GOVERNING BODIES WORKSHOP IN ÖSTERSUND

Value as Process – Workshops on the Human Microbiota, Östersund 17-20/6/2021

For the Östersund workshop we will collectively take a closer look at the value of microbes and the value of studying microbes. What makes them valuable to us? What can microbes teach us about value? Can they shape what we value?

We all use value judgements in our everyday, for instance when we decide what to buy and what to eat. We all have our likes and dislikes, things we are drawn to and think are important in life. It does not seem, when asked, as if we have any trouble identifying what is “really valuable” to us. But when we try to explain what value really is, we run into trouble. Philosophers have been trying to explain what value is for thousands of years and the study of value actually has its own philosophical field, called axiology.

Interdisciplinary work brings different value systems into dialogue and microbes teach us to look at how things change over time. So where axiology tries to define what value actually is, we propose that we look at value as process. What happens when different values meet? How do they transform each other?

By approaching value this way, we want to inspire new ideas and new solutions rather than creating polarisation and discussions about opposing value systems. We hope that diverging opinions and and life choices can coexist within the platforms that we offer for exchange.

Participants:
Carola Uehlken (Curator/artist) Elias Arnér (Professor in Biochemistry) Giada Lo Re (xyz.PhD) Carima Neusser (Choreographer), MaiBritt Giacobini (Child psychiatrist MD, PhD) Per Hüttner (Visual artist/musician) Oskar Gudmundsson (Writer), Adriaan Samson (Writer) Freddie Ross (Art historian) Emil Krog (Visual artist), Kurt Johannesen (Visual artist), Sara Gurevitsch (Choreographer) and Saber Rhaleb (Musician). Please note that the list of participants changes as the project travels. Partners include: the Bioart Society in Helsinki and The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. All full list of partners will be made public soon.