Carbon mediators x SWISP lab’s HAK.io-let’s play.

Working with Science Gallery ignites creativity and discovery where science and art collide. SWISP Lab was in residence in Bengaluru in 2023 with the Carbon Mediators. Together we hacked the Anthropocene through play and co-creation to bring science, art, technology and design together in connective, participatory, and speculative ways. Why Science Gallery and the Mediators? Because they are at the forefront of interfacing cutting-edge research where art and science meet in the middles.

What is HAK.io? and how do we play?

Hacking the Anthropocene Kit or HAK.io (input-output) was developed to facilitate a game-like research experience using the Hacking the Anthropocene Kit (HAK.io) that helps young people grapple with the complexities of the Anthropocene. The cards serve as a mechanism to guide their thinking and engagement. Here’s a possible protocol for utilising the HAK in a hackathon (Chat GPT 4.0 helped us to develop a game protocol for using HAK.io):

Hacking the Anthropocene Kit (HAK.io) Game Protocol:

1. Introduction Phase:

  • Orientation: Begin with a short orientation about the Anthropocene, emphasising its multi-dimensional nature, including its racialised, gendered, and settler-colonial aspects.
  • Share Stories: Give participants an opportunity to briefly share their climate stories, to set the tone and context of the game.

2. Setup Phase:

  • Team Formation: Depending on the number of participants, divide them into teams of 3-5. Ensure diversity within teams, based on their stories and backgrounds.
  • Distribute HAK.io: Hand out a Hacking the Anthropocene Kit to each team.

3. Game Play Phase:

  • Card Draw: Each team starts by drawing a card from the HAK.io deck. The card drawn presents a research method or a provocation that the team needs to address.
  • Brainstorm and Develop: Teams spend a fixed amount of time (e.g., 20 minutes) discussing the card’s theme, relating it to their personal or community experiences, and formulating a speculative solution or perspective about it.
  • Presentation: After the brainstorming session, each team presents their ideas in a 5-minute pitch format.
  • Feedback: Other teams provide feedback, critique, or build on the presented ideas, fostering a collaborative and iterative learning environment.
  • Iterative Rounds: The above steps can be repeated in multiple rounds, allowing teams to draw new cards or build upon previous ideas.

4. Off-Piste Card Phase:

  • If a team draws the “off-piste” card, they are given freedom to diverge from the established themes and come up with a novel approach or perspective on the Anthropocene.
  • If the outcome from an off-piste card is deemed valuable and impactful, it becomes a new card for future hackathons, incorporating that novel method or theme into the deck.

5. Reflection Phase:

  • Group Reflection: After the game rounds, conduct a group reflection session. Allow participants to discuss what they learned, what surprised them, and how their perceptions of the Anthropocene might have shifted.
  • Highlighting Action: Emphasise the importance of taking collective action based on insights from the hackathon. Discuss possible initiatives or projects that can be pursued beyond the event.

Note: The protocol emphasises inclusivity, collaborative learning, and feedback-driven iterations. Flexibility is key – the framework can be adapted based on the specific context, duration of the hackathon, or preferences of the participants.

You can find the HAK.io cards here:

What is the Anthropocene?

The Anthropocene, while a contested term,  “renders visible new architectures of time and matter, both sedimenting existing genealogies of global-world-space and radically reorganizing an imagination of the scope and material duration of what the human is in and through time”. What Kathryn Yusoff is talking about is the pervasiveness of gendered and racialised settler-colonial logics that continue to extract knowledge, labour, materials, and life itself. What this makes clear is that the Anthropogenic times that we live in – whether you agree with the concept of the Anthropocene or not – are not merely about global warming but encompasses the idea of ‘climate’ in every sense of the word, and we’re not just talking about the weather here. We’re also talking about the racialised, gendered, settler-colonial climate that has led to this historic moment.

Excerpt of an illustration in a poster for the U.S. Geological Survey on the geological times periods by Joseph Graham, William Newman, and John Stacy (2008). 

The following Carbon Mediator HAK games were co-designed in 2023. Each of them play the HAK.io cards in different ways. SWISP Lab designed the original 10 +1 HAK.io game cards are for the purpose of research and data creation. In each residency at different Science Gallery’s in the network we co-design new ones needs for the next round of play. We have 5 co-designed HAK.io games with the Carbon Mediators (2023) that are linked below:

  1. Where is art/science happening?
  2. Scicurious sensory walk with clay on site at SGB.
  3. Off beat