Future Ecologies presents: Back to Earth - Queer Currents
Oct 8, 2020
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Ama Josephine Budge, Macarena Gómez-Barris, and Jack Halberstam discuss queer ecology, climate justice, decolonial perspectives, and the intersection of queerness in ecology. The speakers explore themes of transformation, desire, pleasure, resistance, and affinity within apocalyptic world making. They emphasize the importance of recognizing diversity, cohabitation, and joy in studying the natural world. They also challenge humanism and oppressive mechanisms while embracing diverse perspectives and the need for transformation.
Embracing transformation and multiple perspectives is crucial in queer ecology and challenges traditional human-centric views of nature.
Being queer offers a different standpoint on the world, challenging dominant narratives and classifications, while personal transformations can profoundly reshape one's perception of self and the world.
Deep dives
Exploring Queer Ecology
This podcast episode delves into the concept of queer ecology, which involves examining the intersection of queerness and the environment. It challenges the traditional human-centric view of nature and highlights the importance of embracing transformation and multiple perspectives. The episode explores the sensuality and eroticism of flowers, such as orchids, and their relevance to gender, sexuality, and power dynamics. It also raises questions about the apocalypse and how it is not a singular event but an ongoing process that has already impacted marginalized communities. The conversation emphasizes the need to dismantle oppressive systems and imagine new possibilities for cohabitation and connection. The episode concludes with an emphasis on humility, embracing the unknown, and recognizing that all beings are interconnected.
The Power of Transformation
Transformation and the potential for change are integral themes in this podcast episode. It highlights how being queer offers a different standpoint and perspective on the world, challenging dominant narratives and classifications. The guests emphasize the importance of continual self-reflection and pushing against established perspectives. The conversation touches on the concept of the apocalypse and how it is not a future event, but a present reality for marginalized communities. It also explores how personal transformations, such as cutting hair or reevaluating priorities during periods of quarantine, can have profound effects on one's perception of self and the world. The episode encourages embracing wildness, diversity, and the complexity of relationships between all beings.
The Submerged Perspectives
The podcast episode delves into the concept of submerged perspectives, which involves looking beyond dominant narratives and exploring alternative viewpoints. It highlights the importance of listening to voices traditionally marginalized in environmental discourse. The guests discuss the power of art and creativity in puncturing normative boundaries and challenging authoritarian structures. The conversation emphasizes the need to disrupt hierarchical thinking and embrace diversity, both within humankind and in relation to other species. The episode also explores the role of speculative fiction and imagination in envisioning alternative futures and ways of being.
The Interconnectedness of All Beings
This podcast episode underscores the interconnectedness of all beings and emphasizes the recognition of diverse perspectives. It challenges the human-centric perspective of the world and highlights the significance of relationships and connections between different species. The conversation explores the concept of wildness as a critique of classification systems and an opportunity for radical politics and poetics. The guests discuss the vital role of marginalized communities in disrupting oppressive power relations and pushing for ecological justice. The episode encourages humility, recognizing that truth and knowledge are subjective and ever-evolving.
What is queer ecology? How do queer theory and artistic practice inform environmental activism and climate justice? How can we think decolonisation and queerness together?
Victoria Sin welcomes guest host Serpentine Assistant Curator, Kostas Stasinopoulos to dive into transformation, queerness, the natural and unnatural, wild, decolonial and submerged perspectives. Together with guests Ama Josephine Budge, Macarena Gómez-Barris and Jack Halberstam they ask: “where does wildness live?” and they collectively explore questions of desire, pleasure, queer resistance and affinity within apocalyptic world making.
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Future Ecologies presents this episode from the Serpentine Podcast series Back to Earth – a nine part podcast series that follows artists and an art organisation developing projects, interventions and campaigns at the crossroads of art and the climate emergency.