Without any Consideration for the Gods

For Mary Maggic the format Workshopology is a mode of collaborative learning, experimentation, and embracing the unknown. Beyond conventional didactic paths, Mary Maggic, alongside Mira Brunner, Gabrielle Fonta, Marie Jeschke, Mizi Lee, and Neda Naujokaitė, dedicated two workshop days to exploring toxic agents and relations in the environment surrounding the project space, which both influence us and are influenced by us. Together, participants scavenge waste materials in Weißensee to embody the potential actions of toxic molecules and to trace their ongoing impact on the constitution of our surroundings. Throughout the workshop, participants undergo various phases and are confronted with the alienation of their own environment. The collective exhibition Without any Consideration for the Gods emerges from their collaborative process. They document their exploration, engage in a sci-fi writing exercise to process their experiences, and familiarize themselves with found materials while blindfolded. Stickiness is incorporated as a material agent that connects participants’ experiences, memories, tragedies, and powers together. The outcome of this collective exploration remains uncertain during the workshop and even at the time of writing this text. We invite viewers to contemplate a familiar environment that otherwise merely frames our paths along the roadside. Mary Maggic creates visual narratives using scientific tools. Maggic holds a BSA in Biology and Art from Carnegie Mellon University and an MS in Media Arts and Sciences from the MIT Media Lab. Their artistic endeavors range from amateur science, public workshops, performances, installations, and documentaries to speculative fiction. Years of research within the Open Source Estrogen project have proven biohacking methods to be far more useful to Mary Maggic than traditional knowledge dissemination methods. The protocols emerging from the workshops produce an existential knowing in our bodies and environments inevitably lead to a form of collective worlding and knowledging, strategies that may help us out of ecological ruins.