Getting in the mood for Mull #1 – with Suzanne Dhaliwal

On the weather-beaten island of Mull, off the west coast of Scotland, two artists from the Netherlands set up camp, taking a vow to “work with the elements, not fight them”. Over time they grew a garden, a seasonal residency programme and a neighbourhood barn-in-a-barn. How to thrive and make kin with other humans and non-humans in such a remote place, year round? The team of In Search of the Pluriverse will find out by temporarily relocating to this northern edge of Europe.

Wong & Krier needed some more context before they left for the UK, Scotland, Mull. To touch base before the actual travel. They choose for a climate/activist perspective – Climate conference COP26, Glasgow is coming up in November – and they wanted to gain more insight in economic/political innovation at a local/community level in the UK. Listen to their conversations with Suzanne Dhaliwal and Jay Tompt.

Suzanne Dhaliwal is ‘climate justice campaigner’ and artist. She was part of the Art Not Oil coalition, challenging BP and Shell's corporate sponsorship in the arts, and strives for more inclusivity within the climate movement. Because: Why is Britain’s green movement still an all white affair? Brexit, the pandemic and ‘activist fatigue’ made Dhaliwal relocate to Croatia recently, from where she continues her work. A talk about making privileges productive, a megaphone as listening tool, and the power of making the absent present.

References

• www.suzannedhaliwal.org/
• Why are Britain’s Green Movements an All White Affair
  www.theguardian.com/environment/201…ll-white-affair
• MA Social Sculpture in the Arts, Oxford
www.social-sculpture.org/taught-maste…sculpture-2/
• MA Ecology Futures, AKV St Joost
  www.akvstjoostmasters.nl/programmes/e…logy-futures
• No Tar: Sands (Canada)
  www.no-tar-sands.org/
• Zapatistas set sail for Europe in a gesture of solidarity
  www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/…y-and-rebellion
• Laing Olivia. The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone, Picador: 2016
  www.olivialaing.com/
• Bus sculpture by British-Nigerian artist Sokari Douglas-Camp
  www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-34777859
• Jon Daniel (1966-2017), columnist, independent creative director and social activist
  www.designweek.co.uk/issues/16-22-o…iel-1966-2017/
• UK COP 26. COP stands for Conference of the Parties. Parties are the signatories of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) - a treaty agreed in 1994 which has 197 Parties (196 countries and the EU).
  ukcop26.org/
• Have you read the IPCC report? “The IPCC embodies a unique opportunity to provide rigorous and balanced scientific information to decision-makers because of its scientific and intergovernmental nature.”
  www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/

Further reading/listening

• Serpentine podcast 
  Back to Earth: How do we get there? (Suzanne intervenes at 12 min).
• Mothers of Invention podcast
  “Climate change is a man-made problem. With a feminist solution!”
  www.mothersofinvention.online/

For more information about In Search of the Pluriverse visit hnix.nl/pluriverse and follow @insearchofthepluriverse on Instagram.