Smart Things at Work
with Alessandro Delfanti and Jenny Kennedy, moderated by Julia Kloiber
What changes when different types of labour, material or immaterial, physical or affective, are undertaken or organised by machines? Can interactions between humans and machines reflect back and influence interactions between people? Taking as a starting point two recently published books, the Smart Wife by Jenny Kennedy and the Warehouse: Workers and Robots at Amazon by Alessandro Delfanti, this panel invites their authors to discuss how smart infrastructures and their logistics affect work and everyday life. Domestic labour and work at a warehouse are respectively studied as examples paying attention to the promises and the drawbacks of technology. Together with Julia Kloiber as a moderator, the speakers will look into how the use of such infrastructures can lead to people being treated as robots or objects, as well as how forms of unionisation, resistance or subversion might still be possible.
Personhood of a Forest
with the Forest Curriculum, Ursula Biemann and Caetano, moderated by Rosario Talevi
What changes when the personhood and the rights of the more-than-human world are acknowledged? Forests and rivers with their ecosystems are living entities and are considered as subjects by different peoples around the world. The bonds with the living environment are as strong as the bonds found within a community. To make kin with the forest means to respect its significance and agency, overcoming anthropocentrism. As part of this discussion, artists who are actively working in and with forests exchange their points of view. Ursula Biemann, Caetano and the Forest Curriculum meet Rosario Talevi and present what one learns, gains and offers when engaging with forest zones, communities and cosmologies. They discuss how methodologies and pedagogies take shape while paying attention to the interconnectedness of the planet rather than to single elements, organisms or phenomena.
Design for Multiple Worlds
with Ahmed Ansari and Nina Paim, moderated by Valentina Karga
Design does not only give form to things but also shapes ways of thinking and being. It reflects mentalities and helps in worldbuilding. In the last years, discussions and initiatives about decolonising design have highlighted the dominance of Western modernist design and its discontents. To oppose its universal aesthetics and its extractive logic is not easy, however. This event asks how design can be rethought in order to derive from and address multiple heterogeneous worlds. It explores how it can be approached with reference to specific cultural and geographical contexts and developed in relation to local experiences and knowledge. As part of this panel, Ahmed Ansari, working on decolonising design and pluriversality, and Nina Paim, co-author of Design Struggles, present their views and engage in a discussion moderated by artist Valentina Karga.
#smalltalks
The #smalltalks are as individual as the people participating, each fellow artist and friend from the Breitz/Cortiñas class of the HBK Braunschweig is taking a deep dive into the work they are presenting for EMAF. The students present their works and artistic practice in an intimate and easygoing series of talks.
After being recorded, all #smalltalks are still available on our Youtube channel.
Sunday, 24.04.
↳ 14:00 Sarai Meyron (EN) -> Cancelled ↳ 14:00 Rita Guimarães (EN)