Description Long

At the CreaLab Future Forum Lucerne 2020, philosopher Sabine Baier drew on the teachings of alchemy to develop new approaches to sustainable development. Her core impulse inspired us to create a workshop that explores a process of performative metaphysics. Alchemists were accomplished experts in the material world, and metaphysics can be enacted through working with physical matter. This is what we seek to explore in this workshop – bringing us closer to the question of how we might inhabit and experience alternative worldviews.
The workshop includes discussion, observation, immersive exploration, and a shared outlook. Through the collective experience, a team can prepare for future work while also finding individual orientation. Immersion in natural phenomena – especially through the observation of natural materials – provides impulses that are not pre-structured. This method serves both as a refreshing reset and a foundation for new ideas in engaging with worldviews.
Performative Metaphysics is based on five key lessons:

1. Patience and Seclusion
2. Repeat, Repeat, Repeat...
3. Always Begin with Something Imperfect / Alchemical DIY
4. Caput mortuum – the alchemical residue
5. The Price of the New

Preparation

• The workshop facilitators meet to consider key questions for the walk, such as: “What is substance?”, “What can I know, what can I hope for?”, “What is your alternative, liveable worldview?”, “Is performative metaphysics collective or individual?”
  These questions, which are discussed during the walk, are later written down on small cards.
• It is worth walking the route to the woodland area in advance and carrying out a site inspection.
• Materials are gathered and prepared: four question cards per participant, a piece of cloth (approx. 70 × 150 cm, e.g. an old sheet), a wooden stick (approx. 80 cm), a sealable glass jar (e.g. a jam jar), A3 paper (for making a paper funnel for focused observation), adhesive tape

Execution

1. Meeting at the agreed location: brief introduction to the topic of performative metaphysics (10 minutes).
2. Walk to the woodland area: during the walk, participants discuss the key questions on the cards (approx. 30 minutes).
3. Arrival at the woodland site: materials are distributed (10 minutes).
4. Participants choose a spot in the undergrowth, either alone or in pairs. Using the cloth and the paper funnel, they observe natural materials and collect samples in the glass jar (20 minutes).
5. Check-in, gathering, short debrief (10 minutes).
6. Second round – this time not in the same groups; if participants were not alone before, they can now try this individually (20 minutes).
7. Final gathering and discussion of experiences and findings (30 minutes).
8. Open end: relaxed picnic.

Hints from experience

• As a workshop facilitator, good preparation is essential:
  • Familiarise yourself with the topics of alchemy and metaphysics.
  • Find a suitable location or woodland area that is not too far from the meeting point.
  • Walk the route to the woodland area in advance.
  • Prepare a bad-weather alternative (do not cancel, but ensure that participants have appropriate clothing).
• If the workshop takes place in summer, bring tick repellent for the participants.

Tools list

• Papier cards (blank)

References

Sabine Baier (2015): Feuerphilosophen. Alchemie und das Streben nach dem Neuen. Chronos.

For questions about the workshop, contact Urs Gaudenz (urs@gaudi.ch) or Julie Harboe (julie@harboe.ch)