Atlas Insects Hardcore: Micro-Territories and Survival



with 
 Bogdana Kosmina  

#MicroTerritories #NonHumanArchitecture #EcocideResistance #CareEthics



In times of planetary catastrophe—ongoing wars, ecocide, climate collapse—we radically shrink our perspective to observe the concrete "i": the insect, the non-human inhabitant forced to navigate worlds reshaped by human construction. This workshop inverts conventional architectural thinking, asking not "how do we build for humans," but "how do we build understanding that our structures reshape entire ecosystems?" When new conflicts escalate, when US and Israeli strikes on Iran trigger retaliatory attacks, when explosions are reported across the Middle East—the russian war in Ukraine continues to unfold new dimensions of ecocide.
This workshop proposes to redefine ourselves through a small "i" rather than an abstract "we," mapping how insects and animals are forced to change their pathways when human architecture blocks their routes. Participants will conduct micro-scale fieldwork within the social housing ensemble, observing territories, pathways, and shelter-seeking behaviors of insects and small animals, documenting how they navigate built structures and find refuge. Using drawing, photography, and notation, we create maps showing parallel human and non-human territories occupying the same space, revealing how non-human inhabitants adapt, resist, or disappear in response to human construction. Based on these observations, participants design micro-interventions—shelters, passageways, refuges for insects and animals—as integral to architectural logic rather than decoration. Daily collective reflections connect micro-scale observations to macro-scale catastrophes, asking how an ant colony's displacement mirrors human displacement in war zones and what survival means at different scales. This approach recognizes that we do not exist in isolation; our buildings fundamentally reshape ecosystems, and architecture becomes complicit in planetary catastrophe when ignoring the non-human world.

Outcomes:
  • Fieldwork Documentation: Maps, drawings, photographs showing micro-territorial conflicts and adaptations;
  • Micro-Interventions: Small-scale architectural proposals for non-human shelter
  • Collective Manifesto: A shared statement on architecture's responsibility to the non-human world
  • Public Exhibition: Opain-Air Display of “micro models”/ “huts”/ “insect shelters”  x Printed maps within the social housing ensemble, making observations visible to residents.


Bogdana Kosmina is a multidisciplinary architect and artist working between Kyiv and Vienna. She explores the intersections of culture, heritage, and technology. Kosmina frequently collaborates with historians, ethnologists, and human rights activists. Her work spans spatial installations, sculpture, exhibition displays or redesigning exhibition spaces  and other forms at the crossing of the arts in spaces.
https://bogdana-kosmina-atlas.com/

︎︎︎ MEDIA   Analog & digital documentation, modeling with site-found natural materials.

︎︎︎ LOCATION Sandleitenhof indoors and outdoors

︎︎︎ TEACHING LANGUAGE English, French (possible)

︎︎︎ WHAT TO BRING Sketchbook, pencils, colored markers, camera or smartphone, magnifying glass, measuring tape and comfortable outdoor clothing. 

︎︎︎ REQUIREMENTS  Open curiosity about non-human life, willingness to spend time observing in nature. Daily discussions connecting micro-scale observations to macro-scale catastrophes. What does survival mean at different scales?

︎︎︎ MAXIMUM NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS  6

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