debate

Social, ecological and economic crises force us to think about a radically different way of living. "The world is not about to end; we are already living with a different world," writes philosopher Bayo Akomolafe, speaker at the eighth edition of Ecopolis where artists, thinkers and doers break open our frames. This year, Ecopolis brings stories that depict an inclusive and sustainable future for this new world.

Last year Passa Porta and Kaaitheater organised an evening of discussions on 'multilingualism' with writer Sulaiman Addonia and theatre maker Ahilan Ratnamohan. For the remainder of this series, we will let the audience set the agenda. The initial question reads: What are the hot topics and opportunities around multilingualism that we should pay attention to right now? The evening will be moderated by an experienced facilitator of the Open Space conversation format, a proven method of giving all attendees the right to speak.

Kitchen Broadcast is an online radio broadcast curated by Joachim Ben Yakoub and Reem Shilleh. In the presence of Lara Khaldi en Rolando Vazquez this episode proposes to discuss Rolando’s new book ‘Vistas of Modernity. Decolonial Aesthesis and the End of the Contemporary.’ and Lara her recent curatorial work and reflections.

During this evening we will focus on tendrilesque writing. What happens to human speech if vines enter our flesh, roots crawl through our veins, and we turn into hybrid plant monsters? What happens if we let plants speak through us and what kind of new language, new bits of knowledge and new worlds can emerge from there? We will explore these topics while focusing on the status of women, and their relation to plants, as presented in works of fiction in which the distinction between women and plants becomes blurry.

Since the financial crisis in 2008, housing is no longer a basic right, but an attractive investment or financial product used by (big) capital as a safe haven. This is a familiar scenario, also in Brussels. Who does the city really belong to? In this programme, together with Leilani Farha, Fredrik Gertten and Alice Romainville, we take a deeper look at the root causes of these urban problems and processes of change.