SOCIAL SCULPTURE INITIATIVE FORUM: AGENTS OF CHANGE – SOCIAL SCULPTURE & ACTIVISM

Oxford Brookes University, Saturday 22 November from 10am – 6pm.

In the field of social sculpture, we explore forms of agency and ways of working towards a ‘humane and ecologically viable future’: ways that highlight the capacities of every human being to respond creatively to the challenges of shaping our own lives, of living with others and of responding to many other forms of the ecological crisis. This transformative impulse can manifest in the world in many different ways.

One of these ways is referred to as activism.

Despite the plurality of approaches in this movement, activists describe modes of thinking and acting that sometimes constrain more than they enable. What might a social sculpture point of view have to contribute to this field, and vice versa? Could we imagine an ‘expanded’ understanding of activism, which increases the potential forms of engagement, recognising that we share this world with a great diversity of people who carry a multitude of cultural forms? How can we begin to ‘care at a distance’ and respond in ways that correspond with our individual capacities, to that which can seem distant, geographically, personally and culturally?

In this forum we will enter these questions together and look at examples of people’s work and experience. You are invited to reflect on what these issues mean to you, and participate in this open exploration and dialogue. If you would like to share an example or brief ‘case study’, please send us a message to discuss the envisaged form and length of your input.

www.facebook.com/socialsculpture