Together with Julie-Michèle Morin and Daniela Brill Estrada, we will be at Ectopia Lab in Lisbon to give our workshop Writing With Aliens: Literature in the Lab!
The workshop is part of a two day event on Extraterrestrial Posthumanism hosted by Ectopia Lab and Cultivamos Cultura at 11 & 12 February 2026.
Description
What does a tremor in pH value feel like? How do you respond to the atmosphere on WASP12-b? What do seasonal methane and oxygen fluctuations
on Mars taste like? In Writing with Aliens: Explorations in Exoplanetary Poetry we try to reflect on these questions by writing poetry inspired by chemical experimentation.
Join us for a Literature in the Lab session of writing and experimenting to speak chemistry and awaken senses you did not know could be used for reading. Meet our exoplanetary tiny language model, Jupi, a clumsy but knowledgeable co-author that won’t take away the fun of writing, but will inspire you to think beyond the limits of human poetics.
So bring your favorite writing device (analog or digital), and a solid amount of eagerness to explore. We will be writing and playing with basic chemistry. No chemistry or writing experience necessary.
February 11th, 14:00
Ectopia Lab
R. José Sobral Cid 16
1900-174 Lisboa
Extraterrestrial Posthumanism
The Extraterrestrial Posthumanism project explores how contemporary science, science fiction, and bio art can reshape our understanding of life by focusing on the most likely—but least imagined—forms of extraterrestrial existence: microbial and “uncharismatic” organisms. Drawing on astrobiology, it examines why microbes remain culturally overlooked and pairs a survey of plausible science-fictional alien microorganisms with new Bio Art works that make microbial life sensorially and affectively accessible. The aim is to challenge anthropocentric assumptions and open new aesthetic and philosophical pathways for imagining life beyond Earth.
