Adjunct Teaching: Ioanna Sotiriou, Ph.D. candidate, UTH
Searching for the “Monster” of Karla
Lakes are complex natural and cultural entities, often accompanied by mythical creatures in their narratives. This is also the case with Lake Karla and its mythical monster, the Hitaurus, a fantastical entity that could be either animalistic or geological. In the research conducted for the course on Lake Karla, the monster in question is an uncertain and unexpected entity, an expression of a hyperobject, much like climate and its unpredictable manifestations (see extreme weather events such as Elias and Daniel). As a result of these exceptional climatic events, the lake became overfilled with water, temporarily returning in October 2023 to its extensive, original form. This geological upheaval compels us to name the lake’s exotic force “Terras,” derived from the Latin word “terra” (earth) and the Greek word “τέρας” (monster), signifying the radically uncanny expressions of Earth's phenomena in extreme climatic events.
The Uncertain Object
Territories, like the Terras of Karla, are not static; they are infused with dimensions that shift over time, influenced by climatic, geological, cultural, political, and random transformations. However, emerging systems of Geospatial and general Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI and AI) often struggle to recognize or represent this fluidity (Scheider & Richter, 2022). In this context, critical questions arise: Which voices are represented within an automated mechanism for recording and processing spatial data, such as GeoAI, regarding territorial landscapes? How are spatial identities understood when they exist in a constant state of transformation? And how much space is left for studying and developing the contingency of a territorial entity, such as Lake Karla and its surrounding region?
Theme
Starting from these concerns, this year’s Practices of Dwelling workshop focuses on exploring the concepts of uncertainty and contingency, not only as philosophical questions but also as practical approaches to environmental representation through latent and overlooked perspectives. Specifically, with Lake Karla as a reference point—a landscape that resists clear definitions and a stable identity—students will be called upon to study the various subjects that shape the narrative of the Terras of Karla. Through field data collection, mapping, and experimentation, the workshop will lead to the creation of an archive of actants and speculative maps.
Objective
The workshop has a dual goal: first, to understand an ecological intelligence that emerges from the landscape and the subjects that constitute it; second, to explore the role of the architect as a researcher and designer of contingencies. Accordingly, students will be expected to conduct both theoretical and field research on site-specific environmental issues in crisis conditions while also organizing their research on both an individual and collective level, producing an exhibition framework for presenting their work.
Thus, the workshop demands two distinct yet interrelated approaches: on the one hand, research using architectural tools (description, documentation, representation), and on the other, the development of a curatorial logic for presenting both individual and collective work in the form of an exhibition. The key question is: how does the process of recording, documenting, collecting, and representing culminate—through curatorial practices—in a final presentation that meets the conditions of a real exhibition space in a museum?
Course Structure
Phase I: Actant
Students will select an entity (actor / actant) from the ecology of the lake and investigate how it perceives, operates within, and is affected by its environment, gathering data from the field (photographs, sounds, notes, sketches, materials). In this initial stage, students will create a short video presenting their subject. Simultaneously, they will consider how their identified actant will be incorporated into a collective exhibition alongside others.
Phase II: Micro-Manual
In the second phase, students will design the logic of their map by developing a code of reading (legend) that will describe the structure and function of their speculative map. Throughout the semester, and alongside Phases I and II, the progress of the research and design process will be systematically documented in a personal journal, which will serve as the focal point of critiques and discussions within the workshop.
Phase III: Map
In the final stage of the course, students will use the collected material to develop speculative maps that communicate their entity’s perspective, effectively becoming the voice of these entities. The expectation is for the maps to be multimedia-based, transcending the two-dimensional representations of traditional cartography.
At the end of the workshop, the journals, videos, and maps will form The Uncertain Archive of Karla, which will be exhibited after the course's completion. The exhibition of the produced material is a fundamental requirement from the beginning to the end of the workshop. Beyond personal contributions, the course aims to generate a unified, collective exhibition project.
Parallel Goals
Familiarization with Key Theoretical Concepts
Students will be introduced to texts and writings on ecological thought, with an emphasis on Donna Haraway and Bruno Latour. They will become familiar with concepts such as Actor-Network Theory (ANT), Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO), and Situated Knowledge.
Developing Data Collection Skills
Students will learn that data can take many forms—visual data, material data, notes, etc. They will understand how field research is an autonomous process, not necessarily tied to the realization of a design project, but as a mechanism of abstraction and comprehension of the landscape.
Experimentation with Different Media
Students will have the opportunity to experiment with media of their choice and develop their skills within this framework, with the map as the central object of study. The map will be treated as an object that encodes reality through a system (code), which is accompanied by a guide or legend for its decryption.
Understanding Multidimensional Approaches
Through the process of creating the map, students will be required to explore different perspectives and interpretations of the landscape that extend beyond human perception, focusing on theories such as Actor-Network Theory (ANT).
Articles
Chiang, Ted. 2023. “ChatGPT Is a Blurry JPEG of the Web.” The New Yorker. February 9, 2023.
Haraway, Donna. (1988). Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective. Feminist Studies, 14(3), 575–599.
Lin, Yue, and Bo Zhao. 2025. “Posthuman Cartography? Rethinking Artificial Intelligence, Cartographic Practices, and Reflexivity.” Annals of the American Association of Geographers, January, 1–14.
Scheider, Simon, and Kai-Florian Richter. 2023. “Pragmatic GeoAI: Geographic Information as Externalized Practice.” KI - Künstliche Intelligenz37 (1): 17–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13218-022-00794-2.
Books
Spatialities of Speculative Fiction: Re-Mapping Possibilities, Philosophies, and Territorialities
Abrams, Janet, Peter Hall (2006) Else/Where: Mapping New Cartographies of Networks and Territories. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
https://eclass.uth.gr/courses/ARCH_U_198