Posthuman ARCHE | Ka-man Lam

Posthuman ARCHE is a response to the acute crisis of being human in a paradoxical time. Under pressures of new developments from the Anthropocene to the Technosphere, named a “posthuman condition”, our practices of restoring human habitants demand a deep rethink beyond the binary distinction of urban and rural; spheres of existence on the urban terrain and its immense and invisible Res Extensa. This presents an imminent question to next generations’ architects or urban planners - how should human collective on earth be planned, replanned, or first and foremost, reimagined?

The proposal calls for a new collective among the posthuman subjects, non-human actors, earth system, natural resources and infrastructural networks. Inspired by the well-known biblical story, the act of pairing is re-interpreted as algorithmic strategies for reciprocity and resilience. This collective then forms a missionary crew in search for its self-subsidence, as well as our longings for a salvation to come.

Ka-man (Carmen) Lam is an aspiring designer who surveys the transdisciplinary spaces among architecture, media arts and situated technologies with a keen interest in knowledge production for the common good. A native of Hong Kong educated in Austria, the US and Germany, she is currently finishing her dual master degree in Media Architecture. Her ongoing projects include an immersive discourse visualization for Bauhausjubiläum in Weimar, a workshop on algorithm and ethics in collaboration with sociologists in Kassel, and a speculative design research on posthuman urban futures.