FRAGMENTS OF UTOPIAS

From April 17, 2023 to April 18, 2023

Iméra, Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) of Aix-Marseille University, conference hall of Maison des Astronomes
A workshop organized by Prof. Olga Dror (Texas A&M University and Collegium-Institut d’études avancées de l'Université de Lyon) & Prof. Gerard Sasges (National University of Singapore and Iméra, Institut d'études avancées (IEA) d'Aix-Marseille Université / French Institutes for Advanced Study Fellow)

This interdisciplinary and bilingual (French and English) workshop will bring together scholars studying the theory and practice of utopian projects, broadly defined, from around the world. Some of these projects will be historical, while others will be unfolding in the present (and into the future). Some may ultimately be dystopic, serving as a kind of warning for would-be utopianists. By exploring different “fragments” of utopia/dystopia we hope to at once rekindle belief in the utopia’s possibility and to identify those elements (ideological, physical, institutional, artistic etc.) necessary to realize them.

Some of the questions that frame our explorations are: Why is/are utopia(s) constructed? How are utopias constructed? On what infrastructures (physical, ideological, social, visual) have people built utopias? Who are initiators and implementers of the construction? What have been the costs and results? What lessons (positive and negative) can we apply to the building of real utopias?

A joint event of Collegium-Institut d’Etudes Avancées de l'Université de Lyon & Iméra, Institut d'études avancées (IEA) d'Aix-Marseille Université