Workshop CRITICAL TIMES. Part II: Ecologies of Relation.

We invite Post-Doc’s, PhD’s and advanced MA students from the humanities, social science as well as arts and design to engage with us in a discussion about critical times and materialities, postcolonial and posthuman critique, non-European perspectives, and notions of »deep time« of materialities. »Critical Times. Part II: Ecologies of Relation« unfolds a critical conversation, contesting linear conceptions of time, reductionist notions of materiality, and teleological solutionism, by focusing on ecologies and relations. Either term, ecology and relation, has received much attention over the last decade, especially in the arts, design, and humanities. Both emphasize the intersection of different domains of knowledge, media and practice to understand and navigate the challenges of an increasingly complex present. We aim to critically address and resituate the multi-faceted dimensions of both through in-depth and creative formats.

Thereby, we continue a discussion initiated with the first iteration of the workshop Critical Times. Part I: Multiple Matter (https://www.matters-of-activity.de/en/activities/11626/critical-times-part-i-multiple-matter). It took place in Berlin on November 17+18, 2023 and explored temporality in relation to active matter and the Anthropocene thesis resonating through urban settings, activist-arts interventions and scarce materials. The upcoming workshop will follow the same format as the first part with four inputs by invited contributors but will also include a third day to collectively reflect and envision potential forms and formats for continuation.

»Critical Times II« takes place from April 11 — 13, 2024 at »Buitenplaats Brienenoord« in Rotterdam. We envision formats that are unconventional, playful and non-hierarchical and hopefully undermine classic forms of representation and knowledge consumption. We ask our invited contributors to facilitate experimental situations in order to take time and practice together. Accordingly, the event will unfold into four sessions of approximately four hours and includes the sharing of food, moments of rest and hopefully deep engagement and laughter.

Organisers:
»Critical Times« is organized by Christoph Brunner (Erasmus School of Philosophy, Rotterdam University), Rahel Kesselring and Robert Stock (Exzellenzcluster »Matters of Activity« / Cultural History and Theory, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin).

Rotterdam-Team: Shanti Ganesh (Independent Scholar, Rotterdam), Claire Tio and Sander Tuns (Erasmus School of Philosophy, Rotterdam University).

Application:
We warmly invite you to participate in the workshop. To attend, please send your short CV and a brief expression of interest — max. 250 words — to criticaltimes.MoA [​at​] gmail.com by February 29, 2024.