In the summer of 2020, as part of the Venice Exploratorium, teams from four different cities in Europe critically explored and refined a method for engaging with a site as a zoöp. The method has been applied in several experimental settings since, each leading to further refinement. It has developed into the general framework for the practice of zoönomy, and for the (zoöonomic) development of zoöps.

The process consists of four steps that received their definitive labels during the course of the developments documented here. First comes Demarcating - the process of articulating the spatial boundaries of the site of the zoöp in legal, architectonic and ecological terms. The next step is Observing & Sensing the entities that live in it and becoming aware of their relationships. The third stage is that of Characterising the qualities of these relationships and thus the condition of the collective body, which leads to knowing where, when, and how to complete the fourth and final step: Intervening in the zoöp, in order to improve its quality of life.

Each team chose different sites to be observed as proto-zoöps and engaged with these sites through this method. 

Source: Het Nieuwe Instituut - A Zoönic method

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