#2 - David M. Bell - "Rethinking Utopia"

Solarpunk Manifesto

🌁 For the second episode of Solarpunk Manifesto, we wanted to set the record straight that Solarpunk imaginaries are not Utopian. Or at least, not in the colloquial sense of the term, as perfect and ideal states, standing far away from us both in time and space.

💭 For this, we interview David M. Bell, a scholar who studies utopias, author of the book: Rethinking Utopia: Place, Power, Affect. Through his problematization of the concept, David shows us that Utopia is very much about the present, the real and the felt. It manifests in the resistance of the oppressed and cultural practices that instantiate different forms of being.

👓 David is a curator, writer and musician interested in utopianism, public art and ecology. His book, Rethinking Utopia: Place, Power, Affect, was published by Routledge in 2017. He’s also a member of the Out of the Woods collective: a collection of their essays was published as Hope Against Hope: Writings on Ecological Crisis by Common Notions in 2020. Check his website here: https://davidmbell.info

Instagram - @solarpunk.manifesto Music - @simocellmusic Visuals - @louise_mscr @tengtengho_ @via_minhu Studio - Edouard Picard from the @lpiparis

(00:00:00) Why is David interested in Utopias?

(00:01:54) Thomas More’s Utopia

(00:05:05) Utopian Elements in Culture

(00:09:28) Musical Improvisation as Utopia

(00:14:16) The Prevalence of Anti-utopianism

(00:19:43) Hope vs Optimism

(00:21:31) Educating Our Desires to Envision Better Futures

(00:25:25) The Translation of Utopian Thought into Social Movements

(00:27:29) Critical and Speculative design and Utopianism

(00:30:40) Intentional Communities and their Impact on Societal Imagination

(00:35:16) Communities and their Revolutionary Potential

(00:40:12) The Notion of No-Alternative

(00:41:27) Is Capitalism Utopian?

(00:46:44) Why is Capitalism so Resilient?

(00:51:45) Is Now a Good Time for Сhange?

(00:56:38) David’s Source of Hope