ECOEXISTENCE
A COLLECTIVE MANIFESTO
14th-15th October 2021
IT ALL STARTED WITH A QUESTION...
“What does climate justice mean for Africans?”
WATCH DAY 1
14th OCT. 2021
EARTH 🌍 & AIR 💨
SCHEDULE: ALL TIMES IN CAT/CEST (WAT-1 | EAT+1)
= all times are indicative and subject to change till the event =
Tune in and discover the African Crossroads 2021 collaborative projects you can part to during the 2 days.
Tune in and discover the African Crossroads 2021 collaborative projects you can part to during the 2 days.
We have set multiple conversations as ways to experiment together. We’ve advanced through distributed decision making to harness an expanded collective intelligence.
10:15 Co-writing a Collective Manifesto on Ecoexistence
10:20 Sound Atlas
10:25 Ecoexistence Jam
DOWN TO EARTH CONVERSATIONS
How to set new forms of conversations? Ones that could set bases for a collective consultation on ecoexistence. Ones that could initiate collaborative practices grounded on territories. Ones that could echo the conditions of existence.
TOGUNA is a hybrid digital and mixed media Art installation, fusing storytelling and future thinking, which aims to provide an interactive public forum for a panafrican conversation on the future of the African continent.
When it comes to the sociological dimensions of climate change, gender is cross-cutting. Climate vulnerability and its consequences not only reflect existing gender inequality; they also reinforce and exacerbate socially constructed relations of power, norms, and practices that constrain progress toward gender equality in both developed and developing countries.
by Nana Owusu-Ansah (Ghana)
Local communities are the most vulnerable to climate change but hold fundamental knowledge on environmental conservation through their traditional beliefs and culture which can contribute to combating the effects of climate change. The African youth on the other hand is dynamic with creativity and content that can be applied when working with indigenous communities. The panel discussion highlights strategies and policies to be put in place to execute this objective.
DJ Set by SamThaDigga from Kenya
Hop on the African Crossroads Caravan and Tour the African Territories
15:00 TOURING THE HUBS
- Afrotopia (Harare, Zimbabwe)
- Culture and Development East Africa (Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania)
- Barefeet Theatre (Lusaka, Zambia)
14:00 - 16:00 BREAK OUT ROOMS
- Meet the Content Producers of the EARTH
- Building an International Exchange Programme | workshop by Creative Industries Fund NL & African Crossroads
"Tempête de silence" ("Silence storm") by Khoudia Touré (Senegal)
Break-Out Session
African Crossroads is partnering with the Creative Industries Fund NL with the aim of co-creating a 3-year international program of collaborations.
"Climate Justice: Seeing, Hearing, and Feeling" looks into the practices and experiences of professionals in academia, visual and performing arts, who are working across different communities on the African continent. What did they see, hear, and feel while exploring issues on climate change, ecology, and environmental activism?
Concerts by Yugen Blakrok (South Africa) & Ayrosh (Kenya)
ON AIR: CONVERSATIONS IN ACTION
How to devise new ways of actions that could organise societies in an ecologically benefitting manner for all forms of life?
African Crossroads conversations led to actions that intentionally build synergies between individual practices.
Listen to the experiments to spread awareness, knowledge and practice about the changing relationship between humans, nature and technology.
Meet our 5 Hybrid Residency Fellows (Nigeria + Tanzania + Uganda + Zambia + Zimbabwe) who are hacking the climate this year:
>> Jubilian Ngaruwa hosted @hFactor (Nigeria)
>> Nkumi Mtingwa hosted @Culture an Development East Africa (Tanzania)
>> Sandra Suubi hosted @Ugandan Trust (Uganda)
>> Andrew Banda hosted @Barefeet Theatre (Zambia)
>> Larry Kwirirayi hosted @Afrotopia (Zimbabwe)
A collaborative project between Bubblegum Club in South Africa and hFACTOR Nigeria. The video series spotlights how artists and designers across the respective countries are working towards a more climate-just future.
"There is beauty" and "I used to make things happen" by Njeri Wangari (Kenya)
The talk is hosted by Fondation Tunisie's architect Dhouha Boukadi. It is based on the case study of Elife Centers, sustainable hubs located in Tunisia and built by the Fondation. It defines what sustainability is and how it is connected to architecture.
