Sympoiesis, arts of practice in the ecological city

Ecological culture is becoming increasingly prominent in the design of the city today. It is the pivot that allows us to articulate new ways of seeing, acting, and operating, generating a new set of arts of practice in and for the ecological city.

The transformations that our societies and environments are currently undergoing jeopardize our way of being in the world. As such, they challenge our capacity to develop projects or, more concretely, to produce prospective visions and anchor tangible ambitions within them.

This context encourages us to imagine new ways of acting that allow us to integrate uncertainty. We must go beyond torment – not merely endure it – and invent actions capable of fitting into the emerging climate regime.

Moving from a system of autonomous objects to one of related objects opens new perspectives on interactions, forms, and processes. Organized around these three chapters, the exhibition shows how ecological culture can color, inform, and renew project culture.

This exhibition was originally realized by UR bureau d’architecture et d’urbanisme in collaboration with Archizoom, where it was first presented from 28 February to 15 May 2023. It is shown in a reduced version in our space et al. in Brussels in autumn 2023.