Denise Araouzou

I will be at the Saari Residence during the coldest winter months and I look forward to letting my environment inform a cycle of resolution, reflection and renewal. I intend to revisit what I have learnt thus far during my research project, ‘Learning on a Damaged Planet’, by synthesising a preliminary framework of agential realism for practising transdisciplinary, integrative, posthumanist, decolonial and radical environmental pedagogies. This framework forms an integral part of my thesis, which I will conclude during my residency. This means I will be embarking on an intensive period of writing. In addition to writing, I would like to take the opportunity to explore ways of articulating and communicating the (re)search alongside logocentric modalities with the aim of acknowledging the more-than-human agents entangled throughout my research process as co-conspirators and agents.

The residency will also allow dedicated time for conversations with local creatives, mentors, organisations and initiatives, as well as for preparing the launch of the online platform for this research­ ­– learning in becoming – designed by Stockholm-based Italian graphic designer Benedetta Crippa. Notions of symbiosis, borders, glitches, and getting lost will accompany me through this time.

Bio

Following an MA in History of Art at the University of Glasgow (2011–2015), I decided to pursue an MA in Education for Sustainable Development at the University of Gothenburg (2021–2023) and a post-master at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm, titled Collective Practices II: Symbiotic Organisations (2021–2022). At the intersection of collective artistic practices and radical environmental pedagogies, I am developing a body of research titled ‘Learning on a damaged planet’, supported by Kone Foundation. This practice-based research enquires into the ethical, epistemological and material conditions of initiating, cultivating and promoting an ecopedagogical approach within artistic and curatorial practices and their institutional frameworks. This project unfolds in Cyprus, Italy, Sweden and Finland while being inspired by several collective efforts elsewhere.