Utopian Acts
When:
—
Venue:
Birkbeck 43 Gordon Square
No booking required
To talk about Utopia in 2018 seems, for many, like an act of naive, reactionary optimism. In a moment marked by rising income inequality, the displacement of vast global populations, the lived effects of anthropogenic climate change and widespread resurgences of populism, white supremacy, and fascism, what is the justification for a utopian frame of mind? Here, today, at Utopian Acts, we hope to provide this justification. Far from dreaming of a secluded island or a happy but distant future, today’s speakers are in various ways engaged with what we call utopian activism. They show us that utopia is unthinkable without the actions which work to create it, and that their action is infused with utopian potential. By offering this definition we do not want to constrict the discussions which we hope will happen today and which will undoubtedly challenge, interrogate and reform our understanding of what utopian action can, and indeed must, be.
We don't think utopia is worthless or oppressive, but we know that we need more conversations, provocations, and collaborations between different kinds of people before we can achieve it.
Events will include workshops, academic papers, interactive artwork, a film screening, a live comedy set, and a live music show.
Contact name:
Lou Miller
- Conferences/workshops
- Film screening
- Centre for Contemporary Literature
- Faculty of Business and Law
- School of Historical Studies
- Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
- Exhibition
- Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities
- Corporate website
- Public lecture or event
- LAW: School of Law
- ARTS: History of Art
- SSHP: School