[spectre] (fwd) CONF: Art, Activism and Ecological Extraction (online/London, 13-14 Mar 24)

[Andreas Broeckmann LEU]

From: Alice Read
Date: Feb 19, 2024
Subject: CONF: Art, Activism and Ecological Extraction (online/London, 
13-14 Mar 24)

Online / The Building Centre, London, Mar 13–14, 2024
<https://www.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk/whats-on/forthcoming/extractivismactivism_conference>

Extractivism/Activism: Art, Activism and Ecological Extraction.  A 
collaboration between the Climate & Colonialism research project at the 
Paul Mellon Centre and Autograph ABP.

The arts have long been concerned with highlighting the ongoing 
histories of resource extraction and its repercussions. This symposium 
asks: what next? By bringing together researchers, artists, designers 
and activists from a range of backgrounds, this event will consider 
local projects in intersectional, granular detail, to collectively 
re-evaluate the relationship between the arts, extraction and activism, 
both historically and in the present.

The two days are framed around three broad themes: Colonial and 
extractive histories, Reparative and fragile ecologies, Environmental 
justice and legal rights.

Confirmed speakers and participants include: Ignacio Acosta, Mónica 
Alcázar-Duarte, Tobah Aukland-Peck, Eline Benjaminsen, Nancy Demerdash, 
Radha D'Souza, Francisco Gallardo, Hit Man Gurung, Sasha Huber, Elias 
Kimaiyo, Syowia Kyambi, Adrian Lahoud, Godofredo Pereira, Marie 
Petersmann, Julian Posada, Sheelasha Rajbhandari, Gabriela Saenger 
Silva, Sakiya, Audrey Samson, Marie Smith, Jonas Staal, Gerald 
Torres, Wilfred Ukpong, Rahul Ranjan and others.
The symposium is convened by Sria Chatterjee (Paul Mellon Centre), Mark 
Sealy (Autograph) and Bindi Vora (Autograph).

Accessibility information
The Building Centre’s accessibility information can be found here:
https://www.buildingcentre.co.uk/about/plan-your-visit

Programme

13 March 2024 
10–10.30am    Registration and coffee 
10:30–10.45am    Welcome and introductions with Sria Chatterjee (Paul 
Mellon Centre)

LOCATING ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE 
Chair: Ravi Agarwal (artist, writer, curator and environmental campaigner) 

10.45–10.55am    Sheelasha Rajbhandari (artist and curator), “Untamable 
Dankini”
10.55–11.05am    HitMan Gurung (artist and curator), “What Do the 
Spirits of These Lands, Rivers, Forests Whisper in Our Ears?”
11.05–11.15am    Syowia Kyambi (artist and curator), “Split Bananas and 
Magical Spaces”
11.15–11.30am    Sahar Qawasmi (Sakiya), Title TBC 
11.30–11.50am    Q&A
11.50am–12.15pm    Coffee break (provided) 

IMAGING EXTRACTION 
Chair: Sria Chatterjee (Paul Mellon Centre) 

12.15–12.25pm    Tobah Aukland-Peck (CUNY Graduate Center), “‘See 
Britain First on Shell’: Modernism, Imperialism and the British 
Petroleum Industry” 
12.25–12.35pm    Nancy Demerdash (Albion College), “Fuelling Foment: 
(Counter)colonial Histories of Phosphate Extraction in Tunisia”
12.35–12.45pm    FRAUD, Audrey Samson and Francisco Gallardo (artist 
duo), “Undergrounding the Critical Mineral”
12.45–12.55pm    Crystal Bennes (visual artist), “Phosphate Mines and 
Resistance Gardens in Western Sahara”
12.55–1.15pm    Q&A
1.15–2.30pm    Lunch break

REPAIR/REPARATIONS  
2.30–2.50pm    Gerald Torres (Yale University), Title TBC (online)
2.50–3.00pm    Q&A
3.00–3.15pm    Sasha Huber (visual artist researcher), performative 
lecture, “Reparative Interventions: Renegotiating Archive, Memory and Place”
3.15–3.30pm    Adrian Lahoud (Royal College of Art), “Ngurrara II”
3.30–3.45pm    Q&A
3.45–4.15pm    Comfort break 

ECOLOGY POLITICS
Chair: Mark Sealy (Autograph) 

4.15–4.30pm    Wilfred Ukpong (interdisciplinary artist, practice-based 
researcher – Blazing Century Studios), “Blazing Century 1: Working at 
the Intersection of Extractive Capitalism/Visual Activism”
4.30–4.50pm    Mark Sealy and Wilfred Ukpong in conversation 
4.50–5pm    Closing remarks
5–6pm    Drinks reception at Building Centre 
14 March 2024
10.30–11am    Registration and coffee
11–11.10am    Welcome and introductions with Bindi Vora (Autograph)

FOREST RIGHTS
Chair: Bindi Vora (Autograph)

11.10–11.25am    Eline Benjaminsen (artist) and Elias Kimaiyo (land 
rights activist), Title TBC 
11.25–11.35am    Rahul Ranjan (University of Edinburgh), “Forests of 
Memory: Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Claim Making in India”
11.35–11.45am    Q&A
11.45am–12noon    Comfort break

ANCESTRAL FUTURES
Chair: Nina Kolowratnik (Ghent University)

12noon–12.20pm    Ignacio Acosta (Royal College of Art / Uppsala 
University), film screening and discussion of “From Mars to Venus: 
Activism of the Future” 
12.20–12.30pm    Godofredo Pereira (Royal College of Art), “The Puna Is 
Not a Triangle: Militant Research and Anti-extractivism”
12.30–12.40pm    Gabriela Saenger Silva (Liverpool John Moores 
University), “Art As Catalyst: Exploring the Fragility and Activism 
Through ‘We Live Like Trees Inside the Footsteps of our Ancestors’”
12.40–1pm    Q&A
1–2.30pm    Lunch break

LITIGATION / CLIMATE CRIMES
Chair: Jelena Sofronijevic (producer, writer and researcher)

2.30–2.40pm    Marie Petersmann (London School of Economics), “Black 
Ecofeminism in Court: Litigating for Climate Justice and Reparations”
2.40–2.55pm    Radha D’Souza (lawyer, academic, writer and activist) and 
Jonas Staal (artist and propaganda researcher), “Legal Imaginaries 
Beyond Extraction: Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes”
2.55–3.15pm    Q&A
3.15–3.25pm    Marie Smith (visual artist/Kingston University), “The 
Wanderer” (performance)
3.25–3.40pm    Comfort break

DATA ECOLOGIES
Chair: Stephanie Hankey (Tactical Technology Collective)

3.40–3.50pm    Mónica Alcázar-Duarte (artist), film screening of “U K'ux 
Kaj / Heart of Sky, Mayan God of Storms”
3.50–4pm    Respondent: Julian Posada (Yale University)
4–4.15pm    Mónica Alcázar-Duarte and Julian Posada in conversation
4.15–4.30pm    Final remarks
6–9pm    OPTIONAL: Self-led visit to Autograph to view Wilfred Ukpong: 
Future-Cosmos/Niger-Delta and Mónica Alcázar-Duarte: Digital Clouds 
Don’t Carry Rain. There will be a fifteen-minute introduction to the 
exhibition by Autograph staff at 6.30pm


Reference / Quellennachweis:
CONF: Art, Activism and Ecological Extraction (online/London, 13-14 Mar 
24). In: ArtHist.net, Feb 19, 2024. <https://arthist.net/archive/41259>.