The workshop takes inspiration from two terms from biology and strategy to develop transformative approaches in art and research. On the one hand the spore, the asexual reproduction unit of various organisms that is adapted for dispersal and survival, often for long periods of time even in unfavourable conditions, suggests a combination of randomness and survival skills. On the other hand tactics, a term for strategy, planning, and evaluation of scenarios in the military or games, suggests analytical skills and foresight.

Both in research and in the arts, openness and serendipity, analysis and strategy, adaptation and training play fundamental roles. The metaphor of tactical spores will guides participants in the session.

Materials have widely accompanied my art: moss spores and burnt soil, from wildfire sites, microbial cellulose, contraceptive pill blisters, electronic circuits, and laboratory instruments among others. Each material has complex implications in terms of ethics, affects and agentiality. The workshop harnesses these materials and their complexity to spur discussion across different disciplines. The initial impulse will be given in the session with blindfolded volunteers will touch these materials without seeing them and
describe their experience to the others.

Tactical spores aims to illuminate methods of art as a form of knowledge production that can catalyse research and transformation. The idea is to employ art as a tactical tool for its capacity to sense weak signals and imagine possible scenarios, and as a spore that can generatively enrich other fields with non-linear thinking.

Photo Credits
Edge e.V., Hana Marn, Miha Godec, Finnish Bioart Society, Vidas Daudaravicius