Filtering Legacies—Filtering Wasted Environments

Filtering Technologies are at the center of many current processes of our transformational age as they can alleviate the impact of industrial societies in their planetary dimension. We understand the process of filtering as a scalable environing technique that differentiates and maintains symbolic and material environments alike. Filtering is a process that matters in a twofold way: It is a material process and a symbolic activity. Applying filters means negotiating between the wanted and the unwanted, between the polluted and the untouched environment, and between what is considered dangerous or safe.

Yet filters themselves produce and accumulate wastes of condensed toxicity that are in desperate need of a sink. At the same time, many sinks from past have not been able to contain the wastes they were supposed to contain. Alternatively, imaginaries of a "natural", harmless dissolution of hazardous residues through soil, water or air have proven to be elusive. The persistence of toxicity and toxic residues highlights the fundamental asymmetry and irreversibility inherent in most filtering processes.

This workshop will analyze the interconnectedness of environment, filtering technologies and waste legacies in its historical dimension and explore how hazardous waste has been a target as well as a result of human filtering activities. The workshop aims for a better understanding of the ecologic economy of wastes, sinks and waste legacies which resulted from the hope to unmake the adverse byproducts of filtering activities. What have been the challenges and pitfalls of the past – and what can we learn for the future design and technology of filters?

The workshop is held in presence with the parallel opportunity to participate digitally. For physical/digital attendance please register here. For further information and the full program, please visit this website.