Grants and residencies

Research and art

Learning With Ticks

Application summary

Our project focuses on ticks, the biological invertebrate organism which increasingly is our unavoidable companion in this era of climate change. Using artistic research & practice, with an emphasis on art, science and technology, this project proposes to address the tick as a critical other within the emerging ecologies exacerbated by climate change. How might we reconceive the human/tick relationship, with all the inherent dangers for human health with its increasing capacity as a disease vector? In what ways might we think ecologically about this deeply uncharismatic organism and the futures it holds for us, and we for it? We intend to gain insights into the lifespan of this small creature and its role in changing complex ecosystems, which include, with increasing occurrence humans. We are addressing the theme of ‘Our Vital Neighbors’ by widening up the perception of ticks to a more ambivalent status, that of neighbor species. Within the global context of climate change, to identify approaches that are of the local and the proximal notion of neighbourliness, by paying critical attention to the evolving relationships we have with nonhuman others, in this case - ticks.

The grant was applied as a 6-month pilot for development of a project concerning ticks with a wide perspective across the fields of practicing arts, humanities, sciences and including societal concerns.
The main aim of the pilot-phase was the development towards a longer project through mapping out relevant areas for the project’s focus, developing connections to potential collaborators and doing initial practice-based experimentation.

During the 6 months we made several field trips to meet tick-researchers in Finland (Turku, Seili island, Jyväskylä and one in Copenhagen) and to learn about their work processes and what kinds of questions they investigate. These inspiring encounters resulted to establishment of a network of scientists investigating ticks and tick-related issues, but also to the pre-establishment of collaboration partners for further work.
We have fostered numerous dialogues on ticks and ticks+humans with experts from disciplines such as natural sciences, biotechnology, data science, humanities, anthropology, etc. From these dialogues and extensive readings, we have learned a lot about ticks, but more importantly the project and our aims have gradually become more focused. We have created a good frame of focus points for our project with keywords:
-urban tick ecology and health,
-scale across ticks, humans and environment,
-ticks and tourists,
-fear vs. field work.

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