panel 4Refuturing Care Ethics: Historical, Decolonial, and Environmental Perspectives
Re-futuring the Soil: Interdisciplinary Artistic Collaborations with the Inclusion of Art Education
Brenda Bikoko & Toshie Takeuchi
In part 1 the presentation focuses on the artistic research titled “Refuturing the Soil,” which delves into the overlooked history of the Shinkolobwe uranium mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This mine supplied the majority of uranium for the atomic bombs used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This exploration, grounded in interdisciplinary collaboration, involves artists, geologists, activists, and archivists. The aim is to integrate anthropological and decolonial perspectives to re-narrate the impacts of war from the scarcely documented local Congolese viewpoints, re-linking the narratives between the exploited land, uranium, forced labour, ongoing colonial impacts, and the representations of atomic bombs globally. The presentation will demonstrate why collaborative approaches are vital in reconstituting these connections and what “care aesthetics” have emerged from this process, referencing scholars like Arturo Escobar (2018), and Su-ming Khoo and Anique Vered (2020). The artistic outcomes of this research will be showcased at the Biennale de Lubumbashi 2024 through a collaborative performance and video presentation with artists Sixte Kakinda and Roger Peet.
In part 2 the process of presenting “Refuturing the Soil” to art students as an introduction to ethics of care is addressed. Furthermore, the students will be introduced to the Arte Útil methodology (Saviotti, 2023), which advocates artistic thinking to imagine, create, and implement tactics that change how we act in society. Within this context, the students will contemplate in different groups about what could be a sustainable Arte Útil project with special focus on care. The participation of the students from Sint-Lucas Karel de Grote University College Antwerp is assured. Depending on the availability of financial resources a joint with students from the Academy of Fine Arts in Kinshasa will be instituted.
References
Escobar, A. (2018). Designs for the pluriverse: Radical interdependence, autonomy, and the making of worlds. Duke University Press.
Khoo, S. & Vered, A. (2020). Including the “invisible middle” of decoloniality. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 21(7), 225–242.
Saviotti, A. (2023). Hacking art education: Arte Útil as an educational methodology to foster change for curriculum planning [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Liverpool John Moores University.
Brenda Bikoko specialises in the re-appropriation of colonial archives in contemporary art at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, focusing on female artists. A lecturer at Sint-Lucas Karel de Grote Hogeschool Antwerp, she teaches Anthropology of the Arts and Art and the Congo, blending historical narratives with identity and art. She is also part of Troubled Archives, a project reassessing colonial legacies and a board member of Sophia the Belgian Gender Studies Network.
Toshie Takeuchi (she/her) is a visual artist, filmmaker and organiser of community art activities. She was born in Aichi, Japan, and currently living and working in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her art practice explores micro stories such as personal memories, site-situated local tales and folk traditions to widen critical perspectives on hegemonic historical and geopolitical narratives, which are often shaped by imperial colonial systems of memory and sensorial control. Her works emerge from layered of collective engagements in transformation and making relations. Her works has been shown e.g. at Kunsthal Charlottenborg (DK), De Appel Amsterdam (NL), Wadden Tide Vadehavsfestival (DK), Galleri Image (DK), Artspeak (CA), and Australian Centre for Photography (AU). toshietakeuchi.com/
Towards Caring Pasts: Why Does Environmental History Need Ethics of Care?
Ada Arendt
In my paper, I advocate for incorporating ethics of care into historical thinking, with emphasis on the field of environmental history. I do so in three main arguments. Firstly, I outline potential reasons why the academic discipline of history persistently ignores the developments in the field of ethics of care and the interdisciplinary discourse arising from it, connecting across philosophy, STS, disability studies, animal studies, and social sciences, among others. I examine why historians remain apprehensive even when studying subjects that could greatly benefit from applying this theoretical framework. Secondly, I emphasise that practices of care are – an unrecognised – core subject of the field of environmental history and that acknowledging this may contribute to an ethical paradigm shift in the field, where instead of asking: “How did we historically reshape, master, conquer, alter, consume, intellectualise, interact with the natural world?” we may begin to ask: “How have we strived for security?” “What and why have we chosen to protect?” “Whose needs have we put first?” “Where have we located our attention, engagement, and labour of care, and how did that structure our world?” Thirdly, I indicate what is to be gained from integrating ethics of more-than-human care into the study of past interactions between humans and the rest of nature. Ways in which ethics of care can enrich environmental history are multiple, but among the most important are: 1) considering care as translation work, 2) recognising the inherent complexities and challenges within care relations, 3) understanding care as a process intertwined with temporal dynamics, 4) acknowledging the influential role of locality and dwelling in shaping care relations, and 5) stating that provision of care may be inextricably connected with practices of exclusion or even violence. In the conclusive part of my paper, I may try to outline how findings in the field of environmental history can enrich the interdisciplinary discourse of ethics of care.
My name is Ada Arendt. I study early modern relationships of care. My research is archive-driven, reflexive, and informed by historical anthropology, microhistory, environmental history, and feminist ethics of care. With a background in Cultural Studies, I employ the anthropological toolbox to review early modern popular literature: household books, agronomic treaties, broadbooks, and astrological almanacs. I enjoy writing speculative essays that combine archival research with a multifaceted cultural-historic reflection. My award-winning 2019 book Archeologia zatroskania [Archaeology of Care], offers a microhistorical study of almanac annotations against a broader reflection on the shift in the temporal regime triggered by the scientific revolution of the 17th century, with its consequences for early modern modes of rationality, production of memory, and techniques of the self. Before joining the University of Oslo as Postdoctoral Fellow and Co-Head of the KLIMER research group, I have held the position of Assistant Professor in Cultural History at the University of Warsaw and was a Swiss Grant Excellence Fellow at the University of Bern. I currently live in Zurich, Switzerland.
Location
23-25 January 2025
Kontakt der Kontinenten, Amersfoortsestraat 20
3769 AS Soesterberg
Online
23-25 January 2025
Kontakt der Kontinenten, Amersfoortsestraat 20
3769 AS Soesterberg
Online
Contact info Louis van den Hengel
Images homepage: Merel Visse, Christine Leroy
design website: Johanne de Heus and Marielle Schuurman