CSS127. Art and Science in Degrowth: A ManiQuesto

What is the importance of the arts for degrowth? What are the points of tension, contradiction and possibility? In this special session we will collectively explore and generate new questions about the intersections between art and degrowth by creating a “ManiQuesto”. Inspired by the modernist Manifestos (Marx, Dada, Futurism, etc), the Maniquesto does not dictate what is, and is not, degrowth art. Instead, we will seek to provoke reflections and inspire conversations. We will raise paradoxes and concerns like how can you “curate” when “curation” is elitist?" Rather than being dogmatic, the Maniquesto questions can continually be reformulated and realigned as debates evolve. To kick off the debate, we will hear presentations from artist Dr. Laura Donkers (New Zealand) on ecological curation, artist Penelope Cain (Australia) on documenting lithium extraction, and dialogue with Adriaan Eeckels, leader of the Science-Art project conducted by the European Commission, on the “Naturarchy” project which invited artists and scientists “to re-imagine the western relation of human and non-human, in an attempt to ensure juridical persona to Nature’s many wonders, be they stardust or DNA.” Participants will be invited to sign “The Maniquesto” which will be published by the Degrowth Journal in an upcoming Special Issue on the arts.

  • Contributions format: artistic
  • Keywords:  Sciart, post-normal science, institutional change, artists
  • Related track(s): 1. Imagining post-growth Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) futures / 10. Challenging dominant values, ideologies, and imaginaries
  • Organizers: Greaves, Sofia (Postgrowth Innovation Lab, University of Vigo, Spain); Eeckels, Adriaan (Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy); Cain, Penelope (Independent); Donders, Laura (Independent)

Full description

Dr. Laura Donkers

Laura Donkers is an independent artist and curator specialising in strategic community engagement and behaviour change projects. She holds a Phd which explored how artistic co-creative methods strategically promote eco-social regeneration for small island communities. Laura is a multi-media visual artist, and founder of Limen Lab – an initiative which delivers eco-art projects documenting and promoting the exchange between society and ecosystems. https://www.lauradonkers.art/about - external link

 

Penelope Cain

Penelope Cain is an artist with a research science background working at the intersection of science and art. Her work uses open-ended storytelling modes to explore landscape in its broadest definition; in particular the colonised, extracted and transformed landscapes of the Anthropocene and the manifest marks and residues of humans within and on the land. Penelope has exhibited in curated exhibitions in London, Seoul, Shanghai, Taiwan and Sydney. She has been awarded residencies  at the Cite International des Artes, Paris, The British School of Rome, Taipei Artist Studio and the Joint Research Centre, in Ispra. She was awarded the prestigious Fauvette Lauriero Art Scholarship (2018) and Glenfiddich Contemporary Art residency Scotland (2019).  She lives and works between London and Sydney. https://penelopecain.com/about/

 

Adriaan Eeckels (Joint Research Centre)

Adriaan Eeckels founded and leads the “Sciart” project conducted at the Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy. The JRC is the European Commission’s Science and Knowledge service and is comprised of six sites which provide evidence in support of EU policies. Ispra is the largest of these centres and home to the “Sciart Project”, established in 2016, as part of Unit “S”: “Innovation in Science and Policymaking”. Eeckels

 

Dr. Sofia Greaves (Degrowth Journal) + proposed session chair

Sofia Greaves researches collaborations between the arts and sciences, and is putting together a Special Issue on the arts in the Degrowth Journal. She works for the Postgrowth Innovation Lab (Pontevedra).

 

This is a closed special session conducted in an interactive format lasting 1.5 hours. It is organised by a number of artists, scientists and policy makers.