This symposium presents the final results of the fieldwork carried out by the project participants of the HWW-funded project “Political Ecology as Practice: A Regional Approach to the Anthropocene” and on the occasion of the ongoing exhibition “All have the same breath” open at Gallery 400. The project investigated the reciprocal relationship between the emergent theories of the Anthropocene, climate change, and the global environmental crisis, and how local ecological problems are experienced in various regions of the world. It addressed two core questions: (1) do theories generated at the metropolitan center derive insight from regional ecological conflicts? If so, how? (2) Do these theories have an impact on the various communities in terms of their relationship with land, resources, and biodiversity? This conference presents the results of multi-sited, comparative study of place-based ecological politics through a series of fieldwork initiatives in Bolivia, Cambodia, Pakistan, Turkey, and the US, led by faculty and graduate students in collaboration with artists.

This symposium and exhibition are organized by Political Ecologies Working Group, (a.k.a. Political Ecology: Platform Chicago), an active group of faculty, graduate students, artists, and activists, and a platform of academic research, field practice, and debate on political ecology and environmental humanities. This working group, has been supported by the Institute for the Humanities of the University of Illinois at Chicago since 2015. This multi-disciplinary collaborative project engages faculty and graduate students from the departments of Anthropology, Art, Art History, Biological Sciences, English, Latin American and Latino Studies, Rhetoric, and Urban Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Department of Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

This event is sponsored by the Humanities Without Walls Consortium, based at the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Humanities Without Walls consortium is funded by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Additional support for this event comes from The Institute for the Humanities, Gallery 400 and the School of Art and Art History at UIC.

To join us for lunch on Friday (March 1) or Saturday (March 2) please RSVP here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/all-have-the-same-breath-the-symposium-tickets-56775573268

Full program
All have the same breath: The Program
DAY 1 Friday March 1

9:00-9:15 Coffee and pastries

9:15 Welcome and Introductions
Mark Canuel, Director of the Institute for the Humanities, UIC
Lorelei Stewart, Director of Gallery 400, UIC.
Ömür Harmanşah, Associate Professor of Art History, UIC and Lead-PI

9:30 Karen Greenwalt, PhD Candidate in Art History, UIC : Commentary – All have the same breath, the Exhibition (15 min)

Fieldwork presentations

10:00-11:00 Session 1: KONYA
Ömür Harmanşah, Associate Professor of Art History, UIC : “Stories of Water, Landscape, and Climate: Fieldwork Lessons from Konya, Turkey” (20 min)
Responses:

Bochay Drum, Independent Artist (10 min)
Peri Johnson, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Art History, UIC (10 min)

11:00-12:00 Session 2: NORTHEASTERN CAMBODIA
Ian G. Baird, Associate Professor of Geography, University of Wisconsin- Madisonand W. Nathan Green, PhD Candidate in Geography, University of Wisconsin- Madison : “The Clean Development Mechanism and Large Dam Development: Contradictions associated with Climate Financing in Cambodia” (20 min)
Response:

Zhe Yu Lee, PhD Candidate in Geography, University of Wisconsin- Madison (10 min)

12:00-1:00 Lunch

1:00-2:00 Session 3: COCHABAMBA
Caitlyn Dye, PhD Candidate in Anthropology, UIC. “The Park, the Dam, and the Llajta: Hydrosocial Encounters in Cochabamba” (20 min)
Responses:

Alize Arıcan, PhD Candidate in Anthropology, UIC and Leticia Bernaus, Candidate Studio Art, UIC (10 min) Screening Leticia Bernaus’s Experimental Video “On darkness”, 8:23min.
Molly Doane, Associate Professor of Anthropology, UIC (10 min)

2:00-3:00 Session 4: NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Charles S. Corwin, PhD Candidate in Urban Planning and Policy, UIC : “Farming in the God-Forsaken Prairie: Conservation Agriculture in North Central Illinois” (20 min)
Responses:

Stella Brown, MFA Candidate Studio Art, UIC (10 Min)
Ralph Cintron, Associate Professor of Latino and Latin American Studies and English, UIC (10 min)

3:00-3:15 Coffee break

3:15-4:15 Session 5: ISTANBUL
Alize Arıcan, PhD Candidate in Anthropology, UIC : “What Does Solidarity Look Like during Extended Urban Transformation? Caring in/for/with Tarlabaşı” (20 min)
Responses:

Tamara Becerra Valdez, MFA Candidate Studio Art, UIC (10 Min)
Tarini Bedi, Associate Professor of Anthropology, UIC (10 min)

4:15 Artists Panel
Moderated by Karen Greenwalt, PhD Candidate in Art History, UIC
Participants: Leticia Bernaus, Stella Brown, Bochay Drum, Larsen Husby, Jared Kelly-Hudgins, Tamara Becerra Valdez.
All have the same breath, the Exhibition (45 min)

5:00-7:00 Reception

DAY 2 Saturday March 2

9:00-9:30 Coffee and pastries

Speakers:
9:30-10:15 Ralph Cintron, Associate Professor of Latino and Latin American Studies and English, UIC : “A Meditation on Property, Possession, Individuation, and the End(s) of Sovereignty” (30 min)

10:15-11:00 Beate Geissler, Associate Professor of Art, UIC : “Substance Dependencies and the Technosphere” (30 min)

11:00-11:15 Coffee break

11:15-12 David H. Wise, Professor of Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biological Sciences, UIC “Ecclesiastes, Gaia and Natural Selection: Caring for Creation in the Anthropocene” (30 min)

12:00-13:30 Lunch

1:30-3:00 pm Open Forum, moderated by Ömür Harmanşah and Ian G. Baird.
Discussion/overview of the last two years of collaboration in this project. Discussion of publication plans. (90 minutes)

3:30-5:30 pm Performance at Gallery 400 Exhibition space.
How are we looking today? Bochay Drum
Arrival time is a 20-minute window from 3:30 to 3:50, allowing the performer to individually great each person. Please plan to arrive within this timeframe.

How are we looking today? is an experimental, performative workshop that explores the ways we perceive, feel, and relate. Participants will be led through a series of interactions with the exhibition All share the same breath that bring them into relational bonding with the exhibition’s artworks via writing, drawing, listening, smelling, feeling, and mood.

Official Website

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Tags: Alize Arıcan, All Have the Same Breath: The Symposium, beate geissler, Bochay Drum, Caitlyn Dye, Charles S. Corwin, Chicago, David H. Wise, Gallery 400, Ian G. Baird, Jared Kelly-Hudgins, Karen Greenwalt, Larsen Husby, Leticia Bernaus, Lorelei Stewart, Mark Canuel, Molly Doane, Nathan Green Zhe Yu Lee, near west side, Ömür Harmanşah, Peri Johnson, Ralph Cintron, Stella Brown, Tamara Becerra Valdez, Tamara Becerra Valdez. Ralph Cintron, Tarini Bedi