Love Letters to Lichen

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.60162/swamphen.9.17544

Keywords:

Lichen, poetry, speculative futures, more-than-human

Abstract

The T. Rudzinskaitė Memorial Amateur Lichenologists Society was founded in 2018 by continuing co-chairs Tessa Zettel and Dr. Sumugan Sivanesan at Nida Art Colony on the Curonian Spit, Lithuania, eighth Eco-zone. Named in honour of Tekle Rudzinskaitė, Lithuania’s foremost amateur lichenologist, after 73 years the Society remains dedicated to promoting the love and study of lichen in this galaxy and beyond. Its steadily growing membership of multispecies co-constituents participate in myriad curious forms of research, happenings and publications, collectively exploring speculative narratives and rituals around extinction that take lichen as guide, teacher, poet and friend. In 2091 the liveliest of its many enthusiast-led working groups are the emergent Crystal Radio Lab, the Metta Verse Mutual Aid Space Program (with subsidiary SpaceTime Fab Lab) and the Therolinguistics Reading Group. Periodically the Society publishes a bulletin—in whatever ready context is amenable—updating members on its latest movements; what follows is the 2089 edition, regrettably somewhat delayed.  Please click on the links between the written pieces in the newsletter to see the recordings.  

Author Biographies

Tessa Zettel, Independent Researcher and Artist

Tessa Zettel is an artist, writer and researcher whose collaborative practice imagines and workshops potential worlds. Her participatory, site-based projects mix speculative futures with overlooked cultural practices and more-than-human knowledge, borrowing from forms of mapping, publishing, performance and exchange. She co-founded micro-publisher Cloudship Press and experimental research collective Weathering, and is a director of Sydney artist-run space and library Frontyard Projects and international art/architecture group Collective Disaster. She teaches in Design Studies at the University of Technology Sydney, and has recently exhibited in the Macao Biennale (2021), and conducted artist residencies at
Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre (UBC Okanagan, Canada 2022) and Saari Residence (Kone Foundation, Finland 2019).

Sumugan Sivanesan, Independent Researcher and Artist

Sumugan Sivanesan is an anti-disciplinary artist and researcher whose interests span migrant histories, minority politics, activist media, artist infrastructures and more-than-human rights. He earned a doctorate from the Transforming Cultures research centre at the University of
Technology Sydney (2014) and was a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute for English and American Studies (Cultural Studies), University of Potsdam (2016) supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). He is active with Black Earth, a Berlin-based collective who address interacting issues of racism, gender, colonialism and climate justice, and is a member of Pixelache Helsinki.

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Published

2023-07-05

Issue

Vol. 9 (2023): Strange Letters

Section

Creative Works

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