Utopia*Art*Politics Sessions
How might artistic practices enable radical imagination and politics? From July 3 – 5, 2024, the Urban Futures Studio, , and hosted 33 artist-researcher-practitioners to explore this question. Together they produced a collection of multi-media provocations to share the radical potential they envision at the intersection of utopia, art and politics.
Utopia*Art*Politics: Experimenting with artistic practices in radical imagination and politics
The Utopia*Art*Politics Collection brings together diverse ideas on how artistic practices can help reimagine and remake our world. The concept of utopia has a dark colonial past that lives on through overgrown dreams that leave little space for other possible futures. This collection explores the alternative potential of utopia—not as an elite blueprint of predefined ends—but as a radically collective method for justice. It includes provocations and insights by 33 artist-researcher-practitioners who participated in the Utopia*Art*Politics Sessions, held July 3-5, 2024 in Utrecht, hosted by the Urban Futures Studio, Community Portal @ BAK—basis voor actuele kunst, and Stichting Moira.
It feels harder than ever to imagine a future that is both collectively desirable and achievable. Mainstream politics have often deepened this crisis of imagination, by furthering marginalisation, polarisation, and apathy. Now trapped between a populist pull towards imagined ‘utopian’ pasts and a technocratic push towards imagined ‘utopian’ futures, the time is ripe to revitalise our utopian imagination and politics.
The Utopia*Art*Politics Sessions was organised to explore the potential of utopia as a creative and plural method for justice. Artistic practices — storytelling, visioning, theatre, music and more — play a powerful role in activating our imagination of possible futures and reinterpretation of past and present moments. Such practices can make visible what has been silenced, disrupt our ‘common sense’, traverse conflicting imaginaries, offer glimpses of a world otherwise, and compel people towards action. This event brought together 30 artist-researcher-practitioners actively experimenting with how artistic practices can help reimagine and remake our world.
Dialogue sessions occured in a closed space with invited guests. However, three parts of the event — keynotes by Lola Olufemi and Stephen Duncombe, and a performance evening — were open to the public.
About the organisers
Josie Chambers, Assistant Professor, Urban Futures Studio
Alejandro Navarete Cortés, Communities & Praxis Coordinator,
This event is supported by the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development at Utrecht University.