Galapagos Now:

Inspired by the Galapagos Archipelago and the knowledge transformations that emerged from Darwin’s five-week experience within their dense bio-diversity, the Galapagos workshop invoked the first principle of the theory of evolution. When individual agents are brought into proximity, they interact, building new linkages. Under the right circumstances, these symbioses create transformations, catalyzing new forms. The proximity and interactions within diverse agents is fundamental to the emergence of new logos, new species, new modes of being, the events of variety and variation; knowledge evolves, comprehension evolves, new forms emerge. Recognizing these diverse forms of agency as a diversity of ‘ways of knowing,' we begin to understand a living system of knowledge permutations—thereby, a 'general assembly of education.'

The structure of 2015’s workshop was situated between the collective embodied process of construction and the dynamic interactions of a wide range of disciplines understood as a living system.

People and institutions across all disciplines and across the globe are increasingly confronted by the need for new models of asking the extraordinarily complex questions of our time. The challenges and possibilities of such a moment are paramount; they call for creative urgency, considered stewardship, and new spaces for bringing together plural voices. With ‘Galapagos Now:’ Arts Letters & Numbers initiates the Galapagos Project; an educational project in collaboration with institutions and individuals world-wide to foster active proximity and dialog among diverse cultures, disciplines, and living systems. The mission and meaning of this framework is to encourage, facilitate, and advocate for a multiplicity of agents to interact, which in turn enables individuals to build connections between their unique processes of living/knowing.

The 2015 summer’s workshop was arranged as a five-week intensive program. The structure and nature of the questions offer different ways in which the experience can be meaningful for each individual and where the contribution of one’s own work supports the larger body of work.

The Mill, the House on the Hill and its context were a stage for the new bridge and the questions asked across all of the disciplines, serving as the primary site for collective sharing and learning. Our dinners, lectures, workshops and critiques were held in this space. A communal live-work environment is an integral part of the workshop experience where the practice of living reflects an approach to the work and the potential for interactions across disciplines and their philosophies.