What lives in between extraction and regeneration? How do we inhabit a world in ruins? What can germinate in our cracks? What if we could rehearse plurality?
In a world shaped by individualised, hierarchical and exploitative systems, amid social, political and environmental collapses, New Futures Arts Collaborative proposes an experiment of small gestures for worlds-making through arts, community building and narrative transformation. A terrain to try and engage, to de and compose, in relationality, imagination, collectiveness and constant movement of becoming.
The programme description could be: an international artistic residency, of four months of online research followed by an in-person immersion in the vivid landscapes and community of Hangberg, Hout Bay, South Africa. This edition brings together 27 creatives from 13 countries including artists, researchers, traditional knowledge keepers, community organisers and practitioners across cultures, disciplines and geographies. Drawing from decolonial practices, biomimetic thinking and narrative studies, the project is grounded in the interconnection between arts, education and social-environmental transformation.
But, sorry algorithms, it is way beyond that: small talks, shared stories, uncomfortable questions, unexpected transformations, new references, bonds, ruins, bonds, birds, mountains, instant coffee, waves, gestures, multilanguages, notes, notes, notes, noticing again, long hugs, loud laughs, History and future, learnings for life, learnings on time, materiality and the intangible. Everything that lives in between.
The process is now embodied in the exhibition De()composing: between extraction and regeneration, on show at Hout Bay Market, opened on the 3 of September and, following an invitation from the community to remain for longer, has been extended until 5 October.
📍 Hout Bay Market — Second Floor
🗓 On view until 5 October
Thursday to Sunday from 10h-17h
