Urgent Matters III: soil, poetry and care, brings together creative, philosophical, ethical, poetic and political concerns in relation to soil. We are delighted to invite Maria Puig de la Bellacasa and Dimitris Papadopoulos to share their work on these themes, in conversation with the Soil Ecologies poetry group, and a selection of performers. This event will be chaired by Shumaisa Khan and Katherine Mcmahon.

This is the third in a series of talks and workshops addressing urgent material, social and environmental challenges through making and thinking together.

Performers

Soil Ecologies poetry group,

This is a group of poets who participated in our Soil Ecologies workshop in August led by Olly Edmonds and Katherine Mcmahon. Participants from this workshop will share some of the writings that emerged as a result of their engagement with the different soils at Bethnal Green Nature Reserve.

Katherine McMahon, Performance Poet

Katherine is interested in using spoken word to build a more just, kinder world through understanding, community and solidarity. She works in schools, community settings, and mental health contexts, and describes her poetry as feminist, queer, and anti-capitalist. Katherine works to create spaces which are as safe and accessible as possible for people who are marginalised.

Ama Josephine Budge, Writer, curator, artist

Ama Josephine Budge is a Speculative Writer, Artist, Curator and Pleasure Activist whose work navigates intimate explorations of race, art, ecology and feminism, working to activate movements that catalyse human rights, environmental revolutions and queered identities.

Helena Hunter, Artist

Helena is an artist working across text, performance, film and sculptural assemblage. She works with methods of fictioning and performativity as critical, creative and speculative tools. Her practice seeks to reimagine cultural narratives in relation to the entangled worlds of the human and nonhuman, and explores how such relations are co-constructed and performed.

If you would like to share any soil/ compost related writings at this event please email hari@nomad.org.uk, or arrive early to register for open mic!

Speakers

Maria Puig de la Bellacasa, Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies, University of Warwick

Maria's work is grounded in science and technology studies, feminist theory and the environmental humanities. She is interested in how questions of ethics, politics and justice affect and are affected by scientific practices. Her interests span alternative spaces of knowing and doing - currently focused on everyday forms of ecological care, permaculture movements and materialist spiritualities.

Maria's current research is entitled 'The Reanimation of Soils. Transforming Human-Soil Affections Through Science, Culture and Community', which explores contemporary changes in human-soil relations. Her other current projects examine nutrient cycles, soil contamination and bioremediation. Through this research, Maria hopes to contribute to the nurturing of everyday ecological awareness and re-connection to soils.

Dimitris Papadopoulos, School of Sociology and Public Policy, University of Nottingham

Dimitris' work spans a broad range of topics from social movements, to precarious labour, community technoscience, chemopolitics, and ecological and social justice. His current research looks at science, technology, social transformation and the dynamics of innovation and invention.

Currently, Dimitris is involved in a collaborative research project on epigenetic innovation, working with a transdisciplinary team of researchers on how different aspects of the environment are linked to biomolecular changes that regulate the genome and subsequently the constitution of our psychobiological lives.

Venue and booking details

If you would like a tour of Bethnal Green Nature Reserve (BGNR) before the talk, please arrive at 14:30 and head to the amphitheatre.

This event will be held outside at BGNR, so do bring comfortable clothing for being outdoors. If you have any access requirements which you would like us to accommodate please write to hari@nomad.org.uk

Tickets are available by donation, however there are also some free places available which you can book by writing to hari@nomad.org.uk

---------------------------

This event is organised by Compost Mentis, as part of our season of composting at BGNR, with support from the Goldsmiths Innovation Award

Image by 'In Your Hands' summer school, standpoint studios