosystem of the forest, including mushrooms, lichens, and changing trees. Come prepared for some walking on dirt paths and a notebook to record your findings, and perhaps some foraging! Free!

Aléa Work is an experimental design and material research studio based in Paris. Their practice explores growth, decay, and waste, and reciprocal methods of fabrication with the other-than-human.

Sign up with link in bio for full info! October 10th by @systemsofmatter

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14 days ago

So much fun gathering seeds this weekend with you all! Thank you for joining! We collected four types of amaranth, verbena, hibiscus, milkweed, sunflower, and and and! It’s increasingly critical to save seeds. 6 companies own 60% of seeds globally! These corporations have their own interests that often don’t align with ecological and cultural needs. Storing seeds locally means stewarding the future of your ecosystem and personal relationship to certain plants. Seeds adapt to the climates and soils they grow in so they are incredible local technologies! To invest in saving seeds is to invest in your future food, environment, and sovereignty. Led by @lilysayhey Pictures by the wonderful @zenyilu 🌞For those of you writing to say you were sad to miss this walk-good news is we have a walk this Saturday in the forest with @alea_work that will be magical! by @systemsofmatter

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12 days ago

A gorgeous symposium exploring beauty through philosophy and artwork with Dr @anitra_l this week! From Plato to Fibonacci to Lil Nas X Anitra took us on a journey through shifting relationships to symmetry, balance, equality, and justice, all through the lens of beauty. In the legacy of the original symposiums our discussion became an honest inquiry into what we would add or change to the philosophical cannon. We could have talked all night. Little glimpse of the questions we explored and seed packets of wild flora seeds to be sprinkled around Paris! What is beauty to you?

Thank you @centreculturel_ for hosting us, provided the most delicious snacks and drinks, and for your support!

Next symposium with Dr. Anitra Lourie will be the end of October on the subject of light and darkness! Get spooky with us! 🖤 by @systemsofmatter

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15 days ago

What is Beauty?

Come join @anitra_l @centreculturel_ to discuss beauty!

From the word sympínein, “to drink together”, evening sessions inspired by the ancient Greek practice of gathering around wine and food to discuss philosophical questions. An opportunity to explore some of the foundational texts and theories that shape our notions of beauty today. Reconsidered through a contemporary lens, we will put these theories into dialogue with evolving ideas around symmetry, justice, and perfection.

Anitra Lourie received her doctorate in Art and Aesthetics from Sorbonne University. Her research examines how contemporary women artists engage with new media and narrative forms to construct critical and reflexive identities. She has taught philosophy of art at Sorbonne University – Paris 1 Panthéon for the past five years and currently teaches media history at Parsons Paris. Her writing has appeared in international journals and catalogues including Science du Design, PLASTIK, Design in Translation, OKLinz, and Intersections at Oxford University Press.

Link in bio! by @systemsofmatter

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a month ago

On Thursday September 17th
We gathered along the Canal Saint-Martin for a plant walk. We discussed the ways that Paris’s architecture and aesthetic deliberately create a city that centers the human and treats plants like architectural features rather than living members of ecosystems. Decorative plants are replaced seasonally in parks, and any spontaneous plants that grow through the cracks here are meticulously pulled out or burned. We found it surprisingly difficult to find plants growing in the cracks in manicured Parisian neighborhoods.

On our walk we talked about the resiliency of the plants growing through the cracks and the messages and medicines that they have to share with us. The ways that many of the plants that are now considered invasive were once prized exotic plants coming from the Americas, Asia and other parts of the world. Brought over in wardian cases for the botanical gardens they then escaped and found home in new places. It was beautiful to witness a group of 15 people all bending down, looking at the plants that most step on or walk by without any curiosity.

Towards the end of our walk, as the sun set and we looked at plants by flashlight, participants shared how over the course of the two hours we spent together, their eyes and senses opened and they were already seeing their neighborhood walks in new ways. They recognized that they don’t have to leave the city to learn and connect to plants, but they can spend time learning the plants here and making it a part of the mundane.

Gratitude to everyone who came, your curiosity and open-heartedness. And to @systemsofmatter @loveinthecracks & @herban.cura for bringing us all together to connect. by @systemsofmatter

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*Coincidentally*, on the 100th record breaking hot day of 2026 we hosted a talk @parsonsparis about physics and heat to discuss the ways architecture and design could be adapted to respond to the inevitable. Dr. Marijana Milicevic led us through the science, equipping us with an understanding of how our bodies, buildings, and cities, heat and cool. We looked to traditional cooling architectures such as Mashrabiyas, Iranian Windcathers, Shabestans/night rooms, fountains, and green space courtyards. Even termites have their method of creating air flow in their mounds: by leaving openings in their ceilings they let a little rain water in to create a pool for air to pass over and cool their mounds. In the winter they put leaves in this water to raise the temperature through the decomposition of the leaves! So smart. Participants shared their strategies for keeping cool during the heatwaves this summer and visions for the future. There are countless ways to keep cool but it will take some major restructuring at the urban level. We will be hosting a workshop this winter about how to design around some of these principles and ideals. @parisdesignweek Thank you all for coming! by @systemsofmatter

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