Engineered Worlds Presentation at UChicago

We were delighted to participate at Engineered Worlds 2 this weekend. Hosted by the University of Chicago’s Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society, this small conference was the culmination of the second year of a three-year investigation of, as project conveners understand it, “the conceptual and material implications of a planet transformed by industrial effects.”

Afield co-directors Kai Wood Mah and Patrick Lynn Rivers used their invited presentation to advance a project on landscapes, migrations, and politics in South Africa. Specifically, in a presentation titled “Surviving a Massive Refugee Situation: A Guide for Designers,” Mah and Rivers pondered the meaning of “the border” in the context of the SA-Mozambique border where much of the South African side encompasses Kruger National Park (aka “South Africa’s most exciting African safari destination”).

Organizers of the larger Engineered Worlds project are: Tim Choy (University of California, Davis), Jake Kosek (University of California, Berkeley), Joseph Masco (University of Chicago), and Michelle Murphy (University of Toronto).