We are delighted to announce the inaugural Critical Poetics Summer School, which will take place online from Friday 25th June to Saturday 3rd July, 2021.
Confirmed speakers/instructors: Maggie Nelson, Bhanu Kapil and Laura Salisbury (with more confirmations to follow).
Supported by Nottingham Contemporary, the 2021 Critical Poetics Summer School will feature a unique range of activities, from one-to-one tutorials, to workshops and public events, tailored for interdisciplinary early-career scholars, writers, artists and students. Participants will benefit from access to internationally renowned practitioners and thinkers and will be provided with the time and resources to develop their own critical-creative practice as well as the opportunity to participate in a form of social action.
The title of our inaugural summer school is ‘Critical Poetics: Care of…’. The COVID-19 pandemic, along with recent political, social and environmental upheavals, has fundamentally changed the way we perceive care. As a result, the double-edged meaning of the term can be felt more sharply than ever; encapsulating our attention and concern for someone or something at the same time as it defines our troubles, pains and sorrows, ‘care’ can even in its Latin equivalent (cura) refer to a work of writing. Meanwhile, the phrase ‘care of’, which in the context of correspondence means to charge with protection or preservation, takes on extra significance in these unprecedented times.
How has the pandemic changed the nature of care, and what does care now mean in light of the social injustices and inequalities foregrounded by Black Lives Matter? What does it mean to be charged with the care of animal, vegetal and mineral lifeforms during the sixth mass extinction and the care of the environment in the ongoing climate crisis? Furthermore, how have these issues changed care and attention with regard to critical and creative practices? Over the course of our inaugural programme, we will explore these issues for writers, artists, thinkers and critics. In the process, we will interrogate the degree to which various forms of making – be it writing, art, criticism, or a combination of these – can help us attend to manifold, interconnected and collective care responsibilities.
Further announcements, including a call for expressions of interest, will be posted in the coming month. In the meantime, save the dates!
