Text by CLOT Magazine
OTHERWISE — Polymorphic Futures is a hybrid festival dedicated to the potential of artistic research to contribute to societal and ecological transformations. Over 8 months and in 4 on- and offline symposia, artists, designers, and researchers explore and share their own practices and urgent questions in various formats. The interdisciplinary format takes place between 10.04 – 15.12.2021 online and at Gessnerallee in Zurich and is organised through internal and external events.
The first iteration took place in June under the theme of Mutagenesis. Now for the second one, from July 28 to 30, they will explore the theme of Transformation.
If a crisis results in trauma, what kind of trauma does the environmental crisis create? And is there a cure? How can we think of transformation without falling back it neoliberal parols that promote every “failure” as an opportunity for growth? Ultimately, how can the performing arts support us in navigating the complex challenge the environmental crises pose? The curators ask.
On Wednesday 28 during the Interactive game with Grace Turtle Polifroni, Becoming Collective session, they will explore and play with Control Wars, a game, and at the laboratory, offering a platform to its participants to examine and transcend systemic inertias engendering the present surface potentials for alternative realities from the imaginaries of emerging philosophical and theoretical discourse and worldviews.
Thursday, the 29th is to explore the work-in-progress presentations with OTHERWISE fellows Patrick Gusset and Bernadette Köbele. Patrick Gusset tries to make climate futures available through the process of pre-enactment, and Bernadette Köbele will take you along the path of her colonial family story in Indonesia at the beginning of the 20th century and towards her interest in the postcolonial field: the masquerade of colonial society.
And finally, on Friday 30 first, Aldir Polymeris, Nina Willimann and Jose Cáceres Mardones will present their long-term project, Wallmapu ex situ, which deals with the history of Wallmapu in southern Chile. And after, in the panel Traumatic Landscapes: Podium & Open Discussion, they will discuss the uneven relationship between climate change and colonial histories.
All the events are taking place online. The link to all events will be shared on the day via otherwise.network.
