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More and more artists are labelling themselves as ‘activists’ or ‘socially engaged’ yet few are actually engaged with radical social movements, preferring to work autonomously. Throughout history, when artists have applied their creativity to social movements, from Gustav Courbet’s work on the Paris Commune, via Sylvia Pankhurst designing suffragette actions, to the Situationist influence on May 1968, the outcomes have changed the world. Why do contemporary artists fear immersing themselves in radical social movements? In a time of crisis, where the alternatives proposed by social movements urgently need visibility, could permaculture’s emphasis on systems thinking and relationships help artists engage more deeply?
Guest speakers:
John Jordan is a co-founder of the Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination, creating events and experiences that fall between art and activism he applies creativity to social movements, from the Climate Camp, to the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army, via Reclaim the Streets and other carnivalesque rebellions.
James Marriott is a writer, artist, activist and naturalist. He is a Co-Director of PLATFORM, which since 1983 has brought together artists and activists to create projects and campaigns that help the struggle for ecological & social justice in London, PLATFORM’s home, and distant elsewheres impacted by that metropolis.
The C.R.A.S.H Conversations are three public discussions facilitated by the Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination (Lab of ii) as part of the C.R.A.S.H Course, which explore the relationships between art, permaculture and activism, and their role in providing radical solutions to the ecological crisis. Each evening focuses on a specific discipline and will be introduced by key proponents in the field.
The Lab of ii project C.R.A.S.H – A Postcapitalist A to Z opens a space in which to imagine a postcapitalist future. As the future of our ecological life support systems hangs in the balance and we suffer the consequences of reckless economic fantasies, the question of what our future could look like has never been more vital. The Lab of ii will be experimenting with radical sustainable alternatives to the ecological and economic crises in the symbolic heart of the capitalist system, London’s square mile.
Working with artists, activists and permaculturists C.R.A.S.H merges popular education, live art and direct action. The project begins with the C.R.A.S.H Course and Conversations, building skills of resilience and resistance with precarious and unemployed workers, and ends with C.R.A.S.H Contingency and Culture, a mystery night time journey to utopia and back, and a series of interventions across the City.
Two Degrees is Artsadmin’s week long programme of work by radical and politically engaged artists about climate change and our relationship with the environment.
Download the full 2009 programme (pdf)
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