GARDENING ECOFEMINISMS

6–8 October 2023

The third international symposium of Kafkárna / Centre for Art and Ecology UMPRUM took place from 6–8 October 2023, in collaboration with art theorist and historian Lenka Vráblíková. Through a programme of lectures, workshops, screenings, artistic performances, and communal feasting, the symposium explored the intersections of ecology, feminism, and care. It addressed questions concerning the relationship between the oppression of women and other marginalised groups and the oppression of nature; the possibilities of collective resistance to invisible and normalised forms of violence; and what a society based on the principles of empathy, inclusivity, care, and a sense of kinship with more-than-human beings might look like.

PROGRAM

FRIDAY, 6 OCTOBER 2023

• 10:00 Lenka Kubelová – Fermenting Kafkárna I (workshop)
• 12:00 lunch
• 13:00 Sára Märc – Composting Reading Club (workshop)
• 15:30 anto_nie – Walking through the landscape, picking herbs together (workshop)
• 17:00 Marianna Szczygielska – Lavender Green: On Queer Ecofeminism (lecture)
• 18:00 Bára Lungová – The Rainbow Garden Amidst Fields and Vineyards: The Formation of Iris Garden Dedicated to Queerness (lecture)
• 19:00 dinner
• 20:00 short films with intros by the artists & herbal bar with drinks by anto_nie

SATURDAY, 7 OCTOBER 2023

• 10:00 Anna Kárníková, Lilian Pungas, Veronique Ananké Nebeská and Michaela Pixová – Alliance building for degrowth: From planetary polycrisis to feminist politics of care (panel discussion)
• 12:00 lunch
• 14:00–18:00 CAN / Concerned Artists Norway – FINDING WAYS TO THE ORACLE GARDEN (joint performance), with Liv Nome, Inger-Reidun Olsen, Marianne Skjeldal, Martin Virgili, Nina Ossavy and guest-performer Darina Alster with Posthumanist Prayer (artist response)
• 18:00 dinner
• 19:00–21:00 Hana Janečková, Nina Ossavy, Marianna Szczygielska, Lenka Vráblíková – Ecofeminism? (panel discussion) & “The Seeds of Vandana Shiva” (documentary)
• 21:00 Klitarze performance by Mc Oracle and Mikatchou (concert Darina Alster & Michaela Pixová)

SUNDAY, 8 OCTOBER 2023

• 10:00 Zuzana Veverková – Between trees and people: poor conservation efforts in the forests of southeastern Moravia (lecture)
• 11:00 Ros Gray – Arts of Planetary Rewilding: Some tangled genealogies of art, agriculture and ecological stewardship (lecture)
• 12:00 Lunch
• 13:00 Masha Meskimmon – Feminisms, art’s histories and ecological thinking, or no dig gardening for art historians (lecture)
• 14:00 Studio ALTA – On Mobilisation Project (Parent-Friendly Culture)
• 15:00 Tadeáš Žďárský – Degrowth & Masculinity (workshop)
• 17:00 Lenka Kubelová – Fermenting Kafkárna II (tasting & performative lecture & collective reflection)

Video documentation: YouTube