Usufructuaries of earth

Open call for the Usufructuaries of earth reading groups: a federated structure of three reading groups in Rotterdam, Berlin and Amman.

Usufructuaries of earth
A project in three chapters convened by BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht with artist Marwa Arsanios
Chapter two, reading groups and online publication Prospections

OPEN CALL

We are thrilled to share the schedule for the Usufructuaries of earth reading groups: a federated structure of three reading groups taking place offline—in real space and time—in Rotterdam (28 April 2024), Berlin (4 and 5 May 2024), and Amman (dates in May 2024 to be confirmed). Accompanying the reading groups is an online reading resource published through a “Usufructuaries of earth” focus on Prospections, BAK’s online publishing forum.

Each reading group collectively engages with selected reading matter on or from situated and discursive struggles that challenge the violence of economic and colonial property regimes, such as Ruth Wilson Gilmore’s Abolition Geography (2022) and Verónica Gago and Lucí Cavallero’s A Feminist Reading of Debt (2021). The reading groups are held in the lead-up to the Usufructuaries of earth convention, which takes place on 24 and 25 May 2024 at BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, and which is organized to unpack and to learn together histories and propositions of usufruct as ethical and shared userships, or “usufructuaries of earth.”

Limited space is available for the Berlin and Rotterdam reading groups. The reading group in Amman involves invited participants. If you are interested and able to attend either the Rotterdam or Berlin reading groups in person, please send an email—by 19 April 2024—with a short motivation in writing of no more than 200 words to opencall@bakonline.org. Please note that the Berlin reading group spans over two days, on 4 to 5 May 2024, and takes place on a different location each day. Reading groups take place in English.

Rotterdam: read more.
Berlin: read more.
Amman: read more.