Universal Species Suffrage Workshop

Further Event Information

This is an online workshop that proposes what the world would be like if all species not only could vote, but received the dignity and value that suffrage entails. Throughout this workshop, we interrogate what it means to be a species in a world defined by human action.

This workshop utilises Ahaslides, a platform which allows participants to vote in real time for answers, giving them an opportunity to engage at every point of the workshop. Playing as one of five species (human, bee, coral, tree and farmed chicken), we give the participants a series of scenarios and questions that they have to answer. These lead through various questions from how we value resources to how they would respond to climate change, giving them a space to reflect on not only how their species would vote, but also their own opinions. 

After a series of rounds we reveal that they now have to form a government. Revealing that each answer was linked to a human, political ideology, we give the floor to the participants to decide what government should be elected given the votes cast. Reflecting on the labels of the parties, their own votes and through the lens of the species, this gives the participants the space to interrogate what kind of politics they want beyond the frame given to us by the media. In doing so we can see the value of listening to other political opinions, and seeing which policies that they like arise from different ideologies.

While not defined by trees, the workshop critically reflects on what it means to be a species in our world, and what could we change if we voted with their, and each other’s, best intentions in mind.

Contributors

Cerrato–Halls is a collaborative practice between Jaione Cerrato and Jon Halls. Through a multidisciplinary approach, our collaborative practice focuses on subjects relating to the concept of value and its creation in contemporary society.

www.cerrato-halls.com