A growing Forest Encounters Glossary

Photo: Livia Weidl

As part of the Forest Encounters project, the Institute of Spatial Design (TU Graz, AT) is developing the Forest Encounters Glossary. The glossary is currently in the final phase of editing and design and will be published on this website during February 2025.

This project began during the Forest Encounters Workshop in Graz in June 2024 and is coordinated by Nayarí Castillo. Since that time, Castillo in collaboration with different institutions, contributors, and collaborators, has been gathering entries for the glossary from a range of different sources: first, from the participating contributors at the workshop in Graz that envisioned the form and methods of glossary accumulation strategies; second, from visitors to the exhibition Wild Spots at <rotor> Centre for Contemporary Art in Graz; and, third, through the following series of workshops lead by Castillo around the emerging glossary.

Photo: Livia Weidl

Glossary Workshop I (July 17, 2024): a participatory event organized in cooperation with the Graz-based NGO Danaida dedicated to the empowerment of women. More than thirty women from migrant backgrounds participated in this workshop, contributing their experiences with forests around the world. It was an afternoon of lively exchange, laughter, shared sadness, and magical encounters with forests. All participants were deeply engaged in the process, and their stories have been collected in different languages and will be part of the Forest Encounters Glossary.

Glossary Workshop II (July 20, 2024): a participatory event organized in cooperation with the Graz Feminist Reading Group (Ren Aldridge, Mónica Cano Abadia, Nayarí Castillo, Rose-Anne Gush). This writing workshop was a delightful blend of critical analysis and humor. The contributions of the workshop participants were added to the expanding Forest Encounters Glossary. Due to the extension of some of the contributions produced during this workshop, a second publication The Glossary Zine is being developed and will be available soon.

Glossary Workshop III (October 10, 2024): an event in dialog with students from the Sustainability Communication and Climate Journalism department at the FH Joanneum University of Applied Sciences under the guidance of Mag. Thomas Wolkinger. The discussion and writing workshop was the final event in the series of actions related to the Forest Encounters Glossary.