Thegazingzone: Houseflies project

MA student Ma Kowasz, based in Reykjavik, Iceland, has conducted a little project on houseflies, drawing on the Umwelt theory of Jakob von Uexküll. A brief exchange we had in relation to the project is described, along with further text, images, and a video. It is all here: https://www.thegazingzone.org/houseflies

Excerpt:

One day, I found myself studying the methods of an Umwelt researcher, whose goal is to understand the species-specific view of the world, described by Uexküll in his book “A Stroll Through the Worlds of Animals and Men”, in a very human-centred environment; the kitchen of my apartment in Reykjavík. It was an autumn afternoon, and I and my flatmate had battled a small plague of houseflies occupying our home for the past few days. My flatmate hated their company and announced loudly that she would kill them one by one, if she had to. I was sitting on a chair, looking at their tiny bodies flying around, listening to the buzzing of the wings, wondering how their world compares with mine.  I proceeded to study houseflies and all the information I found revolved around methods and ways to get rid of them. It led me to ask the following question: “How could I change the function of a housefly in my Umwelt?” And equally importantly: “How could I change the function of myself in the perception of the housefly?”   With these questions in mind I reached out to and exchanged a few letters with semiotician Morten Tønnessen, President of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies, asking him about the intimate cohabitation of humans and houseflies. “To change the flies´ role in your Umwelt might not be so hard (cf. my vs. my wife´s relation to flies ... sympathy vs. antipathy will change that relation). To change your role in the Umwelt of the fly might be harder - but maybe worth an experiment?” His answer prompted me to create a tool that would make it possible to switch the functions self and other.  ...