Planetary Thinking
Simon Blackmore, Andy Broadey, Paul Dolan, Helen Knowles, Alis Oldfield and EL Putnam.
Bankley Art Gallery and Studios, Bankley House, Bankley St, Manchester M19 3PP
Friday 1st November – Saturday 23rd November, 2024.
The forthcoming exhibition, Planetary Thinking comprises a series of events that respond to recent writings by philosopher Yuk Hui. The exhibition places performances, artworks, readings, public talks and workshops into dialogue with different modes of technodiversity. The Cosmotechnics group also invites you to join them in reading sections of Yuk Hui’s Post Europe and Machine and Sovereignty: for a Planetary Thinking together for the first time.
Since 2020, the Cosmotechnics reading group (Simon Blackmore, Andy Broadey, Paul Dolan, Helen Knowles, Alis Oldfield and EL Putnam) have addressed the importance of Yuk Hui’s thinking to art practice through discussions, talks and exhibitions.
Yuk Hui’s latest books grapple with concepts of planetary thinking, locality and sovereignty. Yuk Hui’s Cosmotechnics provides a way of challenging the assumption that technology is universal and provokes us to reconsider the relationship between technology, environment and culture. How could local conditions and beliefs play into the technology we make and use? How could a diversification of technologies dislodge the monopoly of big tech and their associated sociotechnical imaginaries?
Planetary Thinking addresses a widespread condition of disjointedness after the project of globalization by producing hybrid cosmologies in times of ecological, economic, and political uncertainty. Questioning big tech companies wielding power greater than nation states, Paul Dolan, Alis Oldfield and EL Putnam challenge the impact of technological borders, boundaries and sovereignties. Simon Blackmore, Andy Broadey and Helen Knowles challenge hegemonic western systems of music, health and culture.
Schedule
Friday 1st November – 6-9pm, at Bankley. EL Putnam Imbue with Spirit performance at Bankley Art Gallery. book here
Wednesday 6th November 7-8.30pm - online via Zoom Reading group one, online. Post Europe. Eventbrite Link here. Limited to 10 places. book here
Saturday 9th Nov, 1pm - online talk via zoom and at Bankley. Eventbrite link here. Helen Knowles presents her project ‘More than Human Healthcare’ focussing on interactive 360 video installation Trust the Medicine, alongside digital studio Metaobjects, Ashley Wong, Andrew Crowe and psychedelic psychotherapist Raquel Scheid. book here
Friday 15th November, 7-8.30pm - online via Zoom. Paul Dolan Extraterritorial – Online discussion about a new photographic series exploring the influx of corporate interests in the space industries, with Lauren Napier, expert in space law and Pete Howson, political ecologist and research collaborator. book here
Wednesday 20th November, 7-8.30pm – online via Zoom Reading group two. First chapter of Machine and Sovereignty: for a Planetary Thinking. Eventbrite link here. Limited to 10 places. book here
Friday 22nd November, 6-9pm - at Bankley Closing night /exhibition culminating event / finissage.
Saturday 23rd Nov, 3pm - at Bankley. Simon Blackmore Family friendly workshop. L’UPIC Ludique is a handmade portable electronic musical instrument that transforms drawings on paper into electronic sounds. book here
Saturday 23rd Nov, 1pm - at Bankley. Andy Broadey, group discussion of Edwin Arnold’s The Light of Asia, as a historic example of cosmotechnics. book here
Past Projects
Manchester Contemporary 2023
Hanover Projects 2021
website here