Magical Thinking: Towards a Future Worth Living – Conference Day 2 Sun 23 Feb 12:00 — 18:00 De Brakke Grond This conference proposes the idea of ‘magical thinking’ – a belief that thoughts and actions can influence the world – as a provocation. In current dystopian scenarios of the future life on Earth, from environment to democracy, imagining a future worth living might reduce anxiety that paralyses action and create openness to a more inclusive way of thinking. The question that needs answering is what is a future worth living (and for whom), and which tactics could get us there. How do we get from climate emergency and catastrophic populism, fuelled by extractive capitalism, to a world of social/ecological justice and multispecies equality? With focus on artistic research and strategies of visibility and mobilisation that art holds, this forum wishes to open critical discussions and propose possible ways to the future worth living. Geographic Imagination How can one make sense of the climate crisis – environmental, but also political – when confronted with the immense complexity of Earth both in time and space? Two panellists, Rania Ghosn (DESIGN EARTH) and Lukáš Likavčan, speculate on and activate environmental imagination through geographical fiction and comparative planetology. Their research tactics take up history and geographic representation in an attempt to untangle the ways visual culture imagines the Earth and geopolitics of climate emergency.This panel will be moderated by Victoria Douka-Doukopoulou. DESIGN EARTH: Rania Ghosn Geostories Lukáš Likavčan Introduction to Comparative Planetology Unlearning the Environmental Knowledge Unlearning the perspective of ‘Anthropos’ when thinking about the environment activates different ways of understanding earthly surroundings. New modes of transdisciplinarity are summoned to engage in thinking with more-than-human agents in order to uncover narratives about the climate crisis. From the 1815 volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora to the US’ nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll – the beginning of the new era in the history of Earth, the Anthropocene – an artist, a curator and a theorist in this block present on a series of encounters with volcanoes, seas, jungles, rocks and other interconnected planetary species and technologies. This panel will be moderated by Mirna Belina. Elaine Gan Enchanted Realists: Situated, Partial, Viral Dehlia Hannah Cloud Walking: Meditations on 'A Year Without a Winter' Nadim Samman As We Used to Float / Iroojrilik