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Vi inviterer til en folkefestival med samtale, tanker, kunst og fællesspisning, alt sammen for i fællesskab at fremdrive nye ideer og forestillinger om et samfund af regenerative strukturer og omsorgsfulde fællesskaber med hinanden og naturen. Programmet består af introduktioner til degrowth-koncepter, workshops, fællesspisning, sanselige indslag og modererede fællessamtaler.
Om Festivalen:
Vores samfund står over store omstillinger, verden står overfor radikale forandringer, vi står foran menneskehedens største krise; og i krisetilstande kan man enten slås om mulighederne, eller man kan samarbejde for at løse udfordringerne. Degrowth-bevægelsen af forskere, aktivister, kunstnere, bønder, økonomer m.fl. arbejder med ideer om opbyggelige strukturer, regenerative fællesskaber og økonomier. Ét af de store problemer med vores system er, at vi skal ud af vækstparadigmet for at kunne håndtere klima-, biodiversitets- og forureningskatastrofen. Degrowth-bevægelsen arbejder på løsninger for nedvækstsystemer. Festivalen er en måde at tænke og udvikle sammen. Vi taler og tænker over, hvad et nedvækst-perspektiv kan betyde for mennesker imellem og som strukturer; og hvordan vi kan gentænke vores dagligdag, vores økonomi og den måde vi udvikler systemer på. Disse idéer trives og udvikles i fællessamtaler og når vi handler og tænker sammen. Dette er grundlaget for idéen om en degrowth festival i Kulturhuset Islands Brygge. I løbet af to dage kan man deltage i teoretiske oplæg om økologisk økonomi og utopitænkning, workshops og samtalegrupper, hænge ud, lave mad og spise sammen, suge til sig og blive inspireret af kunstneriske indslag med særligt fokus på at aktivere det sanselige samt af performances, som udfordrer vores forståelsesmønstre.
2 dage 2 temaer:
Lørdag handler om økologisk økonomi og kapitalisme, og består bl.a. af en introduktion af Associate Professor Rebecca L. Rutt og Human Økolog Michelle Appelros, en online talk med Professor Alf Hornborg om time, space, appropriation og økonomi, efterfulgt af en workshop som kropsliggør ideerne bag denne talk og principperne i kapitalisme. Der vil være workshops, fællessamtaler og samtænkning med bl.a. UCPH, Rethinking Economics og Gode Penge.
Søndag handler om utopi og care-tænkning og består bl.a. af en introduktion af Associate Professor Rebecca L. Rutt og Human Økolog Michelle Appelros, efterfulgt to korte screenede talks fra forsker Ekaterina Chertkovskaya om Nomadic Utopianism og decolonization of the imaginary, og senior lektor Vasna Ramasar om Care, pluralism and decoloniality; fulgt op af en workshop som arbejder med det sanselige og care. Og en workshop om regenerative landbrugsutopier og fremtidige muligheder, samt fællessamtaler og workshops.
I løbet af weekenden kan man også træffe Noah, Degrowth Copenhagen, Earth Weavers, Den Grønne Ungdomsbevægelse og høre om Økokratiet. Man kan samtale med myth-busters og med forskere så som Professor Jens Friis Lund fra Klima og Omstillingsrådet, som er til rådighed for samtale og spørgsmål.
Desuden bliver der kunstneriske indslag af lydkunstnerne Family Underground og Alexander Holm, performance af Becoming Species, workshop af billedkunstner og permakulturist Skye Jin og screening af videoværker og stedsspecifik installation af the Syndicate of Creatures.
Praktisk:
Der bliver serveret vegansk frokost, og lørdag serverer vi også aftensmad, hvorefter det er tid til at danse. Alle bliver undervejs opfordret til at hjælpe med maden og andet praktisk.
Kulturhuset er indrettet, så det er nemt at få adgang til både over- og underetage, selvom man er gangbesværet, kørestolsbruger eller lignende. Elevatoren til kælderen findes lige inden for husets hovedindgang, og der er korttidsparkering for handicapbiler uden for den store sal for enden af huset. Det er muligt at låne en teleslynge ifm. møder, konferencer o.l.
Arrangementet foregår både på dansk og engelsk, og vi vil hjælpes ad med at simultanoversætte, for dem der har brug for det.
Om arrangørerne:
Initiativet til festivalen opstod som samarbejde mellem aktivist/billedkunstner/kurator Signe Vad og human økolog Michelle Appelros og Kulturhuset Islands Brygge.
Siden er samarbejdet blevet udvidet til at inddrage både forskere fra Lund og Københavns universiteter, masterstuderende fra Human Økologi på Lund, UCPH Degrowth Network fra Københavns Universitet og forskellige kunst- og aktivistgrupper.
