welcome to the multispecies lab
by centering multispecies entanglements, we consider the ongoing effects of environmental change on world-making and ways in which human-built environments can embrace ecological empathy.
thinking
We are a collective based at The New School in New York City — a gathering of like-minded humans from diverse design fields, alongside scholars and thinkers from across the university: philosophy, anthropology, sociology, architecture, product design, interior design, and other interdisciplinary practices. Our work is varied and many-voiced, converging through an ever-expanding collective attuned to imagining different ways for humans to engage the more-than-human life that not only makes human life possible but also imbues it with wonder.
The Multispecies Lab Research Collective seeks to create a space of creative refuge amidst the accelerating crisis of extinction, driven by habitat loss, toxic pollution, and climate change—unfolding against a backdrop of political apathy and negligence. At the heart of this crisis lies a fundamental disconnection: the failure to recognize that human existence is inextricably woven into the larger web of nonhuman life. In a time of ecological and social emergencies we need to shift frameworks away from more human exceptionalism, that is serving humans with individual and collective malaise. We ask what type of institutions and narratives might become imaginable if we push the boundaries of our imagination to include the Earth as breathing?
we ask: how can art, design, and scholarship reimagine human relationships with the more-than-human world? What strategies can restore reciprocity between species and challenge the extractive paradigms that have shaped our current ecological reality?
featured work
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WARM, FUZZY, TOXIC Milkweed fiber exploration
a ‘weed’ that provides a source of fiber which can be used as an alternative to carbon-heavy synthetics such as polyester, or conventionally grown cotton.
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Multispecies Totem
a modular, compostable totem supporting urban wildlife, solar energy, and water collection raising awareness of bird migration deaths in cities.
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Wings of Desire, Nikola Tesla’s fantastic secret
explore Dominic Pettman’s “Wings of Desire,” revealing Nikola Tesla’s emotional world through his extraordinary bond with a white pigeon.
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Electric Caresses, Rilke, Balthus, and Mitsou
balthus’s early bond with his cat Mitsou shaped his artistic focus on feline imagery and complex human-animal relationships.
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Ecofeminism as decolonial and transindividual ecology
this essay merges decolonial ecofeminism with transindividuality, framing the self as relational and fluid. It proposes a queer, boundary-defying ecology rooted in collective becoming.
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The Architecture of (hu)Man Exceptionalism
critiques architecture’s role in human exceptionalism and calls for rethinking built environments through ecofeminist, posthuman ethics.
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Avian Habitat Loss + the Climate Crisis in NYC
a research on avian habitat loss + the climate crisis in NYC
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Cosmodality
cosmodality reimagines architecture as a cosmic, multispecies art beyond human-centric design and towards planetary existence.
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Multispecies Sculptures for Urban Wildlife
layered ceramic sculptures foster urban multispecies empathy, blending digital molds and handcraft to shelter small animals.
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Multispecies design: 3D-printed biomimetic structures
this paper explores posthuman, multispecies design through biomimetic plant structures that enhance microclimates via Thing Ethnography.
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Multispecies Care Survey
a public survey exploring multispecies care practices that challenge human supremacy and support localized, embodied plant-human relationships.
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Designs for a World of Many Worlds
a fictional festival imagining multispecies coexistence through sensory artefacts and costumes that reflect nonhuman perceptions of the world.
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Animal Crisis: A New Critical Theory
Crary and Gruen call for animal liberation and human emancipation through a critical, anti-human supremacist rethinking of ethics.
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Algaphon
Algaphon is a hybrid installation where algae bubbles that ring at Minnaert frequency near algal filaments are rendered audible through a hydrophone.
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Becoming Non-human/ Designing Non-human
recognizing non-human lives as equal invites deeper biosphere connection. one that might now be essential for our survival.
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synthetic primatology
an ethnographic look at how Japanese primatologists explore chimpanzee agency across lab and field environments.
contact us
ready to join forces? give us your details and we’ll connect with you in no time. we’re eager to hear from you!
