What Does It Mean “To Decolonize”?

The struggle of decolonization once primarily located outside of Europe, today has moved within its borders. What the media continue to call “refugee crisis,” “environmental crisis,” “economic crisis” are, in reality, the incapacity of Europe to come to terms to the condition of 500 years of colonialism.

This public event is divided in three parts: a public seminar that introduces decolonial options and their relevance in the European context, followed by a public lecture by the renown philosopher Walter D. Mignolo who has been in last 40 years researching and teaching the historical foundation of the modern/colonial world system and imaginary and to conclude with an open discussion on decolonial artistic practices by using as a starting point, Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti´s latest book Permanent Temporariness, a collection of research projects developed in over a decade of work within the artistic collective DAAR (Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency).

Part I: seminar. 9am–12pm, House 28, Royal Institute of Art
Introductory notes to decolonial thinking and the decolonial option
Madina Tlostanova, Walter Mignolo, Stefan Jonsson

Part II: public lecture. 2–4pm, Muralen, Royal Institute of Art
Decoloniality, Epistemology and the “Idea” of Europe
Walter Mignolo

Part III: book launch. 6–10pm, ArkDes library
Permanent Temporariness
Sandi Hilal, Alessandro Petti, Carlos Mínguez Carrasco, Sara Arrhenius, Rahel Shawl, Marie-Louise Richards, Madina Tlostanova, Walter Mignolo

This public event is part of the end of the year discoursive exhibition of the Decolonizing Architecture Advanced Course at the Royal Insitute of Art in Stockholm. The postmaster course  is part of a five-year (2017–22) sequence of courses that together form a platform for higher education and research on the topic of Decolonizing Architecture at the Royal Institute of Art. The course uses the term decolonization as a critical position and conceptual frame for an architectural practice engaged in social and political struggles. The courses are led by Alessandro Petti, professor in Architecture and Social Justice in collaboration with Marie-Louise Richards, lecturer in Architecture and enriched by the contribution of invited guests.

Apply for next year’s course here. Application deadline May 8.