In the series of talks orga­ni­sed as part of the Leonardo LASER Network, GLUON is hap­py to announ­ce the talk ​“Environmental Justice for Non-Human Species”, by artist and researcher Dr Kat Austen and artist Stijn Demeulenaere.

The talk will take pla­ce on Tuesday 2nd of July 7pm at GLUON.
The talk will be livestrea­med via their web­si­te.

In recent years, the dis­cour­se around envi­ron­men­tal jus­ti­ce has grown to encom­pass the vast field of non-human spe­cies with whom human com­mu­ni­ties sha­re pla­net Earth. These spe­cies, from the smal­lest micro-orga­nis­ms to the lar­gest mam­mals, play vital roles in main­tai­ning eco­lo­gi­cal balan­ce and bio­di­ver­si­ty.

This expan­si­on sig­ni­fies an impor­tant shift in our – human — under­stan­ding of jus­ti­ce. We recog­ni­se that the well-being of our pla­net, and even the sur­vi­val of humans, is inhe­rent­ly tied to the ​“health” all its inha­bi­tants. Like con­tem­po­ra­ry phi­lo­sop­her Timothy Morton puts this shift in per­spec­ti­ve by sta­ting: ​“We are not living in a world of sepa­ra­ble things but in a mesh of inter­con­nec­ti­on.“

This para­digm shift encou­ra­ges us to see the inter­con­nec­ted­ness of all life on Earth, and of life we can­not see or per­cei­ve, and to make an effort for a more har­mo­nious coexis­ten­ce with the natu­ral world. It is through such efforts and nar­ra­ti­ves that we hope to address the cur­rent envi­ron­men­tal disas­ter and rest­less pro­li­fe­ra­ti­on of the human spe­cies on Earth. And – may­be – to redis­co­ver what humans have lost on their way into what today is cal­l­ed moder­ni­ty or the Anthropocene.

Moderator: Peter Friess
Speakers: Kat Austen & Stijn Demeulenaere
Chaired by Alexandra Dementieva
With the sup­port of Fédération Bruxelles Wallonie, cyland.lab and lasertalks

Picture by Kristof Vranken (Zijlijn / Linea Lateralis)