Response(ability)

Overview & Synopsis

Response[ability] brings together contributions from graduate researchers, artists, and thinkers critically examining destruction, not merely as an end, but as a generative space for resistance, co-creation, and reimagining. Expanding on discussions from the 1st Graduate Conference on Science and Technology of the Arts, that took place at School of Arts, at Universidade Católica Portuguesa, the book explores how the concept of "response-ability" serves as an ethical and political form of resistance rooted in sensitivity, collectivity, and relational care. It addresses the impact of accelerating ecological collapse and violent political regimes on collective life, engaging the interconnection between human and nonhuman worlds, and fostering collaborative and participatory processes in arts, science, and heritage. The volume also considers the implications of speculative methodologies, embodied practices, and posthuman imaginaries, questioning how art and research might offer new ways of living, resisting, and imagining futures in the face of material loss. The book opens with an essay by Işıl Eğrikavuk, The Other Garden: Artistic Research, Ecology, and Belonging in the Academy, which explores how artistic research and storytelling can generate affective solidarities and new forms of agency. Enriching the discussion, this volume also contains contributions from Laila Algaves Nuñez, Filippo Deorsola, Nuno Da Luz, Isidora Correa Allamand, Pedro Andrade, Shahriar Khonsari, Rita Xavier, and Grécia Paola Matos.