The Only Lasting Truth is Change: Anarchy, Traces, Mountains
Published
BEK is proud to present a new edition of its symposium The Only Lasting Truth is Change, investigating current and future configurations of art, technology, nature and power. See the full programme here.
With contributions from: Catherine Malabou, Elizabeth Povinelli, Ingrid Burrington and Ann Chen, Susan Schuppli, Eduardo Williams, Toril Johannessen, Hanan Benammar, Rehana Zaman, Matti Aikio, Helle Siljeholm, Ng Tsz-Kwan, Rian Treanor, Andrea Spreafico, and others to be announced. The symposium will unfold in Bergen, Norway, between 9th–13th November 2022.
Using Anarchy, Traces, and Mountains as grounds for our investigation, we examine the spaces that art can provide for free thought, unconfined discussions, and radical change. Inviting artists, scholars and the public to exercise new tactics for navigating reality, together we will learn from contemporary forms of self-organisation, autonomy, solidarity and interdependence. We will search for tools to make visible and intelligible the imprints of the major developments of our time – the technological infrastructure, the fallout of war and of ecological devastation, and the collapse of big political systems. With conversations, workshops, performances, screenings and hikes, we will forage for new strategies for inscribing ourselves into future technology and politics.
From the receding glaciers of the Himalayas to data chip factories in Taiwan, from sacralized street corners in Hong Kong to military zones in Northern Norway, and from occupied territories in Western Sahara to field farms in Scotland and to tunnels and caves under mountains of Bergen – join us on this journey delving into what art can do and what art can be in the ever-changing world!
The symposium “The Only Lasting Truth is Change” borrows its title from the seminal science fiction writer Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower (1993). This edition is organised by BEK with support from Norsk kulturråd, Fritt Ord, Bergen kommune and Royal Norwegian Embassy in Beijing, and in cooperation with Northing, Hordaland kunstsenter, Ekko, Østre, Nuts And Bolts, and Entrée. Graphic design by Vera Gomes.