There is something deeply mystifying about being fully present at a specific moment in time and space. It is an endless process of observing and relating to the surrounding complexities — to matters that are familiar to us, but also to matters that are Other: what is still to be recognized and included in our conception of a particular social and physical environment. These less conspicuous elements are not only bodies and cultures that have been socially subordinated to the category of Other, but also other non-human species and matters. 

Our ability to tune with that which is beyond the perception of the norm and is, perhaps, not even visible to the human eye depends on sensitivity towards the unknown on many different scales. Although its language or behaviour can be difficult to sense and appreciate, this Otherness is there: it's part of the manifold environment we live in, and we are inextricably bound with. Or as philosopher Achille Mbembe puts it, "We discover Our-Selves in relation to the Other-Selves with whom we share the universe" [1] — where I would add, both human and non-human beings. 

Taking engagement with complexities as the focal point of the Fluid Rhythms programme, we employed the concept of Rhythmanalysis as one of the means for doing so. Rhythmanalysis is a process of observing the urban environment through the experience of everyday rhythms, initially introduced by the philosopher and sociologist Henri Lefebvre. He suggested that the rhythm of city life is best understood by experiencing it as an intersection of place, time, and energy expenditure. Urban rhythm can be recognized by many in the repetitions and changes in macro and micro everyday life activities. Rhythm as an event is a situational compilation in the intersection between circumstances and materialities; it's easily disturbed and hard to point out. Our proposition to look through the lens of rhythms at urban fabric was motivated by the potential to recognize various inter-dependent elements and is a sensorial and embodied, subjective process. However, the spectrum of rhythms we take into account depends on how much we are capable of recognizing and understanding. There is no equalization between the tuning and balance: tuning is an ongoing process of inter-relations; furthermore, in away, it's troubling conventions of recognizing urban relations. The destabilization through rhythm comes in practising sensitivity towards the interdependency between visible, or obvious, and the invisible matters ― the ones beyond the perception of the norm and that which are perhaps not even visible to the human eye. 

During our programme, Rhythmanalysis was translated in a rather Polyrhythmic inquiry with the potential of understanding tuning-in as a mode of research. Back then and until now, the proposal of Lefebvre has been liberating from the rigid boundaries of data-driven quantitative research methods. Stating that rhythms are experienced by human senses, Lefebvre contributed to understanding the embodied and intuitive experiences as tools of knowing. However, his proposal laid within the binary oppositions between the researched object and the researcher (the expert's position 'from above'). If the rhythms can be only sensed, that means that Polyrhythmic inquiry can be a horizontal process; a process of becoming together with the world, rather than reporting on or explaining it employing a predefined method (Barad, Deleuze, Hohti, Lincoln, Springgay & Truman, Stengers, St. Pierre, Ylirisku). 

Since the research that had been conducted during that Polyrhythmic inquiry, I've been moving towards such a rhythm-focused approach and pinned down several stages, which can happen simultaneously:

This research has been continued in the School for Multi-species Knowledges.