Festivalen er støttet af:
Kulturhuset Islands Brygge og
Statens Kunstfond
Amager Vest Lokaludvalg
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Degrowth Festival - about deep roots, utopia and economy
We invite you all to a festival for the general population with engaging conversations, collaborative thinking, art and communal dining, for the purpose of in collaboration to generate new imaginary societal constructions build on caring structures for each other and nature.During two days the guests-participants can enjoy in theoretical presentations about general Degrowth principals, ecological economy and utopian thinking and engage in workshops, conversation groups, communal cooking and dining; experience artistic acts with a specific focus on activating the sensorics and to expand our normative thought patterns.
About the festival:
Our Society is facing tremendous re-structuring/-organizing challenges. The world is radically and rapidly changing, humanity is facing climate emergency. Crisis, contains capability for both conflict and collaboration.
This festival aims to create space for collaborative rethinking around Degrowth. In fellowship we can reflect and talk about what Degrowth perspective entails for human relations and motivations, for social structures, and how we can reimagine our everyday life, our systems and economy. Imaginaries like these thrive in collective conversations, acts, meetings. When people unite. This is the foundational idea to create a Degrowth festival in the communal Culture House Islands Brygge.
2 days 2 themes:
Saturday is about finances and consists of, among other things, an online talk with Professor Alf Hornborg about time, space, appropriation and economics, followed by a workshop which embodies the ideas behind this talk and the principles of capitalism.
Sunday is about utopia and care and is presented by two short screened talks from researcher Ekaterina Chertkovskaya on Nomadic Utopianism and decolonization of the imaginary, and senior lecturer Vasna Ramasar on Care, pluralism and decoloniality, followed by a workshop that works with the sensoric and care thinking.
In addition, there will be artistic features by the sound artists Family Underground and Alexander Holm, a workshop by visual artist and permaculturist Jette Hye Jin Mortensen and a screening of video works and a site-specific installation by the Syndicate of Creatures.
Practical:
A vegan lunch is served, and on Saturday we also serve dinner, after which it's time to dance. Everyone is encouraged along the way to help with the food and other practical things.
The cultural center is designed so that it is easy to gain access to both the upper and lower floors, even if you have difficulty walking, use a wheelchair or the like.
The event takes place in both Danish and English, and we will help with simultaneous translation for those who need it.
About the organizers:
The initiative for the festival arose as a collaboration between activist/visual artist/curator Signe Vad and human ecologist Michelle Appelros and Kulturhuset Islands Brygge.
Since then, the collaboration has been expanded to among others, include academic scholars from Lund and Copenhagen universities and master's students from Human Ecology at Lund university, the UCPH Degrowth Network from the University of Copenhagen and various art and activist groups.
The festival is supported by:
Kulturhuset Islands Brygge and
The Danish Art Foundation
Amager Vest Lokaludvalg
DEGROWTH FESTIVAL 2023
16-17 september 2023
Kulturhuset Islands Brygge
Manifest
DEGROWTH FESTIVAL 2024
Our society faces significant challenges in transitioning to a regenerative system. The Degrowth movement works on developing ideas for how we can live with each other and nature in a way that does not continue the destruction and exploitation but rather regenerate it – together.
The Degrowth Festival will address radical solutions to our radical problems by presenting new ways of thinking about how we organize ourselves and build sprouting communities for transformation. Throughout the weekend, everyone will have the opportunity to engage in conversations on how to solve the challenges we face, be inspired, and find hope in the possibilities of community-driven rethinking.
Degrowth Festival 2024 is about community, solidarity, and sprouting futures. Themes focusing on strategies for hope will be presented through workshops and panels. Presentations and workshops will revolve around solidarity and visionary restructuring, inclusive workshops, communal dining, and sensory artistic expressions that stimulate interconnectedness and challenge our habitual thinking. In addition, there will be an
activist & justice struggles panel on Saturday evening.
PROGRAM SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21
Talks Saturday 10:00-14:00 (in English):
Basic introduction to Degrowth by Human Ecologist Michelle Appelros
Conversation: Degrowth and Beyond: Movement Building, Alliances and Solidarity with researchers and activists Laura Horn (Associate Professor, Department of Social Sciences and Business, RUC) & Vasna Ramasar (Senior Lecturer, Lund University).
Seminar: Climate Justice and System Change: From Resistance to Transformation with Salvatore Paolo De Rosa (activist and researcher in political ecology, University of Copenhagen).
Art performances Saturday:
SHADOW GLEANERS At a restorative space near the harbour an impatient structure is pulled apart. By sensing the
thickness of the ground as well as the ticklish touch of the wind, a gatherers pathway unfolds.
Through body and sound dancer/choreographer Stine Frandsen and musician/composer Felia
Gram-Hanssen explore sensuous and imaginary relations with our everyday surroundings.
