As part of the Zona Temporal project by Sandra Sotelo, resident artist at El Graner under the practical methodologies program, the Laboratory for New Ecologies took place in May 2025 at El Graner, with a transdisciplinary, international, and intergenerational group. The lab continued previous work aimed at identifying the most overlooked dimensions of political ecology through practices of movement, writing, thinking, and instant composition. We focused on notions such as urgency, debris, and radical needs as entry points for reflecting on today’s hegemonic narratives.
Sandra Sotelo is developing research on the links between political ecology and the movement arts in her Zona Temporal project, where she connects her work as a researcher and creator, which also forms one of the core strands of her PhD.
In the midst of this research process, the gathering proposes a space to share some of the initial reflections in an expanded conversation format, featuring Helen Torres and some of the Lab participants, as well as collaborators close to the project and anyone interested in joining the dialogue.
Practical information:
- Date: Friday, June 6, 2025
- Venue: Graner, center for Dance and Performing Arts (Jane Addams St. 14–16: location)
- Time: 6:00 PM
- Free admission with registrationFORM
Photography © Sara López @ysepusoanevar
I’m Sandra Sotelo Reyes—researcher, activist, and dancer—and I understand transdisciplinarity almost as a responsibility. I’ve also studied music, dance, economics, humanitarian action, and feminisms within a system that fragments knowledge, and I’ve just begun a PhD in feminist political ecology and performing arts—partly as a way to get back at that system. For twenty years, I worked in various countries in East and Central Africa, where I learned from other ecologies and worldviews, deeply shaped by all the contradictions they carry. In recent years, ecofeminist narratives and degrowth have come to shape both my research and worldview, as well as my movement practice. Zona temporal is the project that currently connects and articulates my work as both researcher and creator.
Helen Torres is a sociologist, translator, writer, and educator. Her work focuses on the intersections between language, the arts, and politics. She facilitates speculative fabulation workshops and seminars centered on the work of Donna Haraway, whose major writings she has translated, and around whom she has developed both artistic and research projects.
Read more
Read less
