A Letter to the Future: Toward Radical and Creative Ecologies |

www.igorzabel.org

Saturday, May 22, 4–9pm (CST)

Streaming:
Zoom / Igor Zabel Association YouTube channel

Speakers: T. J. Demos, Maja and Reuben Fowkes, Elke Krasny, Andri Snær Magnason, Luka Omladič, Lucia Pietroiusti, and Marjetica Potrč
Moderator: Dražen Dragojević

The conference, part of the EKO 8 – International Triennial of Art and Environment, addresses environmental and climate emergencies as well as the potential of art to critically and creatively address and engage with them at the local and global level. In our search for radical and creative ecologies, we focus on contemporary artistic and curatorial strategies, looking at recent examples, and exploring the intersection of art, political ecology, environmental advocacy and activism, social and environmental justice, politics and theory of care, degrowth, and postcolonial globalization.

Programme:

PANEL 1 – Toward the Rights of Nature and the Agency of Art in the Environmental Crisis

4pm: Introduction by the organizers (Alessandro Vincentelli, EKO 8 curator, and Urška Jurman, Igor Zabel Association)

4:10pm: Andri Snær Magnason: A Letter to the Future
Magnason, Icelandic writer and documentary film director, will discuss the role of art to generate new means of expression, especially when words alone cannot fully express the magnitude of the phenomena they describe, such as “ocean acidification” and “climate crisis”. Will we be able to understand these words before it is too late?

4:30pm: Marjetica Potrč: From Water to Nature – The Rights of Nature in Slovenia
Referring to the recent struggles for access to drinkable water in Slovenia, Potrč, Ljubljana-based artist and architect, will discuss the difference between the human-centred position that gives people the right to use water and the position that acknowledges and stands up for the Rights of Nature as a subject.

4:50pm: Luka Omladič: Is there an Ethical Imperative for Art in Response to the Environmental Crisis?
Following the scientific discovery of anthropogenic climate change and its causes, the question of moral obligation in relation to the environmental crisis is posed in the context of scientific ethics. Omladič, Slovenian philosopher and environmentalist, will discuss whether the environmental crisis imposes similar new ethical obligations on art and artists.

5:10–5:50pm: Discussion

PANEL 2 – Toward Ecologies of Art and Curating

7pm: T. J. Demos: Toward Radical and Creative Ecologies
Drawing on his ongoing research, Demos, theorist and founding Director of the Center for Creative Ecologies (University of California, Santa Cruz), will propose new ways of imagining and understanding the convergence of the conference’s key terms – radical, creative, and ecologies – in future-oriented artistic and activist practices.

7:20pm: Maja and Reuben Fowkes: In Defence of the Unprotectable – Ceremonies for Postglacial Futures
Drawing on selected artworks, Maja and Ruben Fowkes, London-based art historians and curators, will discuss the implications of the shrinking cryosphere and the extinction of permafrost for planetary natures and cultures. How can the loss of the richness of polar and alpine ice worlds be processed, and why should we still mobilize to Stop the Thaw?

7:40pm: Lucia Pietroiusti: Art for Deep Time? An Ecological Proposition
Pietroiusti, London-based curator working at the intersection of art, ecology, and systems, will present various possible avenues of artistic and curatorial agency toward environmental justice and balance.

8pm: Elke Krasny: Ecologies of Curating
More than ever, curating is challenged with developing new modes of practice that will enable meaningful social and environmental encounters, and create lasting and transformative relations. Krasny, Vienna-based curator and professor of Art and Education, will present the outcomes of the workshop Ecologies of Curating.

8:20–9pm: Discussion