At the heart of Alterotopia’s becoming lies a celebratory practice of thinking-with and making-with, or simply put creative encountering. The ‘with’ in these creative encounters can refer to many things. From encounters between practices such as the one that has given rise to Alterotopia as a place, to encounters with earthly places of change, to a generative thinking-with the concepts and artworks of others in order to be propelled by them. Creative encounters may or may not involve actual collaboration or physical presence, but any which shape or form they take they are inherently relational and generative: those who engage in them are bound to be affected and changed. 

To give a sense of the type of entangled, earthly and artistic encounters we hope to nurture and conceptualise further in Alterotopia, we will share In resonating we share inspiring examples of each of the following entities we are and will be thinking and making-with in Alterotopia in resonating:

1) places of change, soils, landscapes and temporalities that invite us to move away from human centred perspectives and deepen our conceptualisation of agency, transformative power, change and belonging. 

2) creative practices & initiatives that inspire and nurture radically different ways of relating to the earth and each other. 

3)  artists, poets and scholars  whose words, art and music resonate with what is being explored and brought into being in Alterotopia.

4) happenings & events which revolve around alterotopian creative encounters

The creative encounters we nurture and celebrate in Alterotopia are our way of attending to the seeds for so many worlds and futures otherwise. Seeds which are also and already here, but might otherwise remain unseen, repressed or marginalised.

For a longer read on the ideas behind our budding practice of Alterotopian encountering see Marijke’s figuring Alterotopian Creative Encountering.