Strelka Institute is pleased to announce the second year of The Terraforming think-tank — an interdisciplinary postgraduate design research program that explores the geotechnical, geourban, and geopolitical conditions by which a viable planetarity can be conceived, modeled and articulated. 

The Terraforming is a three year design research initiative with each program cycle running for 5 months with a group of 30 Russian and international researchers joining the collaborative investigation. 

The first year of the program emphasized the remaking of the planet itself (and remaking ourselves thereby), while this year will emphasize remaking ourselves (and remaking the planet thereby). “Realism” in all senses, is the watchword, even as speculative political science, or political science fiction (not the same) are our modes of research, writing, urbanism, cinema and more.

And so, in addition to everything already on our plates from the end of year one —from space law to carbon sequestration, from new  almanacs to new jobs for the military—we are adding another chapter of motivating conundrums: Populations, Zoning Earth, Anthropoforming, and Modes of Planetarity.

In this presentation, program director, Benjamin Bratton, will share results of the 2020 research cycle of the program and explain in detail what is in store for next year. 

The event will mark the beginning of the application period for The Terraforming 2021. 

Applications will be accepted starting September 4 until November 10, 2020. 

Sign up for updates and visit program website theterraforming.strelka.com

Benjamin H. Bratton — design theorist and writer. Benjamin H. Bratton’s work spans Philosophy, Art, Design and Computer Science. He is Program Director of The Terraforming at the Strelka Institute, and Professor of Visual Arts at the University of California, San Diego. He is also a Professor at The European Graduate School, and a Visiting Professor at SCI_Arc (The Southern California Institute of Architecture) and NYU Shanghai.