We’ve decided after much discussion to postpone Borrowed Time until November 2021.
It’s becoming clearer every day that the measures required to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 cannot be fully set aside for many months to come, and that we may well emerge from this pandemic into a changed world, with new sets of questions and new structures and behaviours. For all that, our theme feels more relevant, not less. The radical uncertainty and vulnerability which our communities currently face only deepens our resolve to see this gathering of lives and ideas somehow come to pass. We’re well aware that the language of our Call for Proposals has been superseded by the speed and the scale of the changes we currently find ourselves living through, but the core challenges that we sought to focus on in that text have of course gone nowhere.
Although we’ve now made a decision on timing, we still can’t honestly say what form the event will take; several new ideas are taking shape thanks to friends’ suggestions, and we’re taking all such into account as we use the coming months to reconsider Borrowed Time’s delivery, location and substance. Do get in touch if you’d like contribute to that process – as previously said, such a re-imagining is not something we mean to do alone.
We’ll open up this discussion the many hundreds of you who have expressed an interest in this event and in the topic of death, dying and loss, so please do visit the website (borrowed-time.info) from time to time, and connect with our Facebook page for further updates (art.earth).
We’re exploring a number of possible actions and activities to lead us up to November 2021 including the We’re exploring a number of possible actions and activities to lead us up to November 2021 including the potential for an online film exhibition and a publication and online formal and less formal conversations, some of which may be locally organised. We’d love you all to stay connected and participate in these events.
Please read the original 2019 framing statement which is now bring revised to reflect our new lives and context.
[image: Sarah Gillespie: Fallen Bee www.sarahgillespie.co.uk]
Hello Everyone,
I like the Fallen Bee image!
Thanks for your efforts in keeping up the good works and suggesting unique thought which I personally like to have a place in my academia. Though I was keen to participate and share global audience my thoughts, as last year, and this year with a full article about the symbols and icons of death in photojournalists’ photos, I believe ,as all do,postponing the conference is a must .
Yes , I like the idea of having actions or activities leading to the big event , are they going to be online , please?
I have a suggestion also .Why do not you start sending the participants letters of acceptance and refusal from now, please? I guess it is a good step to gather different thoughts on death in different fields . Out of these accepted submissions , it is likely to present lectures or seminars that matching between two submissions or more as parts of the activities.It was just an idea!
Best
Hello Huda. Thanks so much for your thoughts and comments. And yes most of the activities that will lead up to November 2021 will be online or will be open to everyone wherever you are (such as essays or a book).
We can’t begin sending out acceptances now though. We design our symposia very much in response to the proposals we receive which help shape our thinking and focus the themes we want to focus on. So really we need to have everything in front of us before we can begin to shape the event for 2021.
However we will be looking over all the proposals we have and there may be things in there that trigger ideas for the lead-in events.
I hope all that makes sense.
Richard