Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures: resonances and tensions at the intersection with systems science

Abstract

Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures (GTDF) is an arts/research collective that develops public pedagogies and artistic interventions at the interface of two sets of questions: 1) questions related to historical, systemic, and ongoing social and ecological violence, and 2) questions related to the unsustainability of modern-colonial systems and ways of being. The artistic and educational interventions aim to expand our collective capacity and build stamina to navigate volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity and to hold space for difficult conversations about wicked social and global challenges without participants feeling immobilized or demanding immediate quick fixes. This presentation will outline the work of the collective in relation to systems science and present a synthesis of points of resonance and dissonance.