CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS - deadline March 15th 2021
22-23 April 2021, 11am - 7pm each day
Virtual event on Gathertown
organised by CHASE Climate Justice Network
How can we think and speak about issues of climate justice and care without falling into alarming, eco-dystopian end-of-days narratives? How can we look after ourselves and each other whilst being honest and clear about the major challenges ahead? Climate justice cuts across disciplines and methodologies, intersecting with multiple forms of activism including feminism, anti-racist struggle, indigenous rights and the fight towards socio-economic equality at all levels. Yet, as researchers, artists and activists in the social sciences, arts and humanities, it can be difficult to navigate the multi-scalar dimensions and deep-time effects of the crisis. How can we find ways to address these issues with a sense of care and responsibility that is at the same time positive, care-fu(l)l, encouraging, and supportive? How can we generate positive practices amid the turmoil?
The CHASE Climate Justice Network is hosting a two-day virtual sharing event on the theme “(Taking) Care in the Climate Crisis”.
Format
One of the few positives of the pandemic has been a flurry of attempts to convene across physical distance. We want to contribute to this by offering something different from a typical zoom conference. This event will take place within a uniquely designed and playful 2D environment on the alternative platform Gathertown, where we can mingle, converse and explore together what care means in an age of converging crises.
Activities and themes
We are inviting activists, researchers in the humanities, artists, writers, community initiatives and other practitioners to share their works, projects, practices and speculations. In addition, we are organising a series of workshops from invited practitioners that will help us build our toolkit of responses as part of a strategy of resilience and care. Contributions will touch upon themes of empathy and kinships, landscapes in transformation, recording changing environments, questions of repair, renewal and maintenance and many others. The event emphasises sharing and being together above broadcasting, and will sustain a sense of play, of imagination, and of speculation.
The final program will be published in late March, and will be linked to here. Contact: chaseclimatejustice@protonmail.com
Open Call for Contributions
Deadline March 15th, 2021
We invite activists, researchers in the humanities, artists, writers, community initiatives and other practitioners to share their works, projects, practices and speculations. Possible formats include, but are not limited to:
workshops
live or pre-recorded presentations and lectures, Olive trees planted in the Western Desert of Egypt outside the Siwa Oasis, close to the Libyan border.
videos and audiovisual pieces
posters or image galleries
we encourage you to consider audio recordings, soundscape compositions, and read-aloud poetry or texts.
Group presentations are welcome. This event aims to be about sharing rather than broadcasting, and so we are especially interested in contributions that embody a spirit of generosity and care in how they are offered as well as in their content.
The Gathertown platform allows for displays and curation of images, texts, files, video and audio pieces during ‘opening hours’, very much like an online exhibition space. It can also host scheduled live events such as lectures or workshops, either within its space or via embedded Zoom meetings. Using a pixel-avatar, visitors can navigate through the space, explore contents by clicking on an icon, and chat with other participants. We are in the process of commissioning a bespoke environment for the conference, respond to conference themes and encourage sharing, mingling and play. We are happy to discuss possibilities for using the space creatively for your contribution.
Please respond to and be inspired by these themes:
Empathy and kinship
Landscapes in transformation
Noticing, representing and archiving changing environments
Repair, renewal and restoration
Risks, vulnerability and response-abilities
Practicing care
Science-fiction, alternative worlds and futures, fierce imaginations
Movements, solidarity and community
Alternative economies for surviving and thriving
Please send a 250 word max description of your proposed contribution, including title, topic, format, duration, technical requirements, with a short bio to: chaseclimatejustice@protonmail.com
Questions and informal inquiries are welcome.
The deadline for submissions is March 15, 2021
Photo: Olive trees planted in the Western Desert of Egypt outside the Siwa Oasis,close to the Libyan border. Photo by Vanessa Lehmann