TOWARDS PERMACULTURAL INSTITUTIONS: CURATING TRANSFORMATION
A workshop series on social and ecological transformation processes in art institutions

 

Workshop 1: People Care: Allyship and Climate Justice
Friday, October 20, 2023, 2 p.m. – 8:30 p.m
Saturday, October 21, 2023, 10:30 a.m. – 8:30 p.m
Lecture: Friday, October 20th, 7:30 p.m., Antonia Alampi (no registration necessary)

With: Antonia Alampi, artistic director of the Spore Initiative, Berlin; Jakeline Romero Epiayú, environmental activist, Colombia and Camilo Pachón, artist, Colombia; Ela Spalding, artist, Berlin; Angela Serino, Artist Residency Research Collective, Amsterdam; ama.twi, Cologne

Workshop 2: Fair Share: Degrowth
Friday, November 3, 2023, 2 p.m. – 8:30 p.m
Saturday, November 4, 2023, 10:30 a.m. – 8:30 p.m
Lecture: Friday, November 3rd, 7:30 p.m., TBA (no registration necessary)

With: Konzeptwerk Neue Ökonomie, Leipzig; Łukasz Jastrubczak & Małgorzata Mazur, CentrumCentrum, Szczecin; Beni Tonka, Cologne

Workshop 3: Earth Care: Grounding Practices and Care
Friday, December 1, 2023, 2 p.m. – 8:30 p.m
Saturday, December 2nd, 10:30 a.m. – 8:30 p.m
Lecture: Friday, December 2nd, 7:30 p.m., Lucia Pietroiuisti (no registration necessary)

With: Lucia Pietroiuisti, Curator of Ecology, Serpentine Gallery, London; Biljana Ciric & Madeleine Collie, Study Pattern Collective, Australia/Serbia; Giulia Bellinetti, Head of Future Materials Lab, Jan Van Eyck, Maastricht; Paula Erstmann, artist, Berlin

Location: CCA Temporary Gallery, Mauritiuswall 35, 50676 Cologne
Language: English

Register at: info@medienwerk-nrw.de

We ask that you register for the weekends until
- October 17th (1st workshop)
- November 1st (2nd workshop)
- November 29th (3rd workshop)
Registration for all three workshops together is possible and desired.
No registration is necessary for lectures.

Against the backdrop of multiple social and ecological crises, the workshop series “Towards Permacultural Institutions: Curating Transformation” takes reflections on the application of permacultural principles in the cultural sector as the starting point for a three-part workshop series. The focus is on the question of what role art institutions can play in urgent transformation processes towards an ecologically just and decolonial society and what options they have for action.

As a reaction to the precarious effects of hyper-capitalist modes of production and relationships, permaculture as a practice and philosophy is arousing increasing interest in the cultural sector when it comes to thinking about new approaches to institutional processes, program work and spatial practice.

What potential do principles and ethical concepts offer for cultural institutions? Which aspects can be transferred to the cultural sector and translated into context-specific actions?

The term “permaculture” is made up of the words “permanent” and “(agri-)culture” and brings different types of knowledge and practices together. Permaculture combines methods from organic cultivation as well as principles for designing social processes that aim for holism, regeneration, horizontality and reciprocity. The design of permaculture processes and systems is based on a cycle of observation, experimentation and adaptation. It is built on three ethical principles: 1) Earth Care: Care for the planet and all more-than-humans. 2) People Care: Care for people and equitable access to all the basics of life. 3) Fair Share: Fair distribution of limited resources.

Based on the ethical principles, “Towards Permacultural Institutions: Curating Transformation” addresses three specific topics:

In the spirit of People Care, the workshop on the topic of “Allyship” deepens the question of ways to support local environmental groups and climate justice activists and asks about ways to build solidarity and reciprocal relationships between actors and communities in the so-called Global South and North.

In the spirit of Fair Share, the “Degrowth” workshop looks critically and constructively at the approaches of the post-growth movement, especially education for sustainable development, and questions central strategies regarding their transferability to the cultural sector.

In the spirit of Earth Care, the “Grounding” workshop is dedicated to curatorial and institutional practices that aim at ecological regeneration and asks about the interaction between ecology, pedagogy and physical-mental care.

The workshops aim to transfer the content into your own institutional practice and offer the opportunity to analyze the institutional/individual status quo, outline visions and strategies and identify first steps for action.

Following the summer seminar “Towards Permacultural Institutions: Exercises in Collective Thinking”, organised by the Stiftung Künstlerdorf Schöppingen in cooperation with CCA Temporary Gallery, the “Curating Transformation” series creates space to critically question permaculture and think about a translation of its ethics, principles and methods into the art field. What could a permacultural (= socially and ecologically just) art institution look like?

Curated by Aneta Rostkowska and Nada Rosa Schroer

The workshop series is a cooperation between Büro medienwerk.nrw and the Temporary Gallery. Center for Contemporary Art in Cologne. The work of the Büro medienwerk.nrw is financed by the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia, on whose behalf it organizes coordination, professionalization and advice in the field of media art. The Büro medienwerk.nrw is located at HMKV Hartware MedienKunstVerein, Dortmund.