Adaptive Radiations Working Group assembles media artists, designers and researchers pursuing investigations in island studies, cultures of disaster and climate change adaptation. ARWG's networks and activities radiate from the tropics to the temperate, likewise from the Global South to the Global North, shedding light on visions and projections between two contrasting regions. Named after a concept from evolutionary biology, Adaptive Radiations seeks new niches in bounded geographies to hasten the development and transmission of culture-based survival strategies.

Recent projects:


Cloudrunner: The Pinatubo Field Guide to Solar Geoengineering
Adaptive Radiations Working Group No.1
Mica Cabildo (visual artist) & JM Quiblat (sound producer)
Web Residencies No.18: Magical Hackerism or The Elasticity of Resilience
Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart and SAVVY Contemporary Berlin
November 2022—January 2023, on-going


Decoy Pigeon
Adaptive Radiations Working Group No.2
Mica Cabildo (visual artist) & Curtis Cresswell (videographer)
Leaky Archive Digital Fellowship
Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum, Cologne and Academy of Media Arts Cologne
April—August 2023

From December 2022 to February 2023, Adaptive Radiations Working Group resided in a small riverside town in San Felipe, Zambales to investigate the lingering effects of the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption on the people, landscape and ecosystems on the west coast of Luzon, Philippines.


With the support of Akademie Schloss Solitude and SAVVY Contemporary Berlin through Web Residencies No.18: Magical Hackerism or The Elasticity of Resilience, Mica Cabildo and JM Quiblat collected stories, field recordings and visual documentation as raw material for a science fiction audio production.

"Cloudrunner: The Pinatubo Field Guide to Solar Geoengineering" is a speculative field guide for approaching climate geoengineering from diverse perspectives and integrating overlooked knowledge from those on the ground.


In “Decoy Pigeon”, Adaptive Radiations Working Group embarked on a roadtrip through the Philippine archipelago in search of digital and material 'duplicates' of Philippine objects from Konvolut Nummer 1913/26 of the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum, received in 1913 from Rijks Ethnographische Museum te Leiden as 'duplicate exchange'. One of these objects is the titular decoy pigeon (RJM 29832, Locktaube) attributed to the Bagobo tribe of Davao, Mindanao. ARWG collected and attempted to exchange these duplicates with travelers and locals they encountered on their journey for the Leaky Archive Digital Fellowship.

In “Decoy Pigeon”, ARWG collected, shared and exchanged objects, stories and experiences on the road, and examined varied forms of exchange recounted by collectors, curators and mediators during their interactions.


Email us at
ARWG@mica-cabildo.com


Or find us on social media:
ARWG on Instagram @adaptiveradiations
Mica Cabildo on Instagram @micacabildo
JM Quiblat on Instagram @jmquiblat
Curtis Cresswell on Instagram @curt_cress


Polarsteps map by Curtis Cresswell
Photographs by Curtis Cresswell and Mica Cabildo
Web design and text by Mica Cabildo
Last updated on August 31, 2023


© Adaptive Radiations Working Group 2023