Sasha Engelmann
Sasha Hildegard Engelmann
Mailing Address:
Mariannenplatz 21C
Berlin 10997
+49 17685651724
Permanent Address:
St. Hilda’s College
Oxford University
United Kingdom
[email protected]
[email protected]
EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS
9/13-9/16
DPhil Candidate, Geography and the Environment; St. Hilda’s College, University of Oxford
School of Geography and the Environment
9/11-9/14
MPhil (Distinction), Nature, Society and Environmental Policy; St. Hilda’s College, University
of Oxford; School of Geography and the Environment
9/07-6/11
Stanford University Class of 2011 (GPA: 4.002) B.A. English and French Literatures (Honours)
B.S. Earth Systems (Biosphere track)
EMPLOYMENT
10/14-
Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter (Scientific Researcher / Lecturer), Institute für
Architekturebezogene Kunst, Technical University of Braunschweig
I currently design and deliver a curriculum on environmental sensing practices, creative
geographical research methods and multidisciplinary arts practice. I have taught courses on the
geographies of creative interventions in atmospheric space, sensing practices and climate
activism, and creative geographical storytelling and methods.
1/12-06/13
Creative Technology and Marketing, Invisible Dust, London
Invisible Dust is a nonprofit organization that curates art projects highlighting environmental
concerns. I developed a mobile web app launched for the exhibition of Dryden Goodwin’s
“Breathe” artwork in London, and worked with founder and director Alice Sharp, Matt Locke at
Storythings and the Rutherford Appleton Astronomical Laboratory to use environmental data to
invite artists tell stories about climate change.
7/12-9/12
Associate Product Marketing Manager Intern, Google UK.
I launched a mobile activation campaign for the Google+ mobile app in Europe, the Middle East
and Africa. I also designed and populated an internal website for marketing activities in
EMEA. I built a mobile web application for my Oxford MPhil research on Breathe.
6/10-9/10
Research Analyst and MAP Fellow, Natural Resources Defense Council, San Francisco
Analyzed net greenhouse gas emissions associated with imported harvested wood products in
California and the Pacific Northwest. I synthesized data from expert reports and the interstate
wood products market, and presented the results in a California State Board hearing in
Sacramento.
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Sasha Engelmann
12/09-3/10
Independent Research, “Mission Climat: Caisse des Dépôts”, Paris
Analysis of reforestation project mechanisms in the European Union Emissions Trading
Scheme (EU ETS) as well as social concerns regarding energy and climate. Adviser: Anaïs
Delbosc, Director of Research in Financial and Institutional Perspectives on the EU ETS,
Director of Club Tendances Carbone.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
-
Geographies of Art
Creative and Experimental Geographies
Geographies of Air and Atmosphere
Creative ethnography and Para-ethnography
Knowledge production in the Anthropocene
Art-Science Collaboration and Transdisciplinarity
More-than-human, Post-human and Geographical aesthetics
Process Philosophy and Radical Empiricism
Nonrepresentational Theories
PUBLICATION OUTPUTS
EDITED WORKS
2016
Engelmann, S. (ed.) “Anthropocene to Aerocene” special issue of Continent Journal on Tomás
Saraceno’s Aerocene.
2015
Engelmann, S. and Thomson, J. (eds) “A Manual for Becoming Aerosolar” presented in Tomás
Saraceno: Becoming Aerosolar, 21er Haus, Vienna.
2014
Engelmann, S. and Saraceno, T. (eds) “A Monument to the Anthropocene”, magazine published on
the occasion of the exhibition “Un monument à l’Anthropocène”, curated by Bruno Latour and
Bronislaw Szerszynski, Les Abattoirs, Toulouse.
REFEREED JOURNAL ARTICLES
2016
Engelmann, S. (under review) “Cosmological Aesthetics: The Lure of Tomás Saraceno’s Hybrid
Webs”, Theory, Culture and Society.
2016
Thomson, J. and Engelmann, S. (under review) “Intra-acting with the IceCube Neutrino
Observatory, or, how the Technosphere may come to matter”, Anthropocene Review, special
issue on the Technosphere, (ed. Sara Nelson, Christoph Rosol, Jurgen Renn, Roman Brinzanik).
2016
Engelmann, S. and McCormack, D.P. (under review) “Elemental Aesthetics in Artistic
Experiments with the Solar”, Annals of the American Association of Geographers.
