Contaminated Ecologies: Driving

Contaminated Ecologies: Driving

Critical Cartography/Experimental Workshop/Cosmopolitan Narratives

Contaminated Ecologies: Jazdow is a collective cartographic research workshop investigating the socio-ecological entanglements of Warsaw's Jazdow neighborhood. Using a critical mapping and an oligoptic lens - combining localized human and non-human perspectives - participants turn abstract data into situated “matters of concern.” The project culminates in a collaborative Entanglement & Collision Map, offering an alternative spatial narrative for Jazdow.

Contaminated Ecology by Nature Culture Collective

Reducing ecology to a “green” issue drives greenwashing, isolating the environment from social, mental, and technological domains. Conversely, mapping every relationship across all domains becomes overwhelming. Climate discourse is often dominated by global experts imposing top-down, “objective” realities detached from local contexts. This research addresses ecological entanglements without producing artificial “objective totalities,” opting for an experimental approach that challenges rigid disciplinary boundaries.

Why Contamination?

Stemming from the Latin contaminare (con- “together with” + tangere “to touch”), contamination is fundamentally about proximity. Reclaiming its pejorative connotation, we see contamination as an indispensable element of being together.

From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern

Shifting abstract matters of fact into situated matters of concern—asking for whom issues matter and why. Rejecting a panoptic, top-down view, we adopt an oligoptic vision: mapping from multiple localized, human, and non-human perspectives to reveal hidden tensions, overlapping interests, and the true complexity of the territory.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN & CREATE

Critical Cartography & Theory: Master frameworks such as agential materialism, cosmopolitics, and oligoptic vision to deconstruct spatial bias and power.

Relational Design Thinking: Embrace friction, non-consensus, and multi-actor networks as productive tools.

Map-Making as Thought: Develop bespoke notation systems and rhizomatic diagrams that translate abstract data into spatial reality.

Outcome: Participants will collaboratively produce an Entanglement & Collision Maps - a complex spatial artifact building an alternative vision of Jazdow.

PROGRAM

VRIJDAG | 25.09

18:00 — 19:30 — Presentation: How Does One Map Ecologically? + Discussion on Jazdow (Open to the public)

ZATERDAG | 26.09

09:30 — 17:00 — Full-Day Mapping Workshop (Registration Required)
17:30 — Closing: Map Presentation & Discussion (Open to the public)

LOCATIE & REGISTRATIE

Where: Rotary House of Culture of Yazdow (3/18 Jazdow Street, Warsaw)
Admission: Free

Workshop capacity is limited. We will confirm your spot via email after submission. 3 days before the workshop, we will send you an email asking to re-confirm your attendance. If you do not confirm your spot, it will be offered to someone on the waiting list.

KONTAKT

www.nature-culture.xyz
E-mail: info@nature-culture.xyz
Instagram: @natureculturecollective

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