What is ‘worlding’ in Biocultural Worlding?
The workshop brought together an international group of scholars, artists, curators, and researchers from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), King’s College London (KCL), the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPI), and invited colleagues from the National University of Singapore (NUS). Participants came from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds, including history and digital humanities, history of science and technology, anthropology, law, Chinese medicine and religion, ecology and environmental studies, Chinese studies, archaeology, museum studies, as well as artists, curators, and film scholars. Together, they explored the intersections of biological and cultural diversity through the evolving framework of Biocultural Worlding. The workshop aimed to foster transdisciplinary collaboration across the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and legal studies, while laying the groundwork for a joint research network and shared inquiry platform. Framed around four thematic sessions: (I) Methods of Synchronous Exchange of Knowledge Creation, (II) Asynchrony and Interdisciplinary Rigidity, (III) Local Stewardship of Knowledge, and (IV) Beyond Documentation, participants presented case studies, artistic practices, and on-going research that collectively questioned how ‘’worlding’’ might serve as a conceptual and practical tool to address biocultural diversity across different disciplines, epistemologies, and regions. These presentations were followed by in-depth group discussions that allowed for reflection, dialogue, and knowledge exchange across fields that might otherwise remain siloed. In addition to the four core sessions, the programme also included film screenings of short movies developed by some of the workshop’s participants. This diversity of perspectives and formats enriched the dialogue, fostering richer and more nuanced understandings of Biocultural Worlding.
What is ‘Worlding’ in Biocultural Worlding Workshop
Programme
Welcome Address by Professor Ute Meta Bauer
SESSION 1: METHODS OF SYNCHRONOUS EXCHANGE OF KNOWLEDGE CREATION, Chaired by Professor Ute Meta Bauer
Case Study I: Knotting and Unknotting Nature and Culture in Amami Ōshima, Presentation by Lisa Onaga, Senior Research Scholar, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
Case Study II: Boundary Objects, Knowledge Exchange,Trading Zones and Epistemic Humility in Singapore Medicinal Gardens, Presentation by Michael Stanley-Baler, Associate Professor of History, NTU SoH and NTU LKCSM, and President, International Association for the Study of Traditional Asian Medicine
Case Study III: Living Heritage and Rapprochement: In the Village of Poets, Presentation by Michael Walsh, Professor of Cultural Studies and Digital Humanities, NTU SoH
Response by Margarida Mendes, Curator and Affiliated Researcher, NOVA Institute of Communication, University of Lisbon
SESSION 2: ASYNCHRONY AND INTERDISCIPLINARY RIGIDITY, Chaired by Sushma Griffin
Case Study IV: Biology as Cultural History or Culture as Biological History: Anthropology and the Faultlines of Human Population Genetics, Presentation by Kriti Kapila, Senior Lecturer, Anthropology and Law, King’s College of London
Case Study V: Achieving Critical Mass at the Borneo Cultures Museum: Working to Design, Conserve and Collaborate in an Institution in Transition, Presentation by Laura Miotto, Associate Professor (Practice), NTU ADM and Co-Chair, Museum Studies and Cultural Practices and Franca Cole, Lecturer, Museum Studies and Curatorial Practices, NTU ADM and Research Fellow, Climate Transformation Programme
Response by Marc Gloede, Associate Professor, NTU ADM and Co-Chair, Museum Studies and Cultural Practices
SESSION 3: LOCAL STEWARDSHIP OF KNOWLEDGE, Chaired by Associate Professor Laura Miotto
Case Study VI: The Orang Laut as Local Stewards of a Way of Knowing, Presentation by Vivienne Wee, Anthropologist and Co-Founder of Ethnographica Private Limited Singapore
Case Study VII: Spirit Possession and the Generation of Alternative Worlds, Presentation by Kenneth Dean, Professor, Department of Chinese Studies, NUS and Director, Wan Boo Sow Research Cente for Chinese Culture
Response by Firdaus Sani, Founder of Oranglaut.sg and Black Sampan, and fourth-generation Orang Laut/Pulau descendant
