Investigating Stray-Concept and Ticks as a Co-Species

Abstract

While humanities are today calling for re-evaluation of the anthropocentric worldview and affection towards the non-humans, there crawls a small creature in the forests among other animals that evokes feelings of hatred and disgust in humans. The recent decades have witnessed an environmental change in the increase of tick populations and the expansion of tick-infested areas that is attributed to the continuous warming of our climate. This has led to a heightened awareness of ticks and tick-borne diseases that can be contracted by humans. It has also become evident that we need to learn to live with this pervasive proximity to increasing numbers of ticks, this situation will require new attitudes and adaptations from us that will potentially change our behaviors and routines. The article reports on an on-going artistic research project that investigates relations between ticks and humans from a perspective where artistic research meets with scientific research. It presents a contradicting case, in which a disgust and hatred towards ticks is reflected from an evolutionary co-agency perspective that claims that without our parasites – we, humans, would not be what we are today.