Doing Ecology Otherwise: Conference Notes and Reflections
Wood in my wheelbarrow, ready for the ‘big burn’ of 2025, at our allotment.
On the 11th and 12th of September, 2026, I attended a two-day international conference hosted by the Centre for Art and Ecology, Goldsmiths, University of London. ‘DOING ECOLOGY OTHERWISE’:
Pathways for Art and Transdisciplinary Collaboration in Ecosocial Change
‘Doing Ecology Otherwise addresses the imaginative, sensory, material and embodied capacities of art to address urgent ecological challenges. Drawing on essential insights from Natasha Myers and Lola Olufemi on the potentiality of imagining and acting ‘otherwise’, the conference explores how art can hold space for new understandings, practices, relations and structures of feeling that may be marginalised in mainstream scientific and environmental action’
It was an intense (but not tense) day, and the conference was buzzing with artists and theorists, who are dedicated to ‘doing ecology otherwise’. There was a lot to see, do, listen to, talk and engage with. I (and most of us) filled notebooks with quotes, theory and repeats of ‘YES!’ and ‘THIS!’ against speedily written transcriptions of what the speakers were saying.
What follows is a ‘blog in progress’ as I order and reflect on my copious notes.
Day One
1. Performance by Dr Youngsook Choi, ‘Total Station, Larut’s Tears’. 2025
Other Links:
Day Two