Nodal Shift - Rhizomatic Narratives of the Future
Iva Perucic
Ana-Marija Vasicek
deltadelta is a recently formed interdisciplinary collective based in Croatia, focusing on the critical examination of space from theoretical, planning, artistic, and social perspectives. By triggering spatial dynamics, usage patterns, human-nature interactions and the forthcoming challenges, the collective aims to offer innovative realms of imagination and action. Its members, Ana Kliman, Iva Peručić, and Ana-Marija Vašiček, initiated their collaboration in 2022 during their postgraduate specialization in Urban Studies at the University of Rijeka.
Ana Kliman specializes in EU policies, contributing to the collective with her expertise in spatial policies and literary skills. Her research revolves around exploring non-human participation and equitable urbanity. Ana holds diplomas in European Literary Cultures, Advanced European Studies and Diplomacy. Presently, she holds the position of Head of Department at the Ministry of the Sea, Transport, and Infrastructure.
Ana-Marija Vašiček is a freelance landscape architect, social designer and artist. Her portfolio includes various public installations and participatory projects in Croatia, Bulgaria, and Austria, with her work exhibited in solo and group exhibitions. Her main interests lie in the sensory, artistic, cultural and philosophical notions of natural and man-made space, and by exploring topics such as perception, (deep)time and the ritual she produces work in various analog, digital and textual media.
Iva Peručić holds a degree in architecture and urban planning. Her work primarily revolves around green solutions at different scales, from gardens and residential projects to spatial planning and general theory. Iva established her own studio in 2017. Her works have been showcased in architectural and artistic exhibitions and magazines in Croatia, Serbia, and Portugal. Through her projects, Iva offers a fresh perspective on the general idea of nature and prompts new ways of interacting with the natural world.
As questions regarding ‘the arts of living on a damaged planet’ become more and more complex, both reexamining established paradigms of thought, and creating new narratives become a necessity. This project speculates on symbiotic, resilient, rhizomatic and inclusive spatial narratives of interdependence and non-hierarchy as one of the solutions for anticipated near-future crisis scenarios.
Taking into account the Deleuze’s and Guattari’s idea of challenging the anthropocentric view and recognizing the notion of subjectivity of non-human entities, the rhizomatic narratives emphasize the interdependence of human and non-human inhabitants, as well as living and non-living entities in space and time, while searching for ways in which they can become (mutually) beneficial. The narratives become orchestrators of these symbiotic interrelations, entrusting the inner logic, or intelligence of each process, to occupy, organize, and utilize space, energy and matter in its own characteristic way.
Considering spatial limitations and the need to preserve as many undeveloped areas as possible, the approach towards underground spaces as a new spatial resource, as both Haraway and Latour anticipate in their work, will significantly change in the future. The rhizome inhabits both underground and overground, the physical and metaphysical, it knows no vertical hierarchy and as such establishes connections between different worlds. The narratives suggest artificial intelligence as a type of metaphysical rhizome, capable of connecting and synthesizing complex multispecies data with the non-organic, mineral, geographic, energetic and spatial data.
By recognizing the rhizomatic web of life beneath and above our feet, applying its logic to the way we understand the world and the way we speculate our near futures within it, this project offers inspirational theoretical, visual and literary narratives showing a preview of the indefinite possibilities awaiting.