Metabolic Sublimes Study Group

​A four week experimental study group exploring theories of metabolism and metabolic solidarity.

​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, the workplace, and 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, screenings, writing, cooking, and discussion. In each session, participants will encounter and interpret materials (texts, artworks, recipes, films) through the lens of metabolics, guided by Gallo.

​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.