Symposium: Flowers in Motion: Rethinking Sustainability in the Cut-Flower Sector Through Dialogue and Dance

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Flowers in Motion: Rethinking Sustainability in the Cut-Flower Sector Through Dialogue and Dance is  an interdisciplinary curatorial symposium that brings together dance and conversations around topics of economics, pesticides and justice. Moving beyond conventional approaches of the flower sector, this symposium invites participants to reflect on flowers not only as commodities or symbols of beauty, but as living beings embedded in complex ecological, social, and economical systems.  

By establishing dialogues among multiple speakers, and dancing as an expression of human-body relations with flowers and emotions, we explore what “sustainable” truly means. How can we navigate the different dimensions of the cut-flower sector, environmental responsibility, and social justice?  

Panels

The symposium will feature three panels: 

  • Panel Economics: Economic Perspectives on Production, Supply-Chain Governance, and International Market Incentives. Moderator: Dr. Julia Swart
  • Panel Health & Environment: The Future of Pesticide Use in the Cut-Flower Sector. Moderator: Dr. Stefanie Lutz
  • Panel Justice: Is the Price of Flowers Still to be Paid? Moderator: Dr. Carolina Sanchez-Jaegher 

Economic Perspectives on Production, Supply-Chain Governance, and International Market Incentives

This panel explores how labour conditions, and trade relations are interconnected in the global agricultural sector, and in the cut-flower sector in particular. It places a specific focus on how these dynamics play out along international supply chains linking the Global South to the Global North, with particular attention to Colombia and the Netherlands. 

The Future of Pesticide Use in the Cut-Flower Sector

This panel brings together voices from both conventional and organic farming as well as human and environmental health research to share practical examples of how pesticide use can be made more sustainable. 

Is the Price of Flowers Still to be Paid?

This panel argues that addressing the harms of floriculture and its sustainable future require rethinking justice by intensifying the rule of law and right to prior information but also by establishing bridges towards transformation of our current justice systems towards ecocentric justice.

Choreography

The choreography is led by Indigenous Surinamese choreographer and theatre director Dwayne Toemere, under the artistic direction of Carolina Sanchez-Jaegher.

This project responds artistically to the panel themes, using movement, music, and performance to explore and reflect on their implications. It embraces ambiguity, emotion, and embodied experience, enabling participants to engage physically and collectively to reflect on flowers not only as commodities or symbols of beauty, but as living beings embedded in complex ecological, social, and economical systems.  

Please sign up in the link below.

Start date and time
End date and time
Location
Centraal Museum
Entrance fee
Free
Registration

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More information
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