Assembly Required: Rewilding Space and Education Through Continuous Adaptive Practices

Abstract

Assembly Required is an interactive artwork that urges people to look a little closer at the spaces we live in and who we share them with. This paper outlines the research and development that brought this artwork to life. Using relational aesthetics - a branch of artistic practice that creates relationships between participants in experiencing artwork - to promote ecological awareness through an engaging project. Assembly Required mimics natural repetitive structures of the beehive and coral reefs and breaks them down into units to be endlessly produced and reformed into new structures. Participants are invited to collaborate by making these structures through workshops and a portable kit I created at the height of Covid-19, providing a hands-on educational experience.