The Department of Umbrology

This 24-month transdisciplinary project brings together four Barcelona-based partners at the crossroads of the humanities, architecture, the arts, and environmental sciences: the CareNet and DARTS groups from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, the Arquitectura de Contacte collective, the environmental scientists and science communicators from Nusos Coop, and the speculative artists from the Laboratorio de Pensamiento Lúdico.

The proposal aims to prototype the Department of Umbrology as a speculative institution for the study of and intervention in the urban life of shadows. This will be achieved through a series of open, collaborative co-creation workshops during the first year, leading up to a Festival of Shadows. In doing so, the project seeks to revitalize intergenerational, intercultural, and interspecies knowledge, as well as shadow aesthetics that equip ecologies of practices to community-address the urban transformations brought about by climate change. Ultimately, it aims to reclaim the popular sovereignty of shadows and the protection they provide in times of climate mutation.

The proposal was one of nine projects selected in the “Composing knowledge to imagine and build sustainable futures” call by the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation.