The Robot Who Wants To Be A Pollinator

Pollinators decline nowadays has been recognized as one of the most threatening problems connected to biodiversity loss, yet concrete actions to tackle it fail to engage with relevant social actors, beyond scientists, bringing into the discussion local and embodied knowledge. To engage farmers and citizens in supporting pollinating insects, we developed a participatory action in the shape of a "rural performance", which revolved around the character of a Robot and his mission of monitoring biodiversity in hosting farms. As the story unfolded and farmers & citizens actively took part in it, they were questioned about their idea of biodiversity and their relationships with pollinating insects. We suggest that the "rural performance" worked as a material deliberation method for citizens and farmers on the topic of pollination decline by situating a fictional robot and his speculative narrative in a real context where actual people could interact with and respond to him.