Ovtober 30, 2026 | 9.00 – 14.00

Registration via Pedro Pablo Achondo (pachondo@uni-koeln.de)

In the fourth episode of the Fieldwork and Fiction Masterclass series, we revisit the exploratory field experiment format used in previous sessions which addressed the methodological, aesthetic, and narrative aspects of research. We aim to explore FLORA, the Cologne Botanical Garden, a hybrid space of plant presence with a history linked to coloniality, botany, design, culture, and love for plants. This is a key field research site for Pedro Pablo Achondo, a MESH research fellow whose project is entitled "Affective Ecologies between humans and plants in the context of the Climate Crisis."
Guided by the theoretical-methodological concept of affective ecologies, the masterclass investigates modes of encounter and disconnection with the plant world, affective-territorial exercises, and a reflection situated within this botanical space.
During the morning field session, participants will experiment with drawing, writing, and photography techniques as tools for thinking and direct observation of the environment. Drawing inspiration from affects (Spinoza, Deleuze), posthumanism (Haraway, Braidotti), and multispecies approaches to fieldwork, we will pay special attention to more-than-human assemblages (Tsing) and everything the territory evokes in us. Affective atmospheres are also produced by bodies that feel; from this, a particular pathos and specific ways of inhabiting the world emerge.
At noon, after lunch we will gather for a discussion and analysis session led by Pedro Pablo. We will reflect together on each participant's field observations and discuss small discoveries that may arise during the exploration. Climate change and the planetary crisis serve as the "backdrop" for the visit, as FLORA inhabits these damaged times, and plant life, too, suffers the consequences of environmental and ecological transformations.

Tentative programme: 
9:00 Meet at FLORA
9:15 - 9:45 Introduction
9:45 - 10:50 Exercises in the field (1)
11:00 - 12:00 Exercises in the field (2) 
12:00 Lunch
12:45 - 14:00 Discussion