SESSION 4: BEYOND DOCUMENTATION, Chaired by Dean Jon Wilson, CoHASS
Case Study VIII: Performing the Earth: A Reassessment of the “Meta Ekologi” project in relation to the contemporary Eco-Art discourse, Presentation by Marc Gloede, Associate Professor, NTU ADM and Co-chair, Museum Studies and Cultural Practices
Case Study IX: Worlding and World-Making from the Area Beyond National Jurisdiction, Presentation by Jonathan Galka, Postdoctoral Fellow, Asia Research Institute, NUS
Response by Ina Conradi Chavez, Filmmaker and Associate Professor, NTU ADM
Response by Zara Arshad, Researcher and Curator
PUBLIC KEYNOTE LECTURES
Welcome Address by Professor Ute Meta Bauer and Dean Jon Wilson
Keynote I: Oceanic Worldings, Keynote presentation by Margarida Mendes, Curator and Affiliated Researcher, NOVA Institute of Communication, University of Lisbon
Keynote II: Turtle Worlds as a Way of Living, Lisa Onaga, Senior Research Scholar, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
Ute Meta Bauer is a Professor at the School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University Singapore (NTU). She is currently the Acting Director and Principal Research Fellow at the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore (NTU CCA Singapore); and is the Chair of the Masters in Museum Studies and Curatorial Practices (MA MSCP) programme. Having served as the Founding Director of NTU CCA Singapore for over a decade, her work as educator and curator over the past years has focused on Climates. Habitats. Environments. At the Centre, she curated and co-curated The Oceanic (2017/2018), Trees of Life. Knowledge in Material (2018), and The Posthuman City (2020). In 2022, she served as curator for the Singapore Pavilion at the 59th Biennale di Venezia, featuring artist Shubigi Rao. Her recent large scale projects include the 17th Istanbul Biennial (2022), co-curated alongside David Teh and Amar Kanwar, and the artistic direction of the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale 2024. She is a Trustee of the Art Foundation TBA21 and a member of the Governing Council of n.b.k. Berlin. Bauer was recently conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Art and Design by Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Helsinki, Finland.
Joshua Gebert serves as Research Fellow at the School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University for the Climate Transformation Programme (2025–Present). Joshua is trained in architectural history and spatial planning in the Netherlands, developing a foundation in the intersections of culture, the built environment, and sustainability. He received his PhD in Southeast Asian Studies from the National University of Singapore in 2024, where he drew on cultural geography and critical heritage studies to examine the politics of heritage in Indonesia. His doctoral research explored how cultural engagements and artistic practices by local communities can contribute to decolonisation.
Ng Mei Jia is currently Research Associate at the School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University, managing the research projects Climate Transformation Programme (2024–2030), Developing and Evaluating Digital Tools for Participatory Climate Change Mitigation (2025–2026) and a research assistant on Climate Crisis and Cultural Loss (2021–2024), Environmentally-Engaged Artistic Practices in South, Southeast Asia and the Pacific (2021–2023), and Understanding Southeast Asia as a ‘Geocultural’ Formation (2021–2023). She was previously a Project Officer (Intangible Cultural Heritage) at the National Heritage Board, Singapore. Mei Jia holds an MA in Southeast Asian Studies from the National University of Singapore.
Angela Ricasio Hoten is a research assistant at the School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University supporting the research projects Climate Transformation Programme (2024–2030), Developing and Evaluating Digital Tools for Participatory Climate Change Mitigation (2025–2026) and previously the Environmentally-Engaged Artistic Practices in South, Southeast Asia and the Pacific (2023–2024). Angela holds a BA (Hons) in Environmental Studies and minor in Anthropology from Yale-NUS College, Singapore. She was also the undergraduate research assistant for ‘Lala Land: Singapore’s Seafood Heritage’ edited by Anthony Medrano, published by Epigram Books.
