Thesis / Research Document of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2023.
BA Interactive / Media / Design
on the inner climate of the body
This study investigates the relationship between the inner experiences of the human body and the state of balance of earth’s climate. The current state of the earth is worsening and the current way of living is not sustainable, climate change wise but also health and mental health wise. Changes need to be made to the way humans live their lives, for (men- tal) health, environment and survival of all beings.
There are three stages in which this research takes place: meeting, befriending and becoming. The meeting chapter looks at the human body experiences of breathing, emotions and (graceful) movement and what these mean in relation-
ship with environmental awareness. During befriending we dive into the human body’s microbiome, neurodiversity, mental illness, burn out, education and war and how these influence the climate crisis. The last chapter called becoming, looks into the philosophy of time and space in relationship with environmentalism and viewing the earth as one’s own body.
The three stages are designed to help us understand the rela- tionship to the disturbance of the climate and our role in it. The research looks into methods to become aware of one’s body. For instance, Just being—breathing—gives the body and its microbiome time to heal. Another method being zooming out and metaphorically seeing the human bodies as the microbiome of earth. .