International symposium: Soot Breath: On Land, Law and Bodies
Goldsmiths University of London
What if we image the world as a textured canvas without fixed points, lines, or planes? What if we re/de/compose the world as a dis/continuous assemblage of material figures, which transition (elementally) into, rather than determine (formally), each other? Would such a world, a world without ‘nomos’ (Law or Order) and its formations support existing juridical constructs such as ‘territory’ and ‘body’? Would it be enough to dissipate the force of legal and ethical tools and descriptors which delimit the reach of principles such as equality, dignity, liberty, or sovereignty?
Building on Neuman and Ferreira da Silva’s project 4 Waters: Deep Implicancy, the symposium invites participants to a collective reflection on current legal, ethical and aesthetical presentations of global issues such as colonial violence, migration, environmental destruction, and racial violence. The symposium expresses ways in which these global issues transition into one another and contribute to the design of an elemental ethics capable of dissolving the forms, both juridical and discursive, that support global capital’s extractive and expropriative practices.
Convened with Denise Ferreira da Silva and Arjuna Neuman, the symposium takes place in the context of their film installation 4 Waters: Deep Implicancy on view at The Showroom until 18 May 2019.
Participants include Johnny Mack, Hudda Khaireh, Carl Mika, Ayesha Hameed, Rashne Limki, Jota Mombaça, Carlos Motta, Sarah Keenan.
Schedule for the day
9.30 - 10.00 Registration
10.00 - 10.15 Welcome - Elvira Dyangani Ose
10.15 - 11.15 Denise/Arjuna introduction/4 waters film screening
11.15 - 13.15 Trans-forming
Johnny Mack
Jota Mombaça
Rashné Limki
Discussant/Chair: Mark Harris
Lunch 13.15 - 14.15
14.15 - 16.15 Trans-boarding
Ayesha Hameed
Daniel Baker
Hudda Khaireh
Discussant/Chair: Carson Arthur
16.15 - 16.30 break
16.30 - 18.30 Trans-figuring
Carlos Motta - skype
Sarah Keenan
Carl Mika
Discussant/Chair: Dhanveer Brar
Organised by The Showroom in collaboration with the Public Programme of the Department of Visual Cultures, Goldsmiths, and the Anti-Colonial Methods Project at Critical + Creative Social Justice Studies Cluster, University of British Columbia.
The symposium is part of Denise Ferreira da Silva and Arjuna Neuman’s project 4 Waters: Deep Implicancy supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts. Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. The project is also supported by The Elephant Trust and The Cultivist.
