driving the human

Welcome to the sixth and final special episode from the Driving the Human festival! Yuri Tuma is an old acquaintance of ours – or should we say an old friend? We first met him in 2021 in the legendary summer school Domaine de Boisbuchet where he was causing some attention because he was wearing a plush tail attached to his trousers with a little red bow dangling from the end. Just recently, he had been hanging out a lot in the online message boards of the “furries” – a subculture that worships anthropomorphic animals. But apart from geeky subcultures, Yuri has a lot of other interesting things to talk about. The sound artist from São Paulo is one of the founding members of the Institute for Postnatural Studies in Madrid that challenges our concept of nature. Recently, Yuri is also diving into the field of art mediation. And that’s exactly why Driving the Human called him to give a special kind of guided tour at the festival site. Listen to the podcast to find out what connects mediation and meditation – and to enjoy a spontanious meditation session by Yuri.

Hosts: Anton Rahlwes, Nina Sieverding
Audio Editing: Tobias Hausdorf 

Welcome to our fourth special episode recorded at the Driving the Human festival in Berlin! What is a Tron? Well, in the world of Akwasi Bediako Afrane a Tron has nothing to do with the  film of the same title. Rather, it is a “discarded electronic gadget which houses the life essence of the previous owner“. At the Driving the Human Festival, Akwasi presented an installation made out of various scrap electronics, alongside a short documentary that touches on the lifecycle of consumer electronics. We talked to Akwasi about his inspiration (the Matrix series), the fourth Matrix film (and whether he likes it or not) and how hard it is to get an insight into the production and recycling of electronic goods. 

Credits
Hosted by Anton Rahlwes and Nina Sieverding 
Audio Editing: Tobias Hausdorf

Welcome to our third episode recorded at the Driving the Human festival in Berlin! If you’re living in a city, you’re probably familiar with some kind of urban gardening project – maybe there’s even one in your neighborhood. Artist Vincent Rumahloine and environmental activist Mang Dian are part of the worldwide movement, they also founded an urban gardening project in their home town of Bandung, Indonesia. But what exactly makes the project called Sedekah Benih (“Sharing Seeds”) so unique? First, they’re only harvesting chili plants. Second, they are using traditional Indonesian ways of making music to communicate with the plants. Also, the space has gotten a life on its own: With various activities like cooking competitions (“Who makes the best chili paste?”) it is slowly becoming a safer space for the LGBTQIA community of Bandung. 

Credits

Hosted by Anton Rahlwes and Nina Sieverding 

Audio Editing: Niklas Münch