Can being together become an object of research and knowledge? What makes a collective a collective? Is one united voice possible, or can it exist through eclectic synergies? How can being together be a caring practice? What can a collective imagination do? Hägerstensåsens Medborgarhus and The Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm, present When Things Are Alive, a four-days festival of speculative, ecological and caring approaches around collective practices conceived by the students of the postmaster course “Collective Practices”.
The four-day program starts with a participatory walk that builds around sensorial responses to (in)visible layers of matter, hybrid ecosystems and species interrelations around Hägerstensåsens (‘Multispecies Commoning’, Monday 6 June, from 2pm – 5pm). The first evening proposes various activities organized around the notions of care : meditation, clay, dancing and bread making, among other activities where thinking practices become material (‘& Other People’, Tuesday 7 June). On Wednesday 8 June, ‘Art for More-Than-Humans Assembly’ takes shape as a Role-Play-Game led by the fictional association More-than-Humans Inclusivity and Accessibility Organization (MIAO). On Thursday 9 June, the festival ends with ‘Monetiζing Darkness’, post-socialist and post-authoritarian synergies mixed between poetry, performances and social criticism. Parallel to the events, works On display will present some of the student research.
The festival is in English.
Program on https://www.medborgarhuset.se/event/when-things-are-alive
Monday 6 June, from 2pm – 5pm
Multispecies Commoning.
Participants: Alen Ksoll and Helen Runting | Curated by Denise Araouzou
Register for the walk by sending an email to denise.araouzou@gmail.com
Tuesday 7 June, 4pm – 10pm
‘& Other People’.
Conception and works: Nada Ali, Denise Araouzou, Salomé Burstein, Nicola Chemotti, Tal Gilad, Lara Molina, Julie Robiolle, Judit Sánchez Velasco and Florine Zegers
Wednesday 8 June, 4pm – 9pm
‘Art for More-than-human Assembly’.
Participants: Eglė Budvytytė, Kat Staub & Shifa Doğuştan – dancers for plants, Špela Petrič and more | Scenario: Antonine Scali Ringwald, Sara Szostak | Umarell: Áron Birtalan
Details and registration to the Role-Play-Game here:
Thursday 9 June, 4pm – 10pm
‘Monetiζing Darkness’.
Conception and works: Alicja Czyczel, Alexey Layfurov, Evdokia Noula, Daniela Fernández Rodríguez, Nat Skoczylas | Poems by Katherine Bisquet, Martik Minipunto and Román Gutiérrez Aragoneses | Films by José Luis Aparicio & Fernando Fraguela, Heidi Hassan & Patricia Pérez
Tuesday 7 June, Wednesday 8 June, Thursday 9 June, 4pm – 10pm
On display
Works by Nada Ali, Tal Gilad, Alexey Layfurov, Evdokia Noula, Antonine Scali Ringwald and Sara Szostak
When Things Are Alive is conceived by Nada Ali, Denise Araouzou, Salomé Burstein, Nicola Chemotti, Alicja Czyczel, Tal Gilad, Alexey Layfurov, Lara Molina, Evdokia Noula, Julie Robiolle, Daniela Fernández Rodríguez, Judit Sánchez Velasco, Antonine Scali Ringwald, Nat Skoczylas, Sara Szostak and Florine Zegers. Facilitation Gregory Castera and Hanna Husberg, in collaboration with Sebastian Dahlqvist, Edi Muka and Annika Enqvist.
The festival emerged from the postmaster course Collective Practice at the Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm, and the program Collective Agenda organized in collaboration with Council, Paris. Art for More-than-human Assembly in collaboration with Public Art Agency Sweden. Multispecies Commoning is supported by Kone Foundation.