Challenging the dichotomy between nature and culture, postnatural matter invites us to consider human influence in the material world, analyzing its ethical, ecological, and philosophical implications. The concept of postnatural matter raises questions about the boundaries between what is considered natural and human, suggesting a shift from the traditional understanding of natural materials as untouched -or separated from our scientific interventions, technologies, and cultures- to a recognition that our activity now shapes and creates new forms of life and matter.

From genetically modified organisms to synthetic biology, from man-made minerals and urban wildlife adapting to our cities to microplastics circulating in the oceans... we are witnessing the emergence of a new reality: Postnatural matter is not just a topic — it’s a lens to rethink our relationship with the world and refers to any material entity or substance intentionally altered or manipulated by human intervention through scientific, technological, or cultural processes. 

Including chemically altered geologies, genetically modified organisms, cloned animals, lab-grown tissues, and synthetic biology constructs, it represents the fusion of nature and human influence, where the natural state of a living organism or material is modified beyond its original form and opens a new field of research and discussion where contemporary practices should question the implications of such a profound shift.

That matter matters is undoubtedly a euphony resonating at the center of the contemporary ecological debate. Recognizing that matter is not inert or devoid of agency but rather a dynamic participant in the web of life is the only way out of such structures. In this course, we will unfold a different history, where matter is relational, shaping our present both as a physical and also as a cultural agent. Matter is our past and our potential, too; it is the world’s relational agency and therefore, its ultimate future. Matter “matters” forms and beings. Matter matters the world around and within us all.

Session I

6 / 11 / 2024

POSTNATURAL MATTERS: A genealogy of contemporary materialities

This introductory session proposes an approach to contemporary materialities that defy rigid categorizations and explores how new forms of matter—shaped by human intervention, technological manipulation, and hybridization—are redefining the world. It traces a genealogy of postnatural materialities, offering a critical exploration of how materials that no longer fit within traditional understandings of “nature” are reshaping ecosystems, bodies, and cultures.

Session II

13 / 11 / 2024

MELTING ECOLOGIES: Viscous matters

The worlds are melting—not only physically and materially, due to the exponential rise in temperatures and the acceleration of human activities—but also conceptually and ontologically. This dissolution signals the definitive collapse of the distinction between nature and culture, challenging the very idea of ​​stable materiality, but also pointing at how the western containers of modernity seem to have lost their capacity to contain. In this session, we will navigate a series of images, events, and matters that unfold an anarchaeology of the viscous as a new material condition. 

Session III

20 / 11 / 2024

From the Anthropocene to the Antrobscene: Matter implications in the contemporary ecological debate

The focus will be on the material consequences of human activities in this era, particularly how waste, pollution, and toxic byproducts are becoming defining elements of Earth’s ecosystems. By engaging with ecological philosophy, material culture studies, and environmental justice, the seminar will interrogate the ethical, social, and material dimensions of living in an age where human-generated waste and contamination redefine the planet’s future.

Session IV

27 / 11 / 2024

MATTER BEYOND HUMAN PERCEPTION

This session investigates the material realities beyond human sensory perception, challenging the limits of human cognition and experience. Drawing from quantum physics, speculative realism, new materialism, and posthumanist philosophy, the session will explore how forces, substances, and processes—often invisible or imperceptible—shape the physical world and our relationship to it. Participants will engage with scientific, artistic, and philosophical perspectives on matter that question human-centered understandings of reality.Recognizing the vitality and agency in things we usually see as static or dead, like rocks, trash, or metals, and considering their roles and effects beyond our immediate experience.

Session V

4 / 12 / 2024

MATTER AS KIN: A non-binary matter future.

A non-hierarchical and non-binary matter future envisions a world where the boundaries between are fluid and permeable. From a postnatural ecological perspective, kinship might become a dynamic and interconnected network that extends beyond human relationships to include more-than-human entities, ecosystems, and the environment, emphasizing the interdependence of all living and non-living components of the world. Viewing matter as kin invites us to adopt practices that are inclusive and equitable.

Session VI

11 / 12 / 2024

Matter Futures: Worlding through Contemporary Practices

This last session will explore how contemporary artistic, philosophical, and scientific practices engage with the future of matter, focusing on how these practices "world" or bring new worlds into being. Drawing from fields such as new materialism, speculative design, ecological thought, and posthumanism, the session will interrogate how we conceptualize the planet's material future, humanity's, and non-human entities. Attendees will consider how these "worlding" practices shape not only the future but also our current understanding of agency, environment, and ethics.

