Translating Science through Writing and Art in Times of “Climate Boiling”

In this time of boiling climate crisis we are inundated with data and information about the dire state of the world. But how do we tell these stories in ways that center our interconnectivity, interdependence and the power of our shared and common action?

This four day intensive study will work with participants to build their practices of translating complex and urgent environmental issues influenced by science, art, social justice, and collective responsibility. Facilitated by Drs. Amer Kanngieser and Zoe Todd, this workshop will engage their combined knowledge of navigating academic, artistic and community spaces to collaboratively understand how and why people tune in, and out, of their relationships to the worlds and environments around them. Bridging diverse lived experiences and responsibilities to the communities we both belong to, we invite participants to imagine storytelling in ways that centre the collective responsibilities we hold at this time of immense intertwined urgencies, without assimilating difference or universalising how things are or should be.

Learning Objectives

• How to translate urgent environmental issues through art, science, and story
• Working to be accountable to place and to people (both human and more-than-human)
• Listening, attuning, and ‘restorying’ as methods for thoughtful environmental storytelling

Participants will be guided through daily exercises in listening and attending to their surroundings to building ethical and respectful relationships with themselves, others, place, waterways and land and to understanding the importance of consent, permission and boundaries within the specific territories we each inhabit and occupy. Todd and Kanngieser will support participants to apply these exercises into their own approaches and concerns, helping each to expand their skills and confidence in creative and interdisciplinary based narratives.

This workshop is aimed at encouraging participants to expand their own grounded approaches to ‘restorying’ and responding to our contemporary social, environmental, and political challenges.

Daily Schedule

A detailed schedule will be available at least 2 weeks in advance of the program. View sample schedule here.