Our Society is facing tremendous re-structuring/-organizing challenges. The world is radically and rapidly changing, humanity is facing climate emergency. Crisis, contains capability for both conflict and collaboration.
This festival aimed to create space for collaborative rethinking around Degrowth.

In collaboration we reflected and talked about what Degrowth perspective entails for human relations and motivations, for social structures, and how we reimagine our everyday life, our systems and economy. Imaginaries like these thrive in collective conversations, acts, meetings, when people unite. This were the foundational idea to create a Degrowth festival in the communal Culture House Islands Brygge.

the Syndicate of Creatures invited in mid September 2023, the Degrowth communities together with the general population to a Degrowth Festival festival with engaging conversations, collaborative thinking, art and communal dining, for the purpose of in collaboration to generate new imaginary societal constructions; to build on caring structures for each other and nature.

Time and dates (find program further down):
Saturday 16.8. 10.00 AM - 6.00 PM (there after communal dinner, dance and mingle)
Sunday 17.9 10.00 am - 4.00 PM

About the festival:

There were 2 days and 2 themes:
Saturday was about ecological economy, capitalism and society structures and opened with a basic introduction on Degrowth: Degrowth, Definitions and Concepts Rethinking Beyond Economic Theory, by Michelle Appelros. Followed - more than planetary boundaries and growth critique - A conversation by UCPH Degrowth Copenhagen, Agnete Vienberg Hansen and Nikoline Borgermannan. After the free vegan lunch and comunal eating there was an online talk with Professor Alf Hornborg about time, space, appropriation and economics, followed by a workshop which embodied the ideas behind the talk and the principles of capitalism.
Sunday was about utopia and care and openedd with a basic introduction on Degrowth:

Utopian imagining toward desired futures, by Ass Prof Rebecca Rutt; followed by two short screened talks from researcher Ekaterina Chertkovskaya on Nomadic Utopianism and decolonization of the imaginary, and a screened talk by senior lecturer Vasna Ramasar on Care, pluralism and decoloniality, followed by a workshop that works with the sensoric and care thinking. (both is acceable beneath). After the talks was a workshop that embodied the previous talk. A Sensory workshop: How does it feel to live through climate collapse, and do we have to go through it alone?

In addition during the weekend there were workshops with permaculturists, creative utopian writing by Kristina Stoltz & Signe Vad, conversations about agri culture of the future by Frie Bønder Levende Land, Degrowth forum with the Green Youth Mowement, workshop about money systems by Gode Penge, about Økokrati; and Alliancen Beyond Growth introduced Nowtopia in a workshop. There were artistic features by the sound artists Family Underground and Alexander Holm, a workshop by visual artist and permaculturist Jette Hye Jin Mortensen and a screening of video works and a site-specific installation by the Syndicate of Creatures.

About the organizers:
The initiative for the festival arose as a collaboration between  the Syndicate of Creatures (visual artist/curator/activist Signe Vad and human ecologist Michelle Appelros) and Kulturhuset Islands Brygge.
Since then, the collaboration has been expanded to among others, include academic scholars from Lund and Copenhagen universities and master's students from Human Ecology at Lund university, the UCPH Degrowth Network from the University of Copenhagen and various art and activist groups.

The festival is supported by:
Kulturhuset Islands Brygge

and Amager Vest Lokaludvalg
The art program is supported by:
The Danish Art Foundation