Changing Natures

Through the participatory and digital collection "Changing Natures", our aim is to enable people to experience, on a personal level, the global impact of human societies and technologies on the Earth system. As a joint project with the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle in Paris, we are exploring new forms of knowledge transfer for the Anthropocene within the context of natural history collections. At the heart of this is the cultural understanding of human influence on nature: how do socially shaped, collective or individual perceptions shape our relationship with nature? And what do the material artefacts of changing human-nature relationships tell us?

The aim is to use a citizen science approach to collect data in a completely new way and, together with members of the public, to create the first collection of the Anthropocene. Through the digital platform Natur der Dinge, we are openly inviting people to submit objects from the past with which they have a personal connection and which can be used to illustrate changes in the environment and the relationship between humans and nature. Users can also create their own stories by linking, categorising and commenting on the objects and their stories. In this way, they themselves become curators of the Anthropocene collection. The initiative stems from a Franco-German working group on citizen science. Both partners share equal responsibility for its content and resources, and jointly support and implement the project. Alongside the development of the collection, various events and research activities are taking place in collaboration with scientists from different disciplines, as well as public engagement initiatives at museums in Berlin and Paris.

The Anthropocene initiative sees this as an opportunity to provide impetus for the reorganisation of knowledge for our present day: this also means rethinking the social and cultural dimensions of natural history collections. The aim is to expand the existing, rich scientific knowledge of natural history museums to include collective, everyday, multi-perspective forms of knowledge about nature. In light of global challenges, our focus is on engaging in dialogue with society to gather, connect and make use of new, hybrid forms of knowledge regarding the complex interconnections between humans and nature.

Former project members

• Mira Witte (Digital Concept)
• Julia Tovote (Visiting Researcher)
• Jan Sevcik (Student Assistant)
• Paula Sommerer (Student Assistant)