In Empirica, we gather annually to work as a group, with our hands, to pay attention to the lively materialities that also co-constitute and with which we co-exist in many of our research practices. This fall Gianluca Giabardo and  Maiju Suomi organized a day-long workshop that brought the group to the grounds of Snellman-korkeakoulu, where we mixed and shaped sourdough rye bread, explored multispecies entanglements in the surrounding forest, baked in a wood-fired outdoor oven, shared stories around a fire on the beach, and ended the day in the sauna by the sea.

The day began with sourdough, the material Gianluca is co-exploring with in his research. Working with rye starter means working with time, with the microbial transformations that happen when flour, water, and wild yeasts meet with our hands and us through fermentation. As we mixed and kneaded, we talked about what it means to attend to processes that have their own rhythms, and about our experiences baking and taking care of cultures and what are their own agencies. And in this process, time was one of the unknowns of the day: how long will the bread need to ferment at this temperature in a new place, how much time and wood will we need to fire the oven we never used?

While the dough was rising, Maiju led us to the beach and initiated a personal exploration in the surrounding forest. Maiju's research explores, multispecies relationality and care through architectural practices. Outsise, in the forest, we slowed down to notice. Each followed their own path, and brought back thoughts, observations, sensations at different scales, ranging from the body to the spiders, from the taste of leaves to the energy of secular trees. We exchanged on what it could mean to to be-in-a-place, to be able to broaden our understanding and to acknowledge both the visible and invisible entanglements.

Back at the Ecoatelier, we shaped the loaves, and the bread went into the wood-fired oven that was being fired while we were exploring with Maiju.

After a beautiful and nourishing lunch prepared at the canteen, we sat by the fire on the beach. This is something we regularly do in our meetings and workshops, a space to share what we are working on, what we are struggling with, and what we are learning. In Empirica, we have cultivated a way of being together that makes room for vulnerability, for questions that don't have answers yet, for ideas still taking shape. This research group is a rare thing as a space where commitments to care, relations, collective interrelatedness, attentiveness, and responsibility are practiced and lived, not just cited :)

We ended the day in the sauna that is "floating" on the sea. Warming up, looking out to the islands, and swimming in a refreshing Autumn water.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS and THANKS

Many thanks 
to Niina Bergius for facilitating the organisation and planning of the workshop by interfacing us with the Ecoateljier for the booking of the space
to Teija Kettunen and Janne Länsipuro for cooking tasty and fulfilling food
to Snellmann Korkeakoulu for hosting us on their grounds and allowing this beautiful day to happen!