Weathering Weather

an embodied co-speculative approach to exploring weather Gaurika Singhal

Parsons Good Interventions ‘23

Why study Weather?

The numeric representation and interpretation of weather (temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind speed, and air pressure) obscure diverse personal and otherwise situated values, feelings, behaviours, and politics related to weather.

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What is Weathering?

Weathering can be de ned as the act of weather altering exposed objects (De nition of WEATHERING, n.d.). Weathering can also be seen as the withstanding, enduring, or surviving of certain conditions (Thesaurus Results for WEATHERING, n.d.). Thus, it can be said that all bodies, places, and objects weather. In light of climate change, weathering invites us to consider the social, cultural, and political implications of what we might carry, lose, bear and survive along the way (Neimanis Hamilton, 201).

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Methods Embodied co-speculation The ‘Embodied Co-Speculation’ approach combines the sensorial, tacit, provocative, and participatory ways of exploration.

It allows for an experiential and cocreative way of relating to speculation and enables the formulation of diverse, subjective explorations of potential and probable ways of living.

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Workshops

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Workshops

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Speculations highly individual, unique, emotional, and sensorially rich alternative ways to measure, communicate and relate to weather.

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Sense-making

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Sense-making Re ned Themes

• Sensing and observing nature Petrichor, Warm beach waters in winters

• Sensing and observing urban areas Sounds of fan speed 5 in the hot summers of india

• Predictive sensing and observation My ngertips and toes are always icy near 1°C

• Personal and Subjective Sensing/ Feeling Itchy sweaters

• Mixed feelings of weather I don’t notice the wind much in the sun, but I feel it in the shade

• Mental Health and Moods the sun puts me in a good mood, SAD in the dark winters

• Temporality, Seasonality & Memories sun and cool weather remind me of my childhood in California

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• Bodily Rhythms and Weather pee a lot when it is cold , hair frizzes in high humidity

• Weather in language

I’m 20x more weather sensitive in my own language. In english, I’m either warm, cold or neutral

• Safety and Weather

Melting wheels and shoes because of hot asphalt in heatwaves

• Togetherness and Celebration

when you hug without the winter coat on again, summer picnics

• Productivity and Weather

it’s harder to get out of bed and be productive when it is cold and dark , siestas - need to nap in the summer

• Privilege and Weather I feel I can’t enjoy the moment if I’m not wearing the right clothes

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The Zine Outcome This ‘Deep Talks about Weather’ zine doesn’t provide absolute answers or solutions but acts as a collective documentation of experiences, insights, critical questions, and speculations raised by workshop participants.

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This zine brings forth alternative mechanisms for relating to and living with weather and acts as a stepping stone for more weatherly embodiment and re ection on climate change.

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Find the thesis, the zine and more at https://linktr.ee/WeatheringWeather Weathering Weather | Gaurika Singhal

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References Neimanis, A., & Hamilton, J. (2017, May 22). The weather is now political. The Conversation. http:// theconversation.com/the-weather-is-now-political-77791 De nition of WEATHERING. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2, 2022, from https://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/weathering Embodied Design Research Lab, UC Berkley. (2019, June 13). Embodied Design. EDRL UC Berkley. https://edrl.berkeley.edu/glossary/embodied-design/ Farias, P. G., Bendor, R., & van Eekelen, B. F. (2022). Social dreaming together: A critical exploration of participatory speculative design. Proceedings of the Participatory Design Conference 2022 - Volume 2, 147–154. https://doi.org/10.1145/3537797.3537826 Dolejšová, M., Ampatzidou, C., Houston, L., Light, A., Botero, A., Choi, J., Wilde, D., Altarriba Altarriba Bertran, F., Davis, H., Gonzales Gonzales Gil, F., & Catlow, R. (2021). Designing for Transformative Futures: Creative Practice, Social Change and Climate Emergency. Creativity and Cognition, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1145/3450741.3465242 Wilde, D., Vallgårda, A., & Tomico, O. (2017). Embodied Design Ideation Methods: Analysing the Power of Estrangement. Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 5158–5170. https://doi.org/10.1145/3025453.3025873 Hamilton, J. M., & Neimanis, A. (2018). A Field Guide for Weathering: Embodied Tactics for Collectives of Two or More Humans. 17(1), 14.

Piepmeier, A. (2008). Why Zines Matter: Materiality and the Creation of Embodied Community.

American Periodicals, 18(2), 213–238.

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