Tranxxeno Becomings in Decolonial Speculative Futures: Amateur Lichenology

↳ Adriana Knouf


with Adriana Knouf

Lichens are resilient but also sensitive. They survive in the most extreme environments but are also attuned to environmental disturbances. They can grow on most surfaces and are a perfect example of symbiosis, namely of fungi and algae. What can lichens teach us in the era of the climate crisis?

Today’s transitioning times require us to develop modes of living that are simultaneously adaptive, expansive, reverent and joyful. To do this necessitates preparation, a careful attunement to dynamics otherwise obscured by grossly accumulative practices. In this workshop-lecture, Adriana Knouf invites us to pay attention to the deeper times that are intertwined with our daily lives. Focusing on the lifeworld of lichens, she will present how their experience in extreme environments might offer possibilities for tranxxeno becomings – that is opportunities for encounters and entanglements between parts otherwise considered separate or strange to one another. Through a talk, a participatory discussion, and an outdoor walk, studying lichens will become a starting point to challenge ideologies of purity, embrace queer and decolonial narratives and speak about space travel!