Imagination as a Site of Struggle
Special issue of Brand-New-Life magazine
Inspired by Ruha Benjamin’s reflections on imagination and the question about what re-tooling the future, or the development of future oriented practices, demands, this special issue approaches writing as a site of struggle against attempts at formalizing imagination through what academia considers legitimate forms of research and writing. The issue explores forms of critical speculation that help us take the personal seriously and connect it to forms of public engagement. Building on a panel organized by the Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW’s Make/Sense PhD program within the framework of MESH Festival (2024), this issue assembles contributions by early career researchers in the field of art and design. In a conversation, the editors Helen V. Pritchard, Ines Kleesattel, Johannes Bruder, Lucie Kolb, and Shaka McGlotten reflect on ways of transgressing academic writing.
Find the first contributions here, with more coming out throughout spring 2025:
https://brand-new-life.org/b-n-l/focus/imagination-as-a-site-of-struggle
Brand-New-Life is a magazine for art criticism. The magazine offers polyphonic perspectives on contemporary art and its political and social contexts. The editors’ goal is to encourage pointed and analytical comments about art. In Brand-New-Life artistic, journalistic and academic approaches complement each other and create a critical voice for Switzerland that takes up international debates.