DJ Set by Cheb Runner (Morocco)
WATCH DAY 2
15th OCT. 2021
WATER 💧& FIRE 🔥
SCHEDULE: ALL TIMES IN CAT/CEST (WAT-1 | EAT+1)
= all times are indicative and subject to change till the event =
Tune in and discover the African Crossroads 2021 collaborative projects you can part to during the 2 days.
Tune in and discover the African Crossroads 2021 collaborative projects you can part to during the 2 days.
How to set new forms of conversations? Ones that could set bases for a collective consultation on ecoexistence. Ones that could initiate collaborative practices grounded on territories. Ones that could echo the conditions of existence.
We have set multiple conversations as ways to experiment together. We’ve harnessed an expanded collective intelligence, materialised in:
- Co-writing a Collective Manifesto on Ecoexistence
- Sound Atlas
- Ecoexistence Jam
BE FLUID: IN CONVERSATION WITH THE OTHER-THAN-HUMANS
Once everyone has been invited at the negotiation table, who’s still missing? African Crossroads 2021 is a call to invent the rights for different habitats, an environmental personhood, a call to reconsider nature and the fundamental reality that all living creatures form an interconnected web on Earth. We Are Earth and need to restore symbiotic relationships to our surrounding environments.
The discussion centres on the political economy of wetlands in Zimbabwe. It debates the justifications on raiding wetlands in the city of Harare and propose a balance between infrastructure development and the natural benefits of wetlands. It also assesses the role of environmental management bodies in mitigating the potential harm of degraded environments which are a threat to climate.
Break-Out Session
The project draws inspiration from artists and writers that have positioned the fight for climate justice alongside questions of feminism and decoloniality.
Break-Out Session
Temitayo Ogunbiyi, visual artist, and Chef Renée Chuks, Co-Founder CEO Aldente Africa, will be in conversation to open understandings and interpretations of climate change and climate justice by discussing cookies, digital and edible ones.
As the next generation, children are an integral part of the climate equation. This activity highlights the perspectives of children from three African countries, Tunisia, Togo, and Botswana, through video and animation followed by an interactive discussion.
by Hiwot Schulte (Ethiopia)
Under the theme ‘Resonance’ of London Design Biennale 2021, the Nairobi Design Week has created a game that shares sounds from different countries of the Nile.
DJ Sets by Catu Diosis (Uganda) & DJ Mura (Kenya)
"Chère Eau" ("Dear Water") by Steve Mekoudha (Cameroon)
Hop on the African Crossroads Caravan and Tour the African Territories
TOURING THE HUBS
14:15 32° East Ugandan Arts Trust (Kampala, Uganda)
14:25 Karen Village (Nairobi, Kenya)
15:35 Bustop TV (Harare, Zimbabwe)
14:15 - 16:15 BREAK OUT SESSIONS
TOGUNA is a hybrid digital and mixed media Art installation, fusing storytelling and future thinking, which aims to provide an interactive public forum for a panafrican conversation on the future of the African continent.
Different pots are recreated as 3D assets with photogrammetry and then using Artificial Intelligence design the the 3D model for interaction at various levels with Augmented Reality and 3D Printing using recycled materials.
CONVERSATIONS ON FIRE WITH AFRICAN CROSSROADS 2021 DATA
How can an ecologically conscious society be designed with the involvement of the citizens? How can we use digital tools to reform our decision making processes across territorial scales?
Join this last session and express your emotional votes through fluid democracy.
by Senetisiwe (Eswatini)
Share your experiences and how to articulate African Crossroads to best support its members.
WHERE DO WE LAND AFTER 2 DAYS?
Have a first glimpse at our collective manifesto and vote for the articles to include or reject.
We're launching the Kiunga Album #2 !
ECOLLECTIVE CURATORIAL STATEMENT
In the following text, “we” refer to “all forms of life represented by African Crossroads members and their contexts”
A simple question that had yet to embrace two intimidating terms which state the need for increased inclusivity of under-represented groups in the creation, facilitation and advocacy on innovative climate solutions.
In a typical African Crossroads fashion, we set out to make this question more relatable by putting our ears to the ground and collecting our members' individual and shared experiences.
