Climate Imaginaries at Sea: Studio Encounters on Water

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On April 13-14, the ATD Lectorate co-hosted Studio Encounters on Water, a two-day event filled with workshops, presentations, talks and pod reading sessions where participants could learn more about the research project Climate Imaginaries at SeaWho has the privilege to imagine the future of climate change, and for whom are its effects already present? In three artistic research studios, Climate Imaginaries at Sea speculates possible futures in and around water through various artistic and participatory research practices.  

For Climate Imaginaries at Sea the ATD Lectorate contributes two research studios focused on global south and indigenous perspectives on the relationship to water.   

The first studio is called Power of Water and is developed in collaboration with Villa Zapakara, a children’s museum located in Paramaribo, Suriname in partnership with the Masters Creative Producing, Masterplan Zuid-Oost, theatre-maker Dorothy Blokland and researcher Joy Brandsma. In this studio, we explore how photography and spoken word can empower young people in Suriname and Amsterdam to show how they see the impact of climate change and sea level rise on their environment and to share those perspectives with each other.   

The second studio is The School of Mountains and Waters initiated by Chilean-Mexican artist-researcher Amanda Piña in partnership with DAS Theatre Masters program at the ATD and researcher Mikki Stelder. The School of Mountains and Waters is a school of unlearning the modern/colonial idea of the human as pre-existent and separate from that which sustains its life. The different activities of the school will invite participants to establish relationships of care between human bodies and bodies of mountains, glaciers, lakes, rivers, estuaries, forest, peat land and water.  

For Studio Encounters on Water, the ATD contributed to the program with presentations from Coco Duivenvoorde and Dakaya Lenz on Power of Water with reflections from Joy Brandsma; from Amanda Piña and Cecilia Vallejos on The School of Mountains and Waters; “pod” reading sessions of Alexis Pauline Gumbs’ Undrowned hosted by Mikki Stelder, Janne Igbuwe, Flavia Pinheiro, Ainhoa Hernandez Escudero and Isis Andreatta; and closing reflections from Mikki Stelder. 

The Climate Imaginaries coalition also launched the new zine, Making Waves – available to view in the Library of DAS Graduate School.  

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