Reading Group with Sofia Caesar

23.06.21, 18:00

Ideas to Postpone the End of the World is an adaptation of a conference held in Portugal in 2019 by Ailton Krenak. In this text, renowned Brazilian Indigenous activist and leader demonstrates that our current environmental crisis is rooted in society’s flawed concept of “humanity” — that human beings are superior to other forms of nature and are justified in exploiting it as we please. Indigenous peoples have faced the end of the world before. Now, humankind is on a collective march towards the abyss. To stop environmental disaster, Krenak argues that we must reject the homogenising effect of this perspective and embrace a new form of “dreaming” that allows us to regain our place within nature.

Original text in portuguese was translated in English by Anthony Doyle and published by Anansi International in 2020.

Biographies

Sofia Caesar (1989, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) is a visual artist working with video, performance, and sculpture. Rooted in dance practices and somatic therapies, Sofia Caesar’s work evokes physical states between activity and passivity, labour and rest, movement and pause. Acknowledging the intimate effects of technology on our bodies and minds, as well as the physical demands of productivity, her installations often summon stillness, slowness, and repose. Her exhibitions and collaborations include projects at the Moscow Biennial (RUS), M HKA (BE), SFMOMA (USA), A Tale of a Tub (NL), Tomie Ohtake Institute (BR), ISELP (BE), Contour Biennial (BE), Beursschouwburg (BE), CAVEAT/Jubilee (BE) amongst other organisations in Belgium and the world. In 2018 Caesar was honoured the Prize Rumos Itaú Cultural (BR). She works as a Phd Candidate and teacher at LUCA School Arts in Brussels where she lives.

Ailton Krenak (1953, Minas Gerais, Brazil) is a Brazilian writer, journalist, philosopher and indigenous movement leader of Krenak ethnicity. He is a key actor in the indigenous struggles in Brazil, who had indigenous territorial rights recognised in the 1988 Constitution. He first worked as a journalist and developed his commitment and the fight for the recognition of these populations and their "right to the Earth". From 2003 to 2010, he was special assistant for indigenous affairs to the governor of Minas Gerais. In 2015, he received the Order of Cultural Merit and the following year an honorary doctorate from the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, where he teaches indigenous cultures. As a writer, he has published A vida não é útil (Life is Hardly Useful) (2020), Tomorrow is not for sale (2020) and Ideas to postpone the end of the world (2019).

The reading and discussion will be held in english
Free access upon registration