How should we address the increase in armed aggression and the mounting, disastrous consequences of the climate crisis? How can we tackle these issues at the structural level and across national borders? How can an emancipatory politics center on the struggles of the impoverished, dispossessed, and exploited – that is, those who are most affected by militarism and environmental disasters, yet often neglected by peace and climate movements?

At the “Pluriverse of Peace,” conference researchers, artists, and activists from more than 25 countries will be looking for answers at ICI Berlin on Oct.16 and ZK/U on Oct.17+18.

Free entry, limited seats, registration required.

Concept note

Emancipatory movements in Europe and beyond have either lost momentum or are facing unprecedented repression. Meanwhile, private sector elites (and their political allies) have taken off their white gloves, pursuing profit, power, and prestige in ways that are increasingly barbaric. Given the current situation, in which short-term progress seems more out of reach than ever, it is time to explore the root causes of our dire predicament and what it will take to create a radically better world for everyone. To this end, the BG’s “Pluriverse of Peace” conference focuses on the (im-)possibilities of peace and environmental politics.

“The endless accumulation of capital” (Wallerstein) through market-driven mass production, financialization, etc. has depleted resources and polluted the planet. This has made ecosystems more vulnerable and unstable, which also affects markets and economies. Competition for resources and control of supply chains leads to territorial conflicts. War has become an increasingly common means of defending ‘national economies.’ Meanwhile, the resource-intensive rise of the global war regime creates a disastrous ecological footprint that exacerbates environmental collapse. At this juncture, various forms of environmental warfare are emerging, involving the use of extreme weather, pollution, or terraforming as weapons.

To break this vicious cycle, it is necessary to ask and discuss the deeper questions about the polycrisis and rethink strategies and alliances to articulate our shared desire for liberation and just transition. Tackling the structural dimension, the conference addresses the class interests behind the resurgence of militarism and the increasingly reactionary responses to the climate crisis. For those who would like to explore the topic before the conference, the “Pluriverse of Peace” text series, which has been published on BG | berlinergazette.de since early 2025, provides different viewpoints and initial food for thought.

Keynotes

Date: Thursday, October 16 · 2 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Location: ICI Berlin Institute for Cultural Inquiry, Christinenstraße 18-19, Haus 8, 10119 Berlin

2:00 p.m.: Welcome speech · Claudia Peppel (ICI Berlin)

2:05 p.m.: Introduction · Magdalena Taube + Krystian Woznicki (BG | berlinergazette.de)

2:15 p.m.: Performance Lecture · Eco-Wars on Nomads: The Making of ‘Hostile Environments’ in Mongolia · Shuree Sarantuya (media artist, activist, and researcher, Ulaanbaatar/Cologne)

2:45 p.m.: Talk · Elemental Warfare: How Russia Weaponizes Environmental Destruction in Ukraine · Svitlana Matviyenko (media theorist and activist, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver)

3:15 p.m.: Wrapping up

3:30 p.m.: Coffee Break

4:00 p.m.: Talk · No Plan B? Capitalism, Climate Crisis, War, and Class Struggles · Debora Darabi (physician and political educator, Charité-University Hospital Berlin)

4:30 p.m.: Talk · ‘ReArmEurope’: Saving Capitalism, Abandoning Life · Enikő Vincze (social theorist and activist, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca)

5:00 p.m.: Wrapping up

5:15 p.m.: Coffee Break

5:45 p.m.: Talk · Beyond Collaps: Rethinking Emancipatory Politics in the Age of Global War and Climate Crisis · Raúl Sánchez Cedillo (philosopher and activist, Fundación de los Comunes/Universidad Nómada, Madrid)

6:15 p.m.: Talk · Proliferating Transitions: New Beginnings at the End of the World As We Know It · Sandro Mezzadra (political theorist, Università di Bologna)

6:45 p.m.: Wrapping up

7:00 p.m.: Reception

Registration

Free entry, limited seats, registration for the Keynotes at the ICI Berlin required by October 13. Catering includes free coffee/tea and vegan dinner.

Update: The Keynotes event is fully booked.

Conditions of War, Fairytale About Love, fixDisputedCities, Total Metrics, Factory of the Map, Minimum Wage May Be Denied

Multimedia Intervention: eeefff

Date: Friday, October 17 · 7 p.m.
Location: ZK/U, Siemensstraße 27, 10551 Berlin

This intervention by the artist collective eeefff explores how war, ecological collapse, and colonial infrastructures infiltrate daily life through invisibilized systems. Cyberwarfare, digital mapping, algorithmic assistants, and coded instructions quietly reshape reality, embedding militarization into homes, bodies, and imaginations. Extractivist fairytales, productivity regimes, and even hidden comments in code reveal how violence becomes normalized and stabilized at the infrastructural level.

Moving images based on recently leaked Yandex code – a window into the extractivist machinery of geographies and intimacies – trace how Russia’s colonialism is extending through algorithmic systems and technological platforms. Sound, projection, and embodied action reveal how digital architectures reproduce the logic of control, territorial domination, and resource extraction, creating digital fascism, which fuses imperial violence with technological standardization.

Registration

Free entry, limited seats, registration for the Multimedia Intervention at the ZK/U required by October 15.

Make Love, Not War

Planeta Lounge: DJ Pepe Dayaw

Date: Saturday, October 18 · 7 p.m.
Location: ZK/U, Siemensstraße 27, 10551 Berlin

Step into inner space, where people can explore and reflect on their feelings. The wars and environmental crises happening outside our walls also take place inside, manifesting as grief, anguish, and fear – emotions that often engender isolation and a sense of disconnection.

DJ Pepe Dayaw will perform an original ambient ‘live set,’ inviting participants to rest and ponder their connection to human and other-than-human life on this planet. They will blend musical styles, spoken words, and live and recorded sounds, including local colors, exotic motors, and nomadic journeys. Here, for a brief moment, we can listen and move within the spaces between us.

Registration

Free entry, limited seats, registration for the Planeta Lounge at the ZK/U required by October 15.

24 Hour Hackathon

The “Pluriverse of Peace” conference offers five workshops, each with a 24-hour program: “General Will: Designing a campaign based on data from the Peoples Climate Vote”, “Defunding Life? Mapping anti-austerity struggles in relation to environmental and anti-war movements”, “Endless War on Earth? Developing a multi-level strategy toolkit for short, medium and long-term action”, “Mining is War: Mapping movements in the Balkans against extractivism as warfare”, “World Game: Designing a game for (potential) activists to explore commonalities and bridge differences”.

These workshops will bring together scholars, activists, and cultural workers from over 25 countries to explore the common ground between climate justice and peace movements.

Registration

The workshops will feature guests invited by the organizers. Additional participants can register for one of the five tracks until October 10. More information about the registration process is available here. Participants are chosen for their diverse backgrounds, so what comes out of the hackathon-style workshops is always surprising. Past results have included podcasts, games, interactive narratives, and more.

The “Pluriverse of Peace” conference is organized by BG | berlinergazette.de and funded by the German Federal Agency for Civic Education/bpb and Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.

The event is a cooperation with ICI Berlin Institute for Cultural Inquiry, Satellit, and ZK/U – Center for Art and Urbanistics. Outreach partners are Ambasada, Dietz Berlin, Harun Farocki Institut, Hopscotch Reading Room, Kuda.org, Supermarkt, UnAuf, and Undisciplined Environments.

This website features texts and photos by BG, artworks by Colnate Group, and eeefff. License: CC by NC 4.0. For imprint and privacy policy see below.

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