Art, Degrowth and Performance Lectures: A Recap from the 8th International Degrowth Conference
On the 27th of August 2021, our team member Julian Willming participated in the 8th International Degrowth Conference in The Hague, Netherlands. He did so by holding the Performance Lecture “Beuys, Morris and the Artistic Turn in Degrowth Roots”. This innovative approach brought together art and science in order to present our research insights about the links between the work of Joseph Beuys and William Morris with international degrowth movements, which advocate for the reduction in GDP to create a healthy, just and ecologically sustainable living space on earth.
The performance integrated the results of a nine-month research process. Everything started from the question of whether these two avant-garde artists had picked up themes and principles of degrowth prior to their scientific and activist establishment. Artists are often pioneering particular discourses and criticisms: for instance, guerilla theatre had a significant impact on the fall of the Soviet Union (Kenney, 2002), and painter Jacques Louis-David predicted the French Revolution via his paintings (Reichardt & Kohle, 2008). In CLAMOR, we believe that the arts can pioneer particular discourses and break free from societal norms. Joseph Beuys and William Morris were both known for their radical politics among their contemporaries. This evidence triggered our curiosity: Would it be possible to trace degrowth principles in the work of these influential creators?
Beuys, Morris and the Artistic Turn in Degrowth Roots by Julian Willming. 8th International Degrowth Conference, August 2021. Picture by Harm Coordes
In alignment with the spirit of the topic we were analyzing, the dissemination of this work had to be innovative, both in artistic and academic terms. Thus, the performance included academic elements like a spoken essay and a presentation with visual projections. Research-specific field recordings, story-telling objects, and performative energies representing the works by Beuys and Morris underpinned that presentation. Our conclusion is that Beuys and Morris should indeed be considered degrowth advocates and pioneers. They never called themselves degrowth artists explicitly, although their actions match central degrowth principles like frugality, autonomy and conviviality. The degrowth movements as radical politics can thus benefit from more artistic inputs.
References
Reichardt, R., & Kohle, H. 2008. Visualizing the Revolution: politics and the pictorial arts in late eighteenth-century France. Reaktion Books.
Kenney, P. 2002. Carnival of Revolution- Central Europe 1989. Princeton University Press.
Julian Willming´s work engages, combines and questions artistic and ecological boundaries. His previous works include the exhibition “Sustainability Roots” with Extinction Rebellion Hungary and the Collaborative Sound Art Project “Listening as Doorways to Futures” at the CEU Center for Experimental Humanities.