Planetary Futures Wettbewerb Vol. I (2022)

Planetary Pedagogy - Performance and Education in Times of Ecological Catastrophes

organized by Gerko Egert, Martina Ruhsam, and Bojana Kunst

The planetary crises – climate catastrophe and mass extinction of species – are accompanied by a crisis in pedagogy. While the facts about the extent and effects of the anthropogenic climate catastrophe are known, this knowledge is only conditionally linked to a bodily knowledge of action. At the individual, social and governmental level a gap exists between knowledge and action that was named “value-action gap” already two decades ago (Blake 1999).

Bridging this gap requires not just more facts about the state of our planet. What we need is a new planetary pedagogy, that includes bodily, affective, material practices. We will explore a repertoire of bodily-sensual-speculative teaching and learning practices from the field of dance and performance art. How can these practices contribute to a planetary pedagogy?

For two days we will explore in a series of workshops the relation of artistic practices to planetary and ecological forms of knowledge. The workshops include bodily, sensational, affective practices as well as forms of play and storytelling. The aim is to share practices developed in the field of performance art to explore the possibilities of a planetary pedagogy, working across art, activism, community gatherings, universities, and other educational contexts.

Funded by the Panel on Planetary Thinking, Justus-Liebig-Universität, Gießen

Mon. Feb 20th - Wed. Feb 22th, 2023