One day, I found myself studying the methods of an Umwelt researcher, whose goal is to understand the species-specific view of the world, described by Uexküll in his book “A Stroll Through the Worlds of Animals and Men”, in a very human-centred environment; the kitchen of my apartment in Reykjavík. It was an autumn afternoon, and I and my flatmate had battled a small plague of houseflies occupying our home for the past few days. My flatmate hated their company and announced loudly that she would kill them one by one, if she had to. I was sitting on a chair, looking at their tiny bodies flying around, listening to the buzzing of the wings, wondering how their world compares with mine.

I proceeded to study houseflies and all the information I found revolved around methods and ways to get rid of them. It led me to ask the following question: “How could I change the function of a housefly in my Umwelt?” And equally importantly: “How could I change the function of myself in the perception of the housefly?”