Congress Special: Utopia(s) & the Commons – Looking back to move forward?

*Re-released to include the live panel discussion from the Techne Congress*---This is the first of two special episodes of the Technecast in conjunction with the Techne Congress, held this summer at Loughborough University. The Congress theme was "Back to the Future" and how looking back can help us move forward. In this episode, we discuss utopia – or utopias – and the commons, and how these notions fit into the contemporary, post-postmodern moment. The first part of the podcast comprises a chat between Robin van den Akker and Tamara de Groot, who historicise utopia in society, education and the arts. They also discuss how utopian vision and process interrelate.In the second part, Raphael Kabo juxtaposes an analysis of commons utopias in literature (what he calls narratives of disaster communism) with our very current crisis: the covid-19 pandemic.A live panel discussion with our speakers took place at the Congress on 6 July. The third part of the podcast is a recording of that conversation.Our speakers are:* Robin van den Akker is a senior lecturer in continental philosophy and cultural studies at Eramus University College in Rotterdam. He is a co-editor of "Metamodernism: Historicity, Affect, and Depth" (Rowan & Littlefield, 2017) and, with Timotheus Vermeulen, co-founder of the research platform "Notes on Metamodernism" (www.metamodernism.com), which analyses the aesthetics and culture of the post-postmodern moment.* Tamara de Groot is involved in the development of experimental, transdisciplinary education at the Rotterdam Arts and Sciences Lab. She is currently writing her PhD dissertation at Erasmus UC Rotterdam on this collaborative design process, with a focus on spacetime relations in critical pedagogical practices. In her educational practice, she works with non-mainstream science fiction and the notion of worldmaking to encourage students to question how we construct the narratives of the future, past and present.* Raphael Kabo completed his thesis at Birkbeck College, University of London, in late 2019. In it, he explored the representation of utopian spaces as a form of opposition to capitalism in post-2008 literature and poetry. He is a co-founder of the Utopian Acts research network and the Beyond Gender Research Collective. Outside of academia, he works on coding utopian online social networks. (raphaelkabo.com)=====Royalty free music generously shared by Steve Oxen. FesliyanStudios.comThe Technecast is run by Julien Clin and Polly Hember. Please email [email protected] if you would like to be featured on the podcast, or if you have any questions.