Capacities for the Future
A 3-month 'Capacities for the Future' program: Sept-Dec 2019 offered by the UOT LAB and SOCIAL SCULPTURE ACADEMY hubs - in Holland and Germany.
SEPTEMBER
1 -2 September LEIDEN Hogeschool Leiden: Introduction to Social Sculpture, as part of an elective for students training to be teachers.
5-8 September DRESDEN: Celebrating 100 YEARS of WALDORF EDUCATION.
Shelley Sacks facilitated 6 x Landing Strip for Souls workshops [5-7 Sept]; gave two lecture/workshops - one for 65 teachers with reference to Schiller, Steiner and Beuys's view on social sculpture and education; and a public lecture entitled “Not auf der Erde: Der Mensch als Losung” [7 Sept]. On Sunday 8 Sept there were 2 final workshops exploring new initiatives arising from all the workshops and lecture-events.
10 September KASSEL: FRAMETALKS 2020 group met to develop an outreach strategy in preparation for August 2020. Follow up meetings have been held with pupils representatives from schools and from Fridays for Future. If you participated in FRAMETALKS in 2018 and are interested to find out more about FRAMETALKS 2020, or even join the planning group, please email: info@universityofthetrees.org and ssacks@brookes.ac.uk
11 - 13 September KASSEL: a 3-day intensive university-wide seminar designed and led by Shelley Sacks and hosted by Dr Gudrun Spahn-Krotzski Kassel-University, Sustainability Unit entitled Nachhalitgkeit Leben und Erleben. This seminar included a focus on the relationship between imagination and transformation and how social sculpture theory and connective practice can develop 'capacities for the future'. It also included the UOT LAB's Journaling for Change methodology and an 'What is Information?' practice-based enquiry. 30 BA and MA students from economics, sustainability research, theology, art and education participated.
19 – 22 September KASSEL. Earth Forum - Introduction and Facilitator Training Program In German. This program is now full with a waiting list. If you are interested please let us know, because we are trying to fix dates for the next ones, in English, Dutch and German. Email: info@universityofthetrees.org
OCTOBER
5 - 6 October: BERLIN.
2-day 'Enquiry Lab' of the SOCIAL SCULPTURE ACADEMY - Berlin hub. Exploring 'Capacities for the Future' with a focus on the image of the human being and the idea of life that lies behind all the proposals. The second session of an ongoing process. ALL WELCOME. Venue -Berlin Mitte.
If you weren't at the first meeting and are interested in joining the enquiry process please email both: info@universityofthetrees.org and ssacks@brookes.ac.uk
NOVEMBER 8-9 November BOCHUM / FAKT21 „Das Unsichtbare zwischen uns - Earth Forum als Verbindungspraxis der geistigen Welt“ mit Shelley Sacks. Contact Simon Stott to book a place.
14 November BONN-ALFTER / ALANUS University Shelley Sacks is one of the 4 key speakers at the Jahrestagung des Instituts für Sozialorganik: „Gesellschaft neu denken – Auf dem Weg in die Sinngemeinschaft“ at the Alanus Hochschule für Kunst und Gesellschaft in Alfter bei Bonn. Her talk is entitled: "Zukunftsfähigkeiten – Dreigliederung in einem holistischen Ansatz erleben".
16 November VIENNA “The Resurrection of the World in Us: Despair Work, Enlivenment and Social Aesthetics toward an Eco-Social Future”. Presentation by Shelley Sacks for "Vitality and Wellbeing – a Social Aesthetics Advanced Studies Conference", Sigmund-Freud-University, Vienna, Saturday November 16, 2019. Dr. Helena Fox and Prof. Martin Poltram, both linked to the Social Sculpture Research Unit, will also give presentations.
........................................
27–30 November HOLLAND: The Social Sculpture Academy – Holland hub will run the first sessions of the new Social Sculpture-Connective Practice pilot program:
"WORKING TOWARDS A LIVING FUTURE FOR ALL".
The program is a creative enquiry into freedom, love and responsibility through ‘social sculpture and connective practice’. It understands the multiple crises all life forms are facing as ‘an opportunity for consciousness’, and explores the capacities we need, individually and together, to work towards shaping an eco-social future. Designed and led by Shelley Sacks with Clarine Campagne [Author: Theory U in groups]. Language English and Dutch. Contact ssacks@brookes.ac.uk
WHAT IT OFFERS: This experiential enquiry into capacities for the future, offers an in-depth introduction to the field of social sculpture-connective practice that nourishes existing initiatives or inspires you to develop new ones. It also enables a lived experience of the connection between inner and outer action; an exploration of life forces in the social field, and an understanding of ‘the connected self’ that is essential for new social forms of freedom, love and responsibility to develop and to be strengthened. It enables participants to experience in what sense 'social sculpture and connective practice' is not simply ‘art’ with a social focus. So you don’t need art skills of a traditional kind to participate. Social Sculpture is art in the widened sense that Joseph Beuys understood it: “Every Human Being is an Artist” working with “the invisible materials of speech, discussion and thought” to shape a future based on the interconnectedness of all life forms.
FORMAT AND TIMEFRAME:
The program consists of 4 parts, each 3-days in duration, and runs between November 2019 and May 2020. The specific dates are: Nov 28-30, Feb 13-15, March 19-21, May 14-16. Please contact Clarine Campagne for further details and to find out if there are still places.
........................................
DECEMBER
17 December 2019 AMSTERDAM: Sandberg Institute. Shelley Sacks will speak about her work and share practices with the students of ‘The Commoners Society’ Masters program.
