Departing from Elizabeth Povinelli’s elaboration on the concept of Assemblage as a life form in her work on Geontopower, we will explore qualities of Assemblage life forms at the basis of swampland and former swampland surrounding Bremen with artistic methods. The class will consist of an introduction to the topic, field trips, collective work sessions, and presentations. Context: In the seminar we will read excerpts from Elizabeth A. Povinelli’s book Geontologies: A reqiuem to late liberalism and in particular about the concept of the assemblage. The Assemblage approaches how things like a swamp or a river come together as such. They are entities in their own way, without a voice, neither an enclosed organism nor unrelated, “A condensation and congregation of living and non living substances (…) that remain oriented toward each other” as Povinelli puts it. Povinelli’s work on Geontopower creates a framework to re encounter the landscapes that shaped the way we live and have been shaped by the way human species wanted to live. The landscape and assemblages we focus on in particular will be the former wetlands surrounding Bremen. These ecosystems have been transformed over the last 900 years to fulfill the economic desires of certain rulers/policy makers/industry. We will discuss the way swamps or wetlands have been characterized throughout history as spaces of transgression; where power must exert control in order to cleanse and suppress the ever shifting space. We will critically engage with the Blockland Drainage Facility or Blockländer Entwässerungs Anstalt, a well anticipated technological milestone in 1864 and continually refined throughout the years. This drainage project turned what was considered hostile wasteland into the dry districts Blockdiek, Vahr and Tenever, expanding Bremen’s habitable territory where water once met land. During the field trips we will apply the concept to real sites and explore the ways it takes shape. We will find ways to work collaboratively with one another and the site using various mediums/tools. Collected material from the excursions compliment the collective working sessions, where we discuss readings and impressions in depth. In the final session participants will share a work and writing they produced during the course.