Zoöp Nieuwe Instituut
The first step, called Demarcating, establishes the functional boundaries of the zoöp_. _This process articulates the zoöp as a collective body, consisting of various living and non-living entities and structures. This is not always as straightfoward as the squares in the visuals may suggest.
In spatial terms, which physical structures demarcate the zoöp? Fences? Buildings? Trees? Roads? Watercourses? Utility networks? Spatial boundaries can be permeable to some actors and not to others; or they may temporarily open or close. What are the boundaries in legal terms? What parties have what kinds of rights to what units, sub-units or even overarching units? The legal boundaries are often sharp and clear conceptually, but are not necessarily manifested in a material form. And what are the ecological boundaries? What elements of the surroundings relate to the ecosphere of this zoöp? Here, the effort is also to see the site and its surroundings from the perspective of its non-human sentient participants.
In practice, the spatial, legal and ecological dimensions of a zoöp perform different boundaries for different actors involved - the swarm perimeter of the bees of Zone Sensible does not relate to the legal boundary of the 4 hectares of the site, for instance. The legal and spatial demarcations have the effect of making the collectives of locally bound entities (soil life and plant life) primary constituents of the collective body. In other words, land-based zoöps (like all of the sites in this research) are soil-centric.
The movement of Demarcating produces a difference between internal and external relations of a zoöp. The proposal is that, in time, all of these can be the subject of zoönomic Intervening, but the first steps of the development of a zoöp aim to enhance to local, situated qulaity of life.