start

Doch während in der ausserordentlichen Situation alle damit beschäftigt waren,
Lehr-, Forschungs- und Projektarbeiten ins Internet zu verlegen, blieb kaum Zeit, in
Ruhe über eine grundlegende Antwort oder Strategie nachzudenken. Auch im
Hinblick auf die Ökologie, die im Zuge der Pandemie verstärkt in die öffentliche
Wahrnehmung gelangt ist.
Dieses Nachdenken wollen, ja müssen wir nachholen. Als Kreative und Teil einer
kreativen Institution wollen wir aus der Krise etwas übertragen– für die nächste Krise, und für den Alltag.
Die C-Krise hat aufgezeigt, dass das Online-Asyl eine Option ist. Wir sind jedoch der Auffassung, dass es bei Weitem nicht die einzige Option ist. Wir wollen über die reine Raumsituation hinausdenken

Are we learning to study or studying to learn?
Structureless oder structure less?
Waldroom is a safe space!
Each one teach one.
It is not about using nature as a classroom, not about entering nature with a specific aim and not about asking nature for refuge: It is about being nature. Evolving from the delusive manner of perceiving nature as an object, part or even servant allows us to emerge.
If you find freedom, take it.
Tinkering – openness as a guideline for learning through endeavouring, and not the other way around.
Structureless oder structure less?

The Waldroom Manifesto

Into the wild. Into the unknown.
Into the potential, which is written laten in (non)spaces, Khôratic spaces,

Where informal does not mean the absence of form.
Where productivity imperatives are lifted to allow for the unforeseen, the unexpected,
Rich and potent ways of known and coming together – those which the busyness bustle of normal everyday (university) life does not allow.

The Waldroom is a (non) place for study.
A refuge, a realisation of the undercommons, out out out in nature.
In in in our togetherness.
This is the reading of study as speculative social practices, those ongoing and fulfilling with their absence of ends and means, those increasingly under threat within the (digital and physical) walls of the education institution we call the University.

The Waldroom was my peace, your peace,
our peace as a piece of what we need to (re)imagine the future to (re)form our habits of assembly – so easily erased under the ‘safety’ guise of isolation and lonely Zoom lessons.
In the Waldroom study becomes safe.

We tinkered, we talked, we cooked, we walked.
We came away fuller than we arrived – in more ways than one.

The Waldroom is our promise to continue the work required of our mutual indebtedness,
The ongoing work, which has no ends, which requires no means, other than coming together with care, openness, and a shared belief that what we (can) do in company is always more potent, more explosive, more powerful, than what we could ever construct alone.
With only two hands.
The sum of our parts, so much greater than our whole.

I love the Waldroom, and the Waldroom loves me.
We love the Waldroom, and the Waldroom loves us.

In landscapes of fading deep care, challenges of deep thought, and the wiping clean of exhilarating, surprising, unexpected, informing and informative exchanges,
We promise to come together for the sake, the care, the love and belief in what can be done in company.
As wild ones, united.

Participantsreflections:

What does it mean to be committed to a space of pure potentiality?

● The willingness to start again from scratch, every time. In German there is the word "übermalen": the painter that paints over her previous work, allowing something new to emerge. A deep commitment to the work that requires one to let go of it.
● Waiting is a practice that demands commitment.
● The willingness to being possessed by the Loa, the mystères. Legba, understanding. Samedi, death. Ayizan, priestess protector mischief.
● Study as a goal in and of itself, a post-conceptual philosophy, dedicated to imagination, curiosity, scientific method, the desire to know deeply.
● Does not science itself take place in a space of pure potentiality? I am reminded of Paul Feyerabend's "Against method", calling attention to the role anarchy plays in scientific discovery.

A Free Scene for Science

How to build up a free scene for science, in analogy to the German theatre scene. The 'Freie Szene' started to lobby for acknowledgement and more importantly for funding about 30 years ago. Today, it is an accepted and valued part of the cultural sphere, usually considered as something of an 'innovation hub'. It attracts the mavericks, the highly creative minds who do not want to work within structured (and often strongly hierarchical) institutions. The institutions on the other hand depend on inputs from the 'Freie Szene' to break out of the traditional routine. This way, a productive coexistence has emerged – 'Freie Szene' and institutions depend on each other and enrich the creative process.

Most importantly: The 'Freie Szene' does not depend on crowdfunding or other alternative funding schemes but has won enough acclaim to demand part of the (national as well as foundational) theatre funding. We want to accomplish the same for science.

The free science scene (FSS) will attract nonconformists too, the brilliant minds that are thinking mainly outside of the box. FSS will be less competition focused and more collaborative than institutionalised science, open concepts will be central: sharing data, tools, ideas, inspiration.

-Unser Waldraum ist ja theoretisch überall und in jeder Besetzung möglich, oder?
Richtig das sehe ich auch so, finde aber der Kerngedanke - was wäre wenn die Infrastruktur einer Hochschule nicht mehr zugänglich ist, und was macht man dafür/dagegen/damit? nach wie vor aktuell und DRINGLICH bis ich weiss nicht wann genau.
-Ist das Emmental unser Hauptquartier?
Für mich ja, für jeden anderen Waldroom vielleicht gar nicht, vielleicht nur satelit, vielleicht auch nur Anfangsmythos.
-Ist das Emmental der Waldraum?
Kann sein, kann auch nur einen Klassenzimmergrösse sein, oder gar taschentuch?
-Ist jeder Ort ein Waldraum?
Vielleicht braucht es wenigstens etwas Wald und etwas Room/raum?
Brauchen wir Bäume im Waldraum?
-Mir geht es um die Verbindung zwischen Mensch und Natur, die gleiche Trennung von Kopf und Körper passiert uns ja auch in der Natur-Mensch-beziehung. Das möchte ich entgegenwirken auf jegliche Art die sich dafür finden lässt.
Ist die einsame Linde auf dem höchsten Punkt des Hügels auch ein Waldraum?
Vielleicht, der Ausblick ist auf jedenfall da!!

Katharina Cromme (Institut für bewegende Künste)

Kaspar König How to make sense?
By establishing relations with your senses, surrounding, togetherness, needs, checking in. Picking the day with the fruits it has for you. Finding grounding and safe space from daily madness. Forest and rural activities invite to gear down and start listening to
what is finding together to make sense.

Waldroom is basically a space that drives for things to meet as in a catalyst underlaying a process, without being processed by itself.
My believes and promises: Walks set things* in Motion. Things that (pre-)occupy you and blend your focus into many other problem fields. Goal of a walk that set things in motion is to try to frame one of the spontaneous thoughts and talks of a walk. As taking a stick from one to the next or activity, something that liberates and might find resonance in your work or process of working.
Learning about the relationship between environment, art and science, seems to me as an anchor for a hopeful and enjoyable future.