Gabriel Alonso

Born in Madrid, he is an artist and researcher, trained between the ETSAM (Madrid), the Technische Universität (Berlin), and Columbia University in New York at the MS-CCCP, where he graduated with honors in 2018. In his works, through various formats such as installation, sculpture, photography, or video, he investigates the contemporary relationships between fiction and materiality, to blur the binomials between the real and the imagined, between the natural and the cultural. In 2020 he founded the Institute of Postnatural Studies, a center for artistic experimentation from which to explore and problematize postnature as a framework for contemporary creation. In parallel to academic experimentation, research, and curatorial practice, he develops editorial work through the Cthulhu Books platform. Recently, he has published his latest book, The Postnatural Condition: Glossary of Ecologies for Other Possible Worlds (2024).

Represented by Pradiauto Gallery (MAD), his work has been exhibited in different international galleries and exhibitions, such as Podium, 2024 (Oslo), Pradiauto, 2020-2024 (Madrid), Nordés Galería, 2022 (Santiago de Compostela), CaixaForum, 2022 (Barcelona), Centro- Centro, 2022 (Madrid), Fundación Lacaixa, 2022 (Bcn), Matadero, 2019 (Madrid), John Doe Gallery, 2018 (New York), IIAF2018 (New York), Poor Media Leuven, 2016 (Belgium), Mila Gallery, 2014 (Berlin) among others.

He has been an assistant professor at Barnard College, Columbia University (NYC) and at the Master of Advanced Architecture at ETSAM, at the Geneva University of Art and Design head, as well as at TAI University, and has given several lectures at different international institutions, museums, and universities. In 2022, he received a FAD-Cultura award for the IPS platform. In 2015, he received the FAD award for his publication Desierto, and in 2016, he was awarded one of the prestigious Graham Foundation for the Fine Arts fellowships.

Bennett, Jane. Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. 2010

Tripaldi, Laura. Parallel Minds: Discovering the Intelligence of Materials. Urbanomic, 2022.

Davis, Heather. Toxic Progeny: The Plastisphere and Other Queer Futures, A Journal of Continental Feminism. Volume 5.2. 2015

Barthes, Roland. Mythologies, Les Lettres nouvelles. 1957

Tsing, Anna Lowenhaupt. The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins. Princeton University Press, 2015.

Clark, Nigel, and Kathryn Yusoff. Geosocial Formations and the Anthropocene. Theory, Culture & Society, vol. 34, no. 2-3, 2017, pp. 3-23.

Tsing, Anna Lowenhaupt, Heather Swanson, Elaine Gan, and Nils Bubandt, eds. Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet: Ghosts and Monsters of the Anthropocene. University of Minnesota Press, 2017.

Parikka, Jussi. A Geology of Media. University of Minnesota Press, 2015.

de la Cadena, Marisol. Earth Beings: Ecologies of Practice across Andean Worlds. Duke University Press, 2015.

Mbembe, Achille. Necropolitics. Duke University Press, 2019.

Helmreich, Stefan. Alien Ocean: Anthropological Voyages in Microbial Seas. University of California Press, 2009.

Yusouff, Mohamed. Billion Black Anthropocenes or None. Duke University Press, 2024.

Barad, Karen. Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning. Duke University Press, 2007.

Barad, Karen. Material Entanglements, or, Rather: Material Intra-actions. New Literary History, vol. 45, no. 2, 2014, pp. 345-365.

Nixon, Rob. Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor. Harvard University Press, 2011.

Alaimo, Stacy. Bodily Natures: Science, Environment, and the Material Self. Indiana University Press, 2010.

Are the sessions live or pre-recorded? All sessions are live, via a Zoom meeting. All sessions will be recorded, so you can access all materials in case you miss the online encounters.

Where will we be able to access course materials? All materials will be shared through an online folder, where you will be able to see the sessions, find the texts and readings, as well as other interesting materials related to each session.

How long will we have access to the recordings? The recordings will be uploaded after every session, and all materials will be accessible during the course and until two weeks after the end.

Will the bibliography be shared in advance? All references, bibliographies, links, and materials will be shared in advance to facilitate the reading and preparation time of the sessions.

Do I get any kind of certificate after the seminar? After the completion of the seminar, you will receive a non-official certificate as a proof of enrollment.

Do you offer any scholarships or special prices? We offer a 20% discount for students and IPS alumni (a document showing enrollment to any academic institution or university, or previous IPS seminars, will be demanded). We understand that the cost to attend might be a barrier to entry depending on where you’re living, or your personal situation. If you are interested in requesting aid please send us a request through this form and we will analyse your case.

Are the discounts accumulative? No, we do not offer accumulative discounts. What we do offer is a 20% discount in case of acquiring more than one product, being an alumni, or being a student.