‘Presentes Densos’. About the arts of living on a wounded planet

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In her latest book, Staying with the Trouble, Donna J. Haraway refers to contemporary times as a “thick present.” It is dense and problematic, because the situation in which “all beings on Earth” find ourselves is complex, as well as delicate. Ecological damaging circumstances are present in every region of the planet, involving and affecting many diverse agents who do not necessarily share a diagnosis, position, desire or proposal for action with regard to such situations. As Haraway warns us, it is therefore difficult to reach a solution that resolves the problem, that repairs the damage and that at the same time brings all the agents involved into agreement. It would be too “naive” of us to aspire to such a definitive solution. Instead, Haraway invites us to become capable of a responsible and perhaps biased response to the challenges and horrors of the Anthropocene.

This cycle aims to take up this invitation. Its modest proposal is to create a space in which we can share some tools for putting our responsibility into practice (response-ability). Or as Anna Tsing would say, to learn “the arts of living on a wounded planet.”

The cycle will take as its starting point the current ecological emergency unfolding in the Albufera de València. In the 2nd edition we will focus in particular on the birds that live temporarily or permanently in the Natural Park.

The program of activities for this edition concentrates on what these animals require of us. It is an aural program that invites us to listen to some of these beings that indeed reveal more of themselves via their singing than with their presence. Throughout the cycle, we will hold three bird watching sessions, each in a different season of the year; we will observe what happens with the birds’ migratory routes and corridors; we will obtain sound recordings and record a “dawn chorus” during a spring sunrise; and we will learn to track the different colonies that inhabit the park in order to become familiar with their habits and learn to live with them with kindness. The activities are organized by employees at the Natural Park or by artists such as María Jerez, Kamen Nedev, María del Castillo and Edu Comelles.

Curated and coordinated by Miguel Ángel Martínez.

With the collaboration of SEO-Birdlife and Acció Ecologista AGRÓ.

REGISTRATIONS: full capacity