Connecting ecosystems has returned to Kassel. But what happens next? The past few weeks have been spent planning and expanding our resources to offer as participatory and free a program as possible. Together with the Werkstatt, which once again provides us with their premises for the summer, we have created a residency program that will be exhibited at the Night of Museums in Kassel (September 7, 2024). The intensive work phase will take place in August beforehand, where we definitely want to collaborate with initiatives in Kassel. It is also important for the resident artists to network in urban space and move away from the traditional exhibition situation. To narrow down the theme spectrum a bit, we have developed the following topic from the trip: Given the current events surrounding the supply chain law in the EU, we want to explore the connections between material, earth, and people in a globalized world. Various questions could be addressed:

How are our local environments influenced by global entanglements? What role do microbes play in a post-anthropocene world with postcolonial ecologies? How are we connected to our environment, the soil, and the microbes in our bodies? How do we take care of our social and ecological environments?

Together with the initiatives in Kassel, we have initiated an open mapping on these questions and the possible offerings of the summer. In the discussion round, accompanied by eager writing and line drawing, a great interest in the topic area was already expressed, and together we were able to outline our offer for the summer, having to hold back several times in our enthusiasm not to be too specific.