Down to earth, we identified 10 key ideas that spanned over awareness, territoriality and conditions of existence. That was the starting point for our conversations. As the collective exercise turned into an exercise of definition, we set multiple conversations as ways to experiment together. In our new-age councils, we’ve advanced through distributed decision making.
In our Clubhouse hangouts, Mixcloud sessions and Tweetchats, we’ve harnessed an expanded collective intelligence. We’ve upgraded dialogues into multilogues through our Climathon, hybrid residency and Ubuntu sessions.
From traditional togunas and palaver trees, we’ve set regenerative practices to compose with the intelligence of the biomes. We are now ready for you to take part in a climate jam, and a first-hand experience of fluid democracy through quadratic voting.
THROUGH CONVERSATIONS...
we raised infrequently asked questions (IAQs):
- What’s the closest thing to you that you can eat and that is not from a supermarket?
- In a future where machines are better, what’s our purpose?
- Can nature defend itself?
- If it’s too hot for some now, what about when I’m old?
- What’s your favourite flavour of plastic?
- If climate is cultural, then are actions reversible?
- Is it more important to put water in swimming pools or in agriculture?
- How to re-engineer everyday life for a green recovery?
- How do data, energy and climate interconnect?
- Is it about what water can do for me, or is it about what I can do for water?
- What type of afterworld are we dreaming of?
- Is there such a thing as a crisis of the climate, or a crisis of the relations?
This pan-African consultation pointed in one strong direction: the climate crisis is a crisis of attention. A crisis of attention to oneself (when life switches online, are our body and mind still connected to our context?); a deficit of attention to each other; an absence of attention to the environnemental elements; in the end, a crisis of coexistence: how do we co-exist on Earth?
Join ECOEXISTENCE, a call for writing A COLLECTIVE MANIFESTO on how to restore a symbiotic relationships between humans and other-than-human entities (natural elements, animals, data-generated avatars and others).
Welcome to the 2021 edition of African Crossroads, an experiment to intentionally build synergies between individual practices; to spread awareness, knowledge and practice about the changing relationship between humans, nature and technology; to organise societies in an ecologically benefitting manner for all forms of life.
We are still learning how to coexist with COVID-19. If the political and sanitary conditions have been forced, the life conditions of this coexistence are still to be imagined.
And beyond COVID-19, the 2021 edition of African Crossroads is a call to invent the rights for different habitats, a call to reconsider nature and the fundamental reality that all living creatures form an interconnected web on Earth.
Nature is not limited to greenhood and landscapes are not only background sets. #WeAreEarth, and as such we need to reassess our existing relationships, from extractive mining activities to allyship, from sustainable hubs to solidarity as a way of living borrowed from nature.
If a human and a company can own a legal existence, how can a river, a forest or any natural element benefit from a rights-based environmental personhood and be granted an identical protected status?
Africa is to be explored through a vast set of data. The physical data from tree rings, ice cores, fossil leaves, ocean sediments that have all preserved characteristics of the climatic conditions and allow us to read the history of the Earth climate.
Another range of climate proxies: the stories, the traditions and the indigenous knowledge systems. They all have captured the hidden, lost and absent data of the past relations to our environments and can help voice a renewed type of connection.
And digital data.
- Now that AI is being given increasing rights of existence, to the point of being legally considered as the inventor on patent fillings (Australia),
- How do we e-coexist with such newly data-generated entities?
- What does data say about the realities they do not measure?
- How is the weather under the online clouds?
- How to e-coexist in the metaverse?
- Is there a possibility of green cryptocurrencies?
- How much digital data do we all generate and consume even when watching a still sunset via a webcam?
For the past 2 years, the Air has been regarded with suspicion, as one of the major vehicles of a deadly virus. African Crossroads dedicates the 2021 edition to the invigorating air, the one that inspires, the one that we expire, the one that brings music to our ears, the support of our collective knowledge that radiates when shared in conversations, the medium that translates our recent lifestyle shift from reading to listening.
African Crossroads On Air:
Tune in to the Kiunga Radio, a virtual interactive experience to be heard AND to be seen on October 14 and 15th, 2021.
WHAT DO YOU THINK SO FAR?