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Fossils of the Anthropocene



Practices that renegotiate our relationship with death and the inevitability of our own bodily decay are there to teach us that everything is transient and part of a constant cycle of becoming and dissolving, from the cells in our bodies to our tech and our cathedrals; everything comes and goes. In light of this knowing, the desire to hold onto material objects or physical sensations is put into perspective. This is in sharp contrast to capitalist consumerism which is fuelled and sustained by objects of desire.

(Neo-Metabolism in Noia magazine #2: Reassemblage)



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Instead of the fortress 
there are numerous fortresses now
and various people have keys


MEET GLIF



2022 09 10

Neo-Metabolism is a planetary research and design practice. Decentralised infrastructures, trustful networks and resistance to the status quo are themes that feature heavily throughout our propositions.

         Complementary to our self-initiated work, we seek long-term partnerships with other impact focused organisations. In these collabs, we act as a structure that supports, challenges, and advances the shared project. We provide substantial capacities on-demand: from critical cultural research and analysis, to organisational strategy, identity and narrative development, the design of graphics, objects and spaces, product prototyping, media and thought production. 

        Once, we were named after Metabolism (新陳代謝), an architectural movement rethinking urban life in post-catastrophe Japan. In response to the “world as factory” perspective of industrial modernity, the Metabolists relied on biological and ecological notions when conceiving architecture and infrastructure. They saw cities not as planned deployments, but as dynamic, living assemblages. They focused on relations, Group Form and change. We find their thinking useful today, as it offers the potential to move from anthropocentric to more-than-human worlding. To us, Metabolism highlights that material, information, and semiotic flows are deeply, wildly interconnected, and constantly in flux. We also follow feminist, new materialist thought, in the understanding that matter is vibrant, nothing is static, and tiny interventions can have a decisive impact on the whole.

        As a legal entity, we are a 100% member-owned cooperative under Dutch law. Our core crew is currently based in Amsterdam and Los Angeles.