2016
Engelmann, S. “Social Spiders and Hybrid Webs at Studio Tomás Saraceno”, cultural
geographies.
2015
Engelmann, S. “Toward a Poetics of Air: Sequencing and Surfacing Breath”, Transactions of
the Institute of British Geographers, 40(3), 430-444.
2014
Engelmann, S. “More-than-human affinitive listening”, Dialogues in Human Geography, 5(1),
76-79.
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Sasha Engelmann
2008
Engelmann, S. “Breaking the Frame: Olafur Eliasson’s Art, Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology
and the Rhetoric of Eco-Activism”, The Boothe Prize Essays 2008, 93-113. (re-published in Art
& Education Papers, 2010)
CHAPTERS IN BOOKS
2016
Engelmann, S. and McCormack, D.P. “Atmospheric Sensing Practice”, forthcoming in
International Handbook of Interdisciplinary Research Methods, (ed. Celia Lury), Routledge.
2016
Engelmann, S. and Hawkins, H. “Boros Collection” Underground: Within the city. Lopes, C.
(ed.). London: Reaktion Books.
2016
Hawkins, H. and Engelmann, S. “Levitated Mass”, Underground: Within the city. Lopes, C.
(ed.). London: Reaktion Books.
2016
Hawkins, H. and Engelmann, S. “Roden Crater”, Underground: Within the city. Lopes, C.
(ed.). London: Reaktion Books.
2015
Saraceno, T., Engelmann, S., and Szerszynski, B. “Becoming Aerosolar: Solar Sculptures to
Cloud Cities” in Art in the Anthropocene: Encounters Among Aesthetics, Politics, Environments
and Epistemologies (ed. Heather Davis and Etienne Turpin), Open Humanities Press.
2015
Engelmann, S., McCormack, D.P., and Szerszynski, B. “Becoming Aerosolar and the politics of
elemental association”, in Tomás Saraceno: Becoming Aerosolar, 21er Haus, Vienna.
OTHER OUTPUTS
2016
Engelmann, S. “Cosmic Circuitry” Volume No. 47 THE SYSTEM (ed. Arjen Oosterman).
2016
Bhangu, S., Bisshop, A., Engelmann, S., Meulmans, G., and Thibault-Picazo, Y. “Feeling /
Following: Creative Experiments and Material Play” The Anthropocene Campus, Haus der
Kulturen der Welt, Berlin.
2015
Thomson, J. and Engelmann, S. “Tianhe: Parables of the Celestial River” Aerocene
Newspaper, Studio Tomás Saraceno, Berlin.
2013
Engelmann, S. “Patterning the City”, White Noise, photography collection by Michael Brandt,
BDM Press, San Francisco.
2012
Engelmann, S. “Dryden Goodwin’s Breathe: Art, Science and the Invisible”, The
Environmental Scientist, October 2012, 32-37.
NON-WRITTEN OUTPUTS
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Sasha Engelmann
2016
Engelmann, S., Saraceno, T., and Szerszynski, B. “Dust Séance” in Cosmic Dust and the
Breathing Ensemble, a public performance in the Wisdom Techniques, Technosphere
x Knowledge, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin.
2011
Engelmann, S. “The Cube”, Brooklyn, New York
I designed an installation, a short film and several interactive exercises to explore the topic of
radical feminism. The work was commissioned by N+1 Magazine.
2011
Engelmann, S. “The Frame: Interactive Installation” in Stanford University’s Dorhman Grove.
An installation of designed picture frames that were motion-sensor equipped and batterypowered, and lit up diffusely upon sensing movement or touch.
RESEARCH GRANTS
2016
St. Hilda’s College Travel Grant, 150.00GBP. Awarded for presentation of research at the
American Association of Geographers Conference, San Francisco.
2015
Braunschweiger Hochschulbunde Grant, Technical University of Braunschweig, 250.00EUR.
Awarded for graduate seminar field excursion to Vienna in order to participate in the exhibition and
symposium: Tomás Saraceno: Becoming Aerosolar.
2014
St. Hilda’s College Research Grant, 430.00GBP. Awarded for continued fieldwork in Berlin.
2014
DAAD Grant for Young Researchers, 1,200.00EUR. Awarded for primary fieldwork in Germany
I received this grant funding for my initial 2-month fieldwork visit to Studio Tomás Saraceno in
Berlin.
