Project I created during my studies as a group project.
Collaboration with: Serina Tarkhanian, Shobha Bhat, Yichun Sun
Collaboration with: Serina Tarkhanian, Shobha Bhat, Yichun Sun
We are the Panchayat Institute of Naming. It is an organization for empowerment of all living entities (nature) of a city through Naming and Guardianship process.
A group of individuals living in the city are chosen by lottery system to name and then to take care of one of the entities. The chosen citizens gets a letter from the Institute explaining the duties of being a Guardian and inviting them to a ceremony to name the entity they are supposed to take care of. In this event, a certificate is issued with the name of the entity. In this way, a citizen becomes a Guardian along with few other people who are then responsible for everything related to that particular living body of the city. The entity will have the right to representation in legal proceedings against threats to their wellbeing.
As Guardianship is a system that is passed on from one generation of citizens to the next, all events and data related to the entity are stored within the entity using the technology of bio storage for future references.
The four rivers around the world that were granted legal rights inspired us. Whanganui in New Zealand was granted legal rights as person. Apart from the preservation of the river and the nature around for future generation, in long run it also meant more legal rights to the indigenous communities living near the river. At Panchayat we believe that Naming and Guardianship process will enable the decision-making processes within a city to move away from human centric short-term approach to a more inclusive environment that looks beyond one human generation.
