Willem de Kooning Academy, HKU University of the Arts Utrecht, Academy of Theatre and Dance Amsterdam AHK, CARADT Centre of Applied Research for Art, Design and Technology Avans, and Nieuwe Instituut organise a symposium on the current flows and obstacles in regenerative arts and design. A wide range of creative practices, realised processes, proofs-of-concept, works-in-progress, developed artworks, products and services will be presented by their creators and discussed in moderated groups of participants.

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This symposium is a response to the crucial need to foster a regenerative culture and regenererative economy, in which human and more-than-human life can flourish. The aim is to grow a collective understanding of the shared characteristics of regenerative practice and how these can play out in different scales, sites and kinds of work. What are the elephants in the room? What relations need to decay and which ones need to be brought to life in between pedagogies, creative practices and the larger systemic patterns in which they are embedded? The arts and design practices with their combined aesthetic, material, political and transformative abilities and sensibilities are making a vital and leading contribution here.

The cases presented during the symposium demonstrate a shift from an extractivist cultural and economic framework that has long dominated the planet's flows of matter and information. They point toward a regenerative culture and economy urgently seeking a pathway to a habitable world for future generations of both human and other-than-human beings.

Creators offer their work and knowledge in a spirit of generosity that aims to inspire and stimulate other practitioners. Participants reciprocally offer their critical insight, creative responses and probing inquiries to enhance the qualities of the presented work. The discussions are set up along three interwoven thematic threads, through which different questions are posed to the presented cases. The threads are 1. Creative Practices; 2. Regenerative Economies/Human-Inclusive Ecosystems and 3. Education/Didactics.

Participating creative practices include Amper Design, de Kleverbergh, Land & Hand, The Linen Project, New Store, de Onkruidenier, Oyster Heaven, Selçuk Balamir and Shivant Jhagroe.

Also participating are regenerative educational representatives Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca, Anthony Heidweiller, Emilie Gallier, Nienke Terpsma, Nina Boas, Jay-J Taukave and Juha van 't Zelfde from ATD; Anke Jongejan, Martijn van Gessel, Ruben Jacobs, and Shirley Niemans from HKU; Una Henry, Kas Houthuijs, Loes Bogers, Aymeric Mansoux, Aldje van Meer, and Phyllis Wong from WdKA; Michaela Davidová, Delfina Fantini van Ditmar, Wander Eikelboom, Bas van den Hurk, and Annemarie Piscaer from CARADT; Henrike Gootjes from ArtEZ, Klaas Kuitenbrouwer from Nieuwe Instituut and Judith van den Boom from Central Saint Martins, UAL London.

Our keynote speaker for the event is art historian Estelle Zhong Mengual and our moderator is Shailoh Phillips. More details about the program will follow shortly.

COMPOS(T)ING
COMPOS(T)ING is a thoroughly interdisciplinary collaboration, co-curated by educators and researchers from Willem de Kooning Academy, HKU University of the Arts Utrecht, Academy of Theatre and Dance Amsterdam AHK, CARADT Centre of Applied Research for Art, Design and Technology Avans, and Nieuwe Instituut.

COMPOS(T)ING: Regenerative Creative Practices