2014
St. Hilda’s College Travel Grant, 150.00 EUR. Awarded for site-visit to Tomás Saraceno’s In
Orbit, K21 Standehaus Museum, Dusseldorf; and Christo, Big Air Package, Gasometer
Oberhausen, Germany.
2011
Haas Center Public Service Fellowship, Stanford University, $2,000.00. Grant awarded for threemonth community oriented work with N+1 Magazine in New York.
2010
MAP Fellowship, $4,000.00. Awarded for research with the Natural Resources Defense Council,
San Francisco. The project aimed to calculate net greenhouse gas emissions associated with
imported harvested wood products in California. The results and values were communicated at a
California State Board hearing and employed for future NRDC lobbying efforts in California.
2009
Chappell-Lougee Grant, Stanford University, $6,000,00. Awarded for site-based fieldwork in
Berlin as part of undergraduate honors thesis: “The Organic and Crystalline: Olafur Eliasson and
Mark Z. Danielewski in Conversation”
ACADEMIC PRIZES, AWARDS, HONOURS
2013
Clarendon Scholarship, Clarendon Fund, University of Oxford
2011
Undergraduate Honors Thesis Distinction
2011
Marshall Scholarship, Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission, awarded for two years of postgraduate education in the UK.
2011
Phi Beta Kappa, Academic Distinction, Stanford University.
2007
National Merit Scholarship
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Sasha Engelmann
INVITED PRESENTATIONS
2016
Engelmann, S. “The Epistemological Radicality of Attunement” in Knowing (in) the
Anthropocene Seminar, Anthropocene Campus: Technosphere Issue, Haus der Kulturen der
Welt, Berlin
2016
Engelmann, S. “Attunement and Transdisciplinarity” Geocentric Arts Panel, American Association
of Geographers Annual Meeting, San Francisco.
2015
Thomson, J. and Engelmann, S. “The Ideal Cosmic Messengers” Dark Matters Symposium,
Lancaster Environment Center, University of Lancaster.
2015
McCormack, D.P. and Engelmann, S. “Piloting an Aerostatic Civic Science”, Aerocene
Symposium, Palais de Tokyo, Paris.
2015
Engelmann, S. and Thomson, J. “Transdisciplinarity and Creative Practice in the Anthropocene”,
Anthropocene Salon, BDP Press, Berlin.
2014
Engelmann, S. and Szerszynski, B. “Feeling the Air” in Feeling the Anthropocene Symposium,
University of Edinburgh
2014
Saraceno, T. and Engelmann, S. “A Monument to the Anthropocene” Climate Engineering
Conference, Berlin.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sql8zajUaY4>
CONFERENCE PAPERS
2016
Engelmann, S. “Attuning (to) Atmospheres” in “Sensing Practices” Session, American
Association of Geographers Annual Conference, San Francisco.
2015
Engelmann, S. and Szerszynski, B. “An Elemental Dwelling” Ethics of Hope conference,
Melbourne, Australia.
2015
Engelmann, S. and McCormack, D.P. “Elemental Experiments” paper and session co-organized
with Derek McCormack and Bronislaw Szerszynski at the Royal Geographic Society Annual
Meeting, Exeter, UK.
2015
Engelmann, S. (Discussant) ‘Is hope radical? Creative Experimental Methods for the
Anthropocene’ Association of American Geographers Annual General Meeting, Chicago
2015
Engelmann, S. “The Interstitial Politics of Museo Aero Solar” in “Thinking about a Politics of
the Air” Session, American Association of Geographers Annual Conference, Chicago
2014
Engelmann, S. “Cosmic and Hybrid Webs” in “Geo-aesthetics, co-producing Art and
Environment” session, Royal Geographical Society (with Institute of British Geographers),
London
CONFERENCE SESSION CONVENING
2015
Co-Convenor, “Elemental Experiments” (two sessions), Royal Geographical Society (with Institute
of British Geographers), London
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Sasha Engelmann
2014
Co-Convenor, “Geo-Aesthetics, co-producing Art and Environment” (three sessions) Royal
Geographical Society (with Institute of British Geographers), London
RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION OUTSIDE HOME INSTITUTION
2016
Co-Convenor, Knowing (in) the Anthropocene, a Seminar in the Anthropocene Campus:
Technosphere Issue, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
2015
Co-Convenor, Attunement Symposium, with Brian Massumi and Erin Manning, IAK, Technical
University of Braunschweig
TEACHING
COURSES TAUGHT / CO-TAUGHT IN LAST THREE YEARS
Masters Level
“Becoming Pilot”, IAK, TU Braunschweig; teacher; co-taught with Tomás Saraceno and Jol Thomson
Including one-week Field Excursion to Cappadocia, Turkey to participate in the Cappadox Arts
Festival.
