Facilitated by artist Adriana Gallo, this study group will focus on an expansive definition of metabolism as a conceptual means to reconcile vast and microscopic systems, cultivating a critical solidarity with the world around us.

The group will discuss processes of metabolism — from digestion to decomposition to regeneration. Metabolism is the way by which humans interpret and represent systems of relations, exchanges, and the things produced by those systems, referring to metabolism in all senses: biological, energetic systems of bodies, landscapes, and ecologies of all scales. By recognizing the sublime in the supermarket or the kitchen, we can begin to understand ourselves as both metabolic systems and units in other flows. The metabolic understanding of the world is sublime, finding comfort the destabilization of our constructed identities as discrete individuals.

The structure of the study group will be collective study: combining reading, screening, writing, cooking, and discussion. In each session, participants will encounter and interpret materials (texts, artworks, recipes, films) through the lens of metabolics, guided by Adriana.

This study group is for anyone with an established or newfound interest in theories and practices that deal with ecology and labor with a goal to model a organic, collective method of study. There will be minimal to no required work outside of the individual sessions to allow study to play out collectively.

- A working understanding of metabolism and metabolic thinking across scales

- Development of practical and mutually informed modes of study

- To build a cohort of metabolic comrades.

The study group will work with metabolism in social, political, ecological, and biological spheres. Sessions will move from the scale of the individual to that of the collective. This study group is a model of metabolic systems of information and citation: an invitation to digest and be digested.

Week 1: The Individual as a Metabolic Unit

Introduction to the topic, defining metabolism and its agents.

Week 2: Microbial and Territorial Sublimes

Ecologies of metabolism and the role of the sublime.

Week 3: Agents at Work

Metabolism through the lens of labor.

Week 4: (In) Commons

A proposal for a humane planetary metabolism and a culminating potluck.

Sample Readings:

Select texts by and indebted to Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Silvia Federici, John Berger, Alyssa Battistoni, Cara New Daggett, Hannah Landecker, and Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, among others.

Sample Practicals:

Kombucha workshop, grocery store walk, hybrid writing and drawing session, lacto fermentation demonstration, and final potluck (of food, recipe, writing, and further study materials).

Sample Viewings:

Ilha das Flores (Isle of Flowers) 1989 short film by Jorge Furtado, The Gleaners and I film by Agnes Varda, short films by Cecilia Mangini.

Metabolic Sublime(s)

Metabolic Systems

Adriana Gallo

Adriana Gallo (b. 1993 Milan, Italy) is an artist, theorist, and culinary practitioner based in New York. Her practice deals with ecologies of labor, metabolic sublimes, dialectics of conviviality, and speculative production through installation, sculpture, text, workshops, lectures, and meals. Gallo holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MA in Art & Ecology from Goldsmiths, University of London.

Index scholarships are designed to benefit members of our community who do not have expendable cash to pay for the course and those for whom the class price is inaccessible. These need-based scholarships will go to candidates who best demonstrate a need for a fully-funded seat to the course. Scholarships will be awarded based on the following criteria:

• Belong to groups that are traditionally underrepresented in creative industries
• Do not have jobs that would pay for these courses as professional development
• Cannot independently afford the class at list price
• Share our value of intentional community

The number of selected applicants chosen is subject to the discretion of Index and the instructor. Each course will select at least one. Apply for a scholarship here.

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More than 4 weeks before the program begins → 100% refund

More than 2 weeks before the program begins → 50% refund

Fewer than 2 weeks before the program begins → No refund

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