Ecological Futurisms is a collective of researchers from CREAM (Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media) at the University of Westminster, exploring questions about collective futures.
Ecological Futurisms has organised a series of events taking place throughout October and November 2022. Events will include film screenings, talks and exhibitions. Please see below for more details about each event.
The Events
- Global Extraction Film Festival watch party
Ecological Futurisms is excited to hold a watch party of films selected from the Global Extraction Film Festival (GEFF) 2022. Come along to watch a selection of films that highlight the impact of extractive industries, climate change and the activist work and resistance that seeks to imagine and bring about a different future.
Ecological Futurisms supports the work of the GEFF core team, Jamaican environmental filmmaker and activist Esther Figueroa (Vagabond Media) and film scholar-practitioner Emiel Martens (University of Amsterdam, Caribbean Creativity), who have put together a significant and timely programme for this year’s festival. The festival offers the unique opportunity of streaming hundreds of films for free during its five-day duration from 26–30 October.
How to join:
The watch parties will take place at Ambika P3 on the University’s Marylebone campus. There, we will watch and discuss a selection of films from the festival together on a large screen. We encourage you to join us and look forward to seeing you there!
Dates and times:
Wednesday 26 October 2022, 2–6pm
Thursday 27 October 2022, 2–6pm
- Matters of Extraction: A Preamble – film screening and discussion
Please join us for Matters of Extraction: A Preamble, an event featuring a looped screening programme at Ambika P3 on 2 November and an online screening programme and discussion on 3 November.
This event continues online discussions to establish the network Matters of Extraction (MoE): Black Lives and Atlantic Ecologies. MoE provides a research framework that focuses on Black lives including those of Indigenous communities and People of Colour living in the Americas, Europe, the Caribbean and the African continent. The network recognises the colonial histories and global impact of current social, political, economic and climate crises and supports changes to the relationship between Earth resources and future livelihoods.
How to join:
We start at on Wednesday 2 November 12pm with a looped screening programme at Ambika P3 on Marylebone campus presenting a range of short experimental films.
On Thursday 3 November, the screening programme will be made available for one day as an online playlist.
The online discussion on Thursday 3 November from 7–8:30pm will be made up of three contributions.
Date and times:
Wednesday 2 November 2022, 12–6pm
Thursday 3 November 2022, all day
- Barby Asante: On-doing Undoing – exhibition
The exhibition On-doing Undoing brings together artist and CREAM PhD researcher Barby Asante’s ongoing works Declaration of Independence and The Queen and the Black-Eyed Squint. Both works explore the legacies of coloniality, through performative actions that include reflecting on family histories, relationships to place, museum and archival practices and propositions for the future.
Underlying this work, Asante engages in a personal exploration of Sankofa, a principle that is part of the Ghanaian Àdìńkrá communication symbology. As part of Akan cosmology, Sankofa is symbolised by a bird standing with its feet facing forward and its head turned backwards, paying attention to an egg carefully balanced on its back. Asante is interested in Sankofa as a Wayfinder, which not only offers a way to explore and excavate historical facts but also as a way to think about self-determination, intergenerational healing from trauma and imagining other ways of living and being.
In addition to the exhibition, there will be a performance of Declaration of Independence on Saturday 12 November.
How to join:
The exhibition and events will take place at Ambika P3, at the University’s Marylebone campus. Find tickets for the private view and performance, and exhibition opening times at the links below.
Dates and times:
Private View: Thursday 10 November 2022, 6–9pm
Declaration of Independence – performance: Saturday 12 November 2022, 7–8pm
Exhibition opening times: Fri 11, Wed 16, Thu 17, Fri 18 November, 12–7pm
During exhibition days, please enter through the University of Westminster reception, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS.
- Symposium: “Cohesion was meant to hold. But reality started to slide.”
A Tribute to Diann Bauer
Ambika P3 and CREAM, University of Westminster, are proud to host a celebration and commemoration of artist, writer and CREAM researcher Diann Bauer (1972–2022). Diann’s life and work was invested in how art, images and writing must be reconfigured for a time in which complex and unpredictable systems at scales surpassing direct human experience prevail. This symposium gathers artists, writers and thinkers who have been in conversation with Diann’s work formally and thematically.
This event will be both in-person and online; a link for those who wish to join online will be sent out to registered participants closer to the event date.
How to join:
The event will take place at Ambika P3, at the University’s Marylebone campus.
Date and time:
Saturday 19 November, 2–10:30pm
Global Extraction Film Festival
Matters of Extraction: A Preamble
Barby Asante: On-doing Undoing