“Becoming Pilot” IAK, TU Braunschweig; teacher; co-taught with Tomás Saraceno and Jol Thomson
Including five-day Field excursion to Paris to participate in COP21 and Aerocene Symposium, Palais de
Tokyo.
“Becoming Aerosolar” IAK, TU Braunschweig; teacher; co-taught with Tomás Saraceno and Jol Thomson
Including four-day Field excursion to Vienna to present artwork in Tomás Saraceno: Becoming
Aerosolar, HAU21, Vienna.
“Nature, Society and Environmental Policy” Seminar and reading group teaching, School of Geography and the
Environment, University of Oxford
Undergraduate Level
“Weather Theory II: Creative Geographical Methods”, IAK, TU Braunschweig, course lecturer and leader.
Including one-day field excursion to Braunschweig Wastewater Treatment Facility.
“Weather Theory I: Sensing Practices”, IAK, TU Braunchweig; course lecturer and leader.
Including one-day field Excursion to Deutsche Luft-Raum (DLR) Engineering Laboratories and Center,
Braunschweig, Germany.
“Aerography”, IAK, TU Braunschweig; course lecturer and leader. Thinking through materialities, politics and
poetics of air, atmosphere and aeromobility through reading, discussion, and practices engaging with the
processes of making and flying aerial sculptures.
“Art and Atmosphere” lecture and tutorial on “Cultural Spaces” course with Derek McCormack, School of
Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, February 2015.
CONTRIBUTION TO COURSE DESIGN (OR RE-DESIGN)
Undergraduate:
Design of:
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Sasha Engelmann
“Becoming Pilot” curriculum, 2015-16, IAK, TU Braunschweig. The curriculum for first-year architecture and
design students is based loosely on the FAA Balloon Piloting Handbook. The instructor team developed eight
undergraduate courses inspired by the chapters in the flight manual, speculatively interpreting the manual as a guide
to different forms of dwelling on “Spaceship Earth” in the Anthropocene. These included courses / topics such as
“Layout to Launch”, “Weather Theory”, “Membrane Design” and “Aeromedical Factors”. My particular chapter
“Weather Theory” was a course focused on environmental and geographical sensing practices. We also organised
symposia with Brian Massumi, Erin Manning, Trevor Paglen, Tue Greenfort, Bronislaw Szerszynski, Pablo Suarez,
Thomas Kilper, Sria Chatterjee, Berthold Burkhardt, and Kirstin Wolf among others.
“Becoming Aerosolar” curriculum, 2014-2015, IAK, TU Braunschweig. The Becoming Aerosolar curriculum was
the predecessor to “Becoming Pilot”; the instructor team organised a series of courses around the notion of creative
practice and experiments in the Anthropocene and the task of developing practices adequate to the challenges of a
new planetary epoch. I convened and led an undergraduate course on Aerography in which the students considered
practices and geographies of aeromobility and atmospheric intervention.
ACADEMIC- RELATED ACTIVITIES BEYOND THE HE SECTOR
Engelmann, S., Saraceno, T., and Szerszynski, B. “Dust Séance” in Cosmic Dust and the Breathing Ensemble, a
public performance in the Wisdom Techniques, Technosphere x Knowledge, Haus der Kulturen der Welt,
Berlin.
Engelmann, S. and Thomson, J. “The Ideal Cosmic Messengers” long-term ethnographic research project on the
IceCube Neutrino Observatory, Antarctica.
Engelmann, S., Saraceno, T., Thomson, J., Lemos, S., and Petronis, I., “Brutally Early Spiders Reading Club”, a
reading / discussion group focused on multispecies sociality at Studio Tomás Saraceno, Berlin.
INTERNAL POSITIONS OF RESPONSIBILITY
IAK, TU Braunschweig:
- Course leadership, lecturing and convening
- Design and maintenance of IAK course website
- Presentations to staff in Department of Architecture
- Fieldcourse teaching for undergraduate and graduate seminars
- Applications for University and Braunschweig-based funding
- Symposia and guest lecture organization
- Final exhibition planning and programming
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