<div><div dir="auto">Hi and Thank you for an inspiring discussion!</div><div dir="auto">Greta Thunberg is having worldwide support for her school strike. She was in Davos and confronted the worlds elite politicians and industrial leaders and demanded from them big changes and commitment.</div></div><div dir="auto">I am a bit sceptic about the capitalism developing tools to change their predatory essence but I believe in these youngsters energy and passion.</div><div dir="auto">But Gretas example is a good example about how a single individual can be the cathalizator of deep changes.</div><div dir="auto">Ana </div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr">sön 31 mars 2019 kl. 15:35 skrev <<a href="mailto:dollyoko@thing.net">dollyoko@thing.net</a>>:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------<br>
Thank you Sarah and Lola for inviting us to contribute to the discussion<br>
on Empyre this month. It's been inspiring to read first-hand what artists<br>
are doing, and why. And the questions that emerge for them, in the process<br>
of bringing together poetics and liberatory politics.<br>
<br>
In this period I find that I cannot write about art and art-making, and<br>
perhaps it might be that too much is happening "outside" art - that is, if<br>
we think that there is an inside and outside to art.<br>
<br>
On Friday 15th March there was a global Climate Strike by a reported 1.6<br>
million students. In Australia around 150,000 young people (and their<br>
supporters) took to the streets in cities, towns and villages around the<br>
country. About 3,000 of them were in Adelaide, my hometown, and the vibe<br>
and determination to do what they could - collectively - globally - to<br>
"refigure the future" was palpable, exhilarating.<br>
<a href="https://www.schoolstrike4climate.com/support-us" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.schoolstrike4climate.com/support-us</a><br>
<br>
<br>
Different from, but sharing a trajectory with, the 15th February 2003<br>
global day of protest against the looming war in Iraq. As we know, the<br>
latter protest did not halt the imminent war, but it was a critical<br>
mobilisation of all sorts of bodies and beings, and an instantiation of<br>
"power from below".<br>
<br>
In the context of the Empyre discussion it's worth noting that this<br>
massive coalescing of energies of young people comes from the seed of a<br>
very simple 1-person weekly protest by the then 15-year old Greta Thunberg<br>
(who self-describes as having been diagnosed with "Asperger syndrome, OCD<br>
and selective mutism").<br>
<a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/greta_thunberg_school_strike_for_climate_save_the_world_by_changing_the_rules/transcript?language=en" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.ted.com/talks/greta_thunberg_school_strike_for_climate_save_the_world_by_changing_the_rules/transcript?language=en</a><br>
<br>
But also on 15th March a devastating event happened in Aotearoa (New<br>
Zealand) which has affected many in the Australasian region - the<br>
slaughter of 50 Muslim men, women and children at prayer in 2 mosques in<br>
Christchurch. It was an act of terror. The perpetrator is Australian who<br>
live-streamed the shooting. His use of various social media platforms,<br>
prior to and during the murders, is the subject of an insightful analysis<br>
by Luke Munn, who says that from a seamless slipping between platforms<br>
(8chan, Youtube, Twitter, Gab, etc) emerges "a kind of algorithmic hate —<br>
a constellation of loosely connected digital media, experienced over<br>
years, that constructs an algorithmically averaged enemy."<br>
<a href="http://networkcultures.org/blog/2019/03/19/luke-munn-algorithmic-hate-brenton-tarrant-and-the-dark-social-web/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://networkcultures.org/blog/2019/03/19/luke-munn-algorithmic-hate-brenton-tarrant-and-the-dark-social-web/</a><br>
<br>
But from this violence around Aotearoa/NZ people have come together in<br>
solidarity with the bereaved, embodying, literally in some instances (see<br>
link of students performing traditional Maori haka for their murdered<br>
classmates), the Prime Minister Jacinda Arden's words "They are us."<br>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUq8Uq_QKJo" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUq8Uq_QKJo</a><br>
<br>
... So, to return to where I started from, in thinking about these events<br>
over the past 2 weeks I have no words about art or collective art<br>
practices, but I sense that these events, and what flows from them -<br>
socially, politically, imaginatively - will seep into and inflect thinking<br>
and writing and making, both personal and collective projects. For there<br>
is no separation between art and life, it's the same thing.<br>
<br>
warmly, to all<br>
<br>
Francesca da Rimini<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
> ----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------Week Four:<br>
> COLLECTIVITY + WORLD-BUILDING<br>
> Guests: Emmy Catedral (US); Sofía Córdova (US); Shirin Fahimi (CA); In<br>
> Her Interior (Virginia Barratt (AUS) and Francesca da Rimini (AUS));<br>
> PJ GUBATINA POLICARPIO (US); and Addie Wagenknecht (US, AT).<br>
><br>
> I want to thank everyone who has participated so far this month and<br>
> invite you all to continue these conversations over the next week as<br>
> we wrap up this month’s topic on “Refiguring the Future.” The work you<br>
> all do is important and I am sure your posts have stimulated questions<br>
> and thoughts from other guests as well as –empyre– readers.<br>
><br>
> The exhibition “Refiguring the Future” closes this Sunday, March 31 and<br>
> this is also my and Lola's last week hosting –empyre–. As both of<br>
> these things move towards a conclusion, I have been thinking a lot<br>
> about collectivity and world-building. Collaborative practice and<br>
> doing with others plays a central role in “Refiguring the Future” both<br>
> in the work of several artists in the exhibition, but also as part of<br>
> the larger ethos of what it might mean to “refigure” or “reimagine”<br>
> our future. As we proposed in the introduction to this month’s topic,<br>
> “what possibilities arise when accelerating technologies are paused<br>
> and world-building is privileged anew?” Adding to that, what lessons can<br>
> we learn from previous collective and community building models? And what<br>
> frameworks are needed to support and sustain equitable and inclusive<br>
> communal platforms today?<br>
><br>
> Our guests this week engage in collaborative practices and in a<br>
> liberatory, world-building politic. I am looking forward to learning<br>
> more about their work and approaches to collectivity. I welcome<br>
> Virginia Barratt (AUS) and Francesca da Rimini (AUS), who form the<br>
> artist collective In Her Interior; Emmy Catedral (US) and PJ GUBATINA<br>
> POLICARPIO (US), co-founders of P A L / Pilipinx American Library;<br>
> Sofía Córdova (US), half of the music duo, XUXA SANTAMARIA; Shirin<br>
> Fahimi (CA), founder of Taklif: تکلیف; and Addie Wagenknecht (US, AT),<br>
> co-founder of REFRESH and Deep Lab.<br>
><br>
><br>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
empyre forum<br>
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<a href="http://empyre.library.cornell.edu" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://empyre.library.cornell.edu</a></blockquote></div></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><a href="https://anavaldes.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">https://anavaldes.wordpress.com/</a><br></div><div><a href="http://www.twitter.com/caravia158" target="_blank">www.twitter.com/caravia158</a><br><a href="http://www.scoop.it/t/art-and-activism/" target="_blank">http://www.scoop.it/t/art-and-activism/</a><br><a href="http://www.scoop.it/t/food-history-and-trivia" target="_blank">http://www.scoop.it/t/food-history-and-trivia</a><br><a href="http://www.scoop.it/t/urbanism-3-0" target="_blank">http://www.scoop.it/t/urbanism-3-0</a><br><br><br><br></div><br><div><a href="http://www.scoop.it/t/postcolonial-mind/" target="_blank"></a><br><br>cell Sweden +4670-3213370<br>cell Uruguay +598-99470758<br><br><br>"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you will always long to return. <br>— Leonardo da Vinci<div></div><div></div><div></div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div></div></div></div></div>