Description

2021 marks yet another year of fatalities from natural and human disasters. With the COVID-19 pandemic and climate crisis spreading worldwide, we continue to rethink how to coexist with other living beings on Earth. Besides our natural ecology, how do we engage with other forms of ecologies, including social, political, artistic, and even academic ones? Members of Shared Campus, Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA) and the Wanwu Practice Group (WPG), are honored to host the first Embodying Local Knowledges Critical Ecologies Symposium. Under the symposium, the morning conference Art and Critical Ecologies: Multiscalar Engagements, organized by WPG, consists of three panels that explore the intersection of contemporary art and ecologies from the perspective of geology, climatology, Indigeneity, as well as microbial worlds. The evening agenda of the Embodying Local Knowledges Critical Ecologies Symposium, conceived by TNUA, is being formed with thoughts such as those of Canadian anthropologist Julie Cruikshank (2006) in her study of glaciers pointed out how “local knowledge” often conjoins social and biophysical processes. Tao Indigenous writer and anthropologist Syaman Rapongan from the Orchid Island of Taiwan reminds us how local philosophies from the ocean can teach us different values systems and ways of living. Brazilian Indigenous movement leader and philosopher Ailton Krenak observed that COVD-19 discriminates against humans, due to the way human societies work. “It does not kill birds, bears, or any other beings, just humans” (2020, 3). He even emphasizes that we have to abandon our anthropocentrism (2020, 6). This symposium brings together academics, artists, and students who are members of Critical Ecologies. Meanwhile, it reaches out to researchers and practitioners worldwide, who work in the intersections of art, ecology, indigeneity, geopolitics, as well as science and technology studies, to build a cross-regional network of sustainable collaboration.

Date

12 & 13 November 2021 (Fri. and Sat.)

Time

15:00-20:40 (GMT+8)

Symposium participation by

Heather BARNETT (UAL, London), Joelle BITTON (ZHdK, Zurich), Naomi BULLIARD (UAL, London), I-wen CHANG (TNUA, Taipei), Charity EDWARDS (Monash, Melbourne), Anna Katharina GRASSKAMP (HKBU, Hong Kong), Andreas KOHLI (ZHdK, Zurich), Nuria KRÄMER (ZHdK, Zurich), Yatin Lin (TNUA, Taipei), Nickolas Mangan (Monash, Melbourne), Patricia RIBAULT (Paris Beaux-Arts), Michael SIMON (ZHdK, Zurich), Jennifer TEETER (Kyoto Seika U.), Andrea Flores URUSHIMA (Kyoto Seika U.), Susan VAN ESCH (HKU, Ultrecht), Eva VERHOEVEN (UAL, London)

Registration

Registration Period: 15 October 2021 (Fri.) 15:30 (GMT+8) to 10 November 2021 (Wed.) 23:59 (GMT+8)

Registration for Morning Session 1, Friday HERE
Registration for Morning Session 2, Friday HERE
Registration for Morning Session 1, Saturday HERE
Registration for Afternoon Sessions, Friday and Saturday HERE

  • All the panels are open on first come first serve bases. To ensure your priority access to the events, please fill in this form and register in advance.
  • Reminder and Zoom Link will be sent to your contact email on 10th Nov.
  • The Zoom room will open 5 mins before the panel starts. You are most welcome to log in before the panel started.

Important notes

  • Please note that all events are conducted in English or in English subtitle.
  • Due to the pandemic situation, all the events will be conducted via ZOOM.
  • To protect your privacy, please feel free to hide your video or participate anonymously.
  • The organizers reserve the right to change the content of the panels.

Team

Organizer：Shared Campus
Hosts: TNUA IMCCI & Wanwu Practice Group
Sponsor：University Social Responsibility & High Education Sprout Project
Advisor：Ministry of Education

Critical Ecologies Symposium TNUA team
Chair: LIN Yatin
Associate chair: CHANG I-wen
Program coordinator: LEE Tsz Wai, Vivien
Technical coordinator: Christopher CHU
Main Visual Designer: TWO (t-wo.it)
Symposium on-site design: Alicia MEDINA
Photographer/film Editor: Larissa SOTO
Videographer: LIU Oi Ki, Sally
Chinese-English Interpreter: Elliott CHEUNG
IMCCI Graduate Student Volunteers: Winna GO, Wayne HONG
Admin support: YIP Ming Hoe, JUAN Hsuan-Ya, LEE Wei Chuen, HSU Hoya

Art and Critical Ecologies: Multiscalar Engagements team
NAGASAKA Aki
LIU Mankun
TIMURGALIEVA Olga (Wanwu Practice Group) under supervision of ZHENG Bo

References

  • Julie Cruikshank. Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2006.
  • Ailton Krenak. Ideas to Postpone the End of the World. (English trans. by Anthony Doyle) Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2020.
  • Syaman Rapongan. “The Birth of a Fisherman,” (Eng. Trans. by C. J. Anderson-Wu), in The Anthology of Taiwan Indigenous Literature: Short Stories. Edited by Chen Fang-Ming. Taipei: Taiwan Indigenous Voice Bimonthly, 2015, pp.86-115.
  • Syman Rapongan. “Merman,” in Keywords of Taiwan Theory. Edited by Shumei-Shih et al, Taipei: Linking Book, 2019, pp. 103-112.