YANA – The title YANA is short for "You are not alone", which is what we in the climate movement shout as support when an activist is being arrested. We help each other remember that we are not alone with our feelings and desires for how the future should look – we are many. But what does the future we fight for look like? The environment of YANA is created by tripods. Here, performer and audience meet to imagine how the world, locally and globally, will look in the future. As the performer moves with the environment, she tells her own stories from the future, which develop as she receives new impulses from the audience in the form of sentences, questions, and suggestions. Artistic leder / Performer: Tanya Montan Rydell
Developed in collaboration with: Aleksandra Lewon, Esther Wrobel og Mari Vincentz
Co-produceret by: Nexus Dance og Tårnby Park Studio.
DECOMPOSE
A delegate from the Mushroom Queendom will visit us with an invitation: Let us decompose your human egos. Let us break you down and eat you up. Become mycelium, become mushroom. Become decomposers yourselves. Decompose your systems.
Artist Ida Dalsgaard Nicolaisen will perform as Mushroom Queendom delegate and invite you down into the fungal world through a performative guided meditation.
Workshop program Saturday 14:30-16:45 (in Danish and English):
Material workshops with Mycelium Building Workshop by Hypha Co-La
ZOMBIES - CONNECTING PEOPLE – with the Social Choreography Lab Helsinki.
The welfare state and postgrowth: allies or antinomies ? – with Louison Louison Cahen-Fourot, Associate Professor of Economics, RUC.
Nature poetry, human poetry? Writing workshop with author Ursula Andkjær Olsen.
Deep listening – with Johannes Meusburger from Degrowth CPH.
A Ritual for the Ecological Crisis – with Maya Johansen & Naja Heuch.
A Degrowth vision for Copenhagen 2050 – with Linda Luciani from Degrowth CPH.
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PROGRAM SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
Talks Sunday from 10:00-13:50 (in English and Danish):
Conversation on Degrowth strategies and activism with researcher Ekatarina Chertkovskaya (Project coordinator, Researcher, Environmental and Energy Systems Studies, Lund University) and Fernando Racimo (member of Scientist Rebellion and Academics for Palestine).
"What comes after the consumer society?" Presentation and conversation with Jens Friis Lund (Professor in Political Ecology at the University of Copenhagen and co-founder of the Climate and Transition Council).
Art performances Sunday:
In the Shadows of Possibilities – claus haxholm will perform a physical and vocal performance that, through the fringes of our language or surplus word sounds, creates potential spaces where we can collectively experience possibilities for how we talk about the world we wish to move toward.
Workshop program Sunday 14:00-16:00 (in Danish and English):
Nourishment and Enjoyment. Permaculture Workshop – with Artist Karin Lorentzen.
(Re)writing the Future - an Investigation of Speculative Degrowth Realities – With Tone, Esther, Tessira, and Robin from Degrowth CPH.
Discussion Menu for Food Sovereignty – with Forum for Food Sovereignty.
False Solutions to the Climate Crisis, Understanding Carbon Removal – w. Linda Luciani, Degrowth CPH and Jens Friis Lund, professor, UCPH.
Body Mapping Emotions in Degrowth Activism – with Mélanie Baume, Degrowth CPH.
Gode Penge holds a housing auction – with Mathias Kærn Berggreen from Gode Penge.
Installations and artworks:
Presentations of material from Earthweavers, mycelium installations by Hypha Co-La, fabric and latex installations by The Syndicate of Creatures in collaboration with Mélanie Baume.
The festival is initiated by Signe Vad and Michelle Appelros from the Syndicate of Creatures and the Culture House Islands Brygge. The festival has been made possible through collaboration with various organizations and groups such as Global Aktion, Degrowth CPH.
Supported by the Danish Arts Foundation, Amager Vest Lokal Udvalg, Fællespuljen, LB Foreningen, and the International Degrowth Network.
For the third consecutive year, Degrowth Festival returns in September, inviting artists, scholars, activists, and citizens to co-create a space for reimagining societies built on regenerative structures and caring communities. The festival explores degrowth as a pluralistic movement, envisioning alternatives to extractivist economic models and fostering dialogues on how to reshape daily life, economies, and global solidarity.
In 2025, the festival expands its focus on democracy, commons and strategies of co-existence. Previous editions demonstrated how bringing together diverse backgrounds—academics, farmers, artists, and local citizens—can generate new visions and new conversations. Therefore we will explore and experiment with different methods of sensing, communicating and listening as well as assembly methods.
By engaging artists, academics, activists, and the public in dialogue and collaborative practices, we encourage a shift in attitude towards Degrowth principles and regenerative futures. We aim to foster awareness, critical thinking, and ways of imagining societal transformation building on pluralistic strategies and structures of care.
Central to the festival is that we integrate food and art interventions as levelled with other theory and practice. Art and performances can disrupt linear thinking, awaken numb senses to expand our imaginaries. Preparing and sharing meals heals and connects us in and structure the festival’s rhythm in a caring way.
