The Planetary Thinking and Infrastructures arts and research symposium is a two-day public event, and part of the EcoFutures project co-convened by David Cross and Jessica Wan with the support of University of the Arts London (UAL) and the Research Centre for Transnational Art, Identity and Nation (TrAIN).

It is led by questions such as:
– How can we rethink infrastructures to support care, resilience, and planetary wellbeing?
– In what ways do environmental, technological, and urban systems co-shape the worlds we inhabit?
– What does it mean to consider “home” as part of the wider environment we share with humans and nonhumans?

With co-curation from Videotage and funding from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC), this edition of Ecofutures brings together artists, scholars, and practitioners working in Hong Kong, the UK and beyond. The symposium approaches ecology and planetary thinking as intersecting lenses: ecology invites us to consider relationships between living organisms and their environments, rethinking “home” beyond buildings to include our reciprocal ties with the world around us while planetary thinking situates these questions within a critical, interdisciplinary framework, attending to Earth as an interconnected system and highlighting the entanglements of local and transnational, past and present, human and nonhuman.

The programme through a series of panel discussions, performance-lectures, and workshops will explore how artistic research can reveal, intervene in, and reimagine equitable planetary futures.

Dates: Friday 27 – Saturday 28 February 2026
Location: Banqueting Hall, Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London
Workshop Location: Red Room, Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London
Admission: Free and Open for Public (Online reservation is needed)
Format: Hybrid

Registration Status:
Symposium: Full registration, but limited walk-in quotas are available
Workshop: Full registration 

Click here to view the programme leaflet
Click here to view the campus map

Click here to find the links for virtual participation

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Programme
27 February 2026 (Friday), 13:00-17:15 (London Time)

13.00–13.15:
Arrival and Registration

13.15–13.30:
Welcome and Introduction by Jessica Wan and David Cross

13.30–14.30:
From Hacking the Past to Queering Futures: Self, Kinship, and Ecology
Speakers: Yarli Allison (Artist) and Whiskey Chow (Artist, Activist, Chinese Drag King)
Chair: Dr Maggie Matić (Curator, Writer, Researcher & Director of Auto Italia)

This panel brings together queer artistic practices and ecological thinking through the work of two non-binary East Asian artists based in the UK. The conversation draws on queer theories of fluidity and kinship as ecological frameworks. It asks what intersectional queerness might offer to imagining different ways of living with one another and with the world.

14.30–14.45:
Comfort Break

14.45–15.45:
Keynote Performance Lecture: Timeless (2013/2026)
Presenter: David Cross (Artist & Reader in Fine Art, UAL)

This work centres on a single take of video from a fixed camera looking East from the top of the Shard building in London. Interweaving natural history and social history, ‘Timeless’ framed an emerging ecological anxiety from an urban vantage point. Today it invites reflection on the relationship between continuity and change over the intervening years.

15.00–16.30:
Parallel Workshop – Engrafting Hope
Host: Kwan Q Li (Artist)

This workshop explores essayistic filmmaking as a way of living with grief and sustaining hope when confronted with hopelessness. Through a performance lecture and guided reflection, participants encounter layers of uses of documentary, poetry, and artistic research as means of emotional storytelling and attentiveness.

15.45–16.00:
Comfort Break

16.00–17.10:
Reimagining Collective Infrastructures and Resource Justice through Artists’ Films
Speakers: Lee Kai Chung (Artist), Isaac Chong Wai (Artist), and Adeena Mey (Researcher, Curator & Editor at Afterall)
Chair: Jessica Wan (Curator, Writer, Researcher & Associate at TrAIN, UAL)

This panel discussion rethinks the collective infrastructures shaping ecological reality. In The Mountains and the Phantoms, Lee proposes an “ecology realities” connecting humans and the more-than-human. Chong explores how artistic practice, identity politics, and queerness respond to systemic violence. Finally, Mey utilises moving-image research to reconstruct the link between organism and environments, tracing the ‘cybernetisation’ of art infrastructures.

17.10–17.15:
Closing Notes by Angel Leung

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28 February 2026 (Saturday), 13:00-16:35 (London Time)

13.00–13.15:
Arrival and Registration

13.15–13.30:
Welcome and Introduction by Jessica Wan and Angel Leung

13.30–13.45:
What Could EcoFutures Be?
Residents’ Work Sharing with Lauren Goldie (Artist & PhD Researcher, Central Saint Martins, UAL)

PhD researcher and artist, Lauren Goldie, presents works developed during the EcoFutures residency, examining how speculative sculptural practice can interrupt extractive logics surrounding asteroid mining and reframe how we imagine relationships with extraterrestrial materials and environments.

13.45–15.00:
Worlding Ecologies in a Relational World
Speakers: Chris Cheung (Artist, Artistic Director of XCEPT and XCEED), Kwan Q Li (Artist), and Anahita Razmi (Artist & Senior Lecturer & Associate at TrAIN, UAL)
Chair: Prof Paul Goodwin (Curator, Researcher, Educator & Director of TrAIN, UAL)

This panel examines how urban growth and AI infrastructures intersect with environmental conditions. XCEPT explores radiation and climate reshaping planetary consciousness, while Li bridges biological resilience and algorithmic psyche to find ‘wildness’ in neural glitches. Finally, Razmi investigates cultural and economic circulation between the Global North and South, focusing on the collaborative Darookhaneh Apotheke Pharmacy about how care, control, and representation are structurally entangled.

15.00–16.30:
Parallel Workshop – Everyday Archiving
Host: Jocelin Kee (Learning & Participation Project Coordinator at Asia Art Archive)

This hands-on workshop introduces archiving as a sustainable, everyday practice through digital storytelling, community mapping, and collaborative documentation. Participants will learn to archive their environmental surroundings. Please bring materials from a completed project, such as sketches, notes, references, receipts, experimental works, or documentation.

15.00–15.20:
Comfort Break

15.20–16.30:
Time-based Media Archiving for Collective Memories
Speakers: Phoebe Wong (Cultural Worker & Head of Research of Videotage), Charlotte Procter (Archivist, Curator, Collection & Archive Director of LUX, Member of Cinenova Working Group) and Anson Mak Hoi Shan (Researcher-Artist, Mindfulness Teacher & Founder of Pre-Internet Era HK LGBTQ+ Printed Matters Digital Archive)
Chair: Angel Leung (Adjunct Curator of Videotage)

This panel discussion considers how video and oral-history archives preserve and activate collective memory across communities and generations. Speakers address challenges of access, representation, and long-term preservation, examining archiving as both historical record and a living, community-building practice.

16.30–16.35:
Closing Notes by Jessica Wan

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Credits and Acknowledgements

EcoFutures is an ecocritical art research project co-convened by David Cross and Jessica Wan with the support of University of the Arts London (UAL) and the Research Centre for Transnational Art, Identity and Nation (TrAIN).

The Planetary Thinking and Infrastructures Symposium is co-curated by Angel Leung and Jessica Wan in collaboration with Videotage.

The symposium is a TrAIN-associated event generously supported by Afterall and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council.

* Disclaimer: The Hong Kong Arts Development Council supports freedom of artistic expression. The views and opinions expressed in this project do not represent the stand of the Council.

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Accessibility

EcoFutures is committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all participants. The following access provisions will be in place:

– Step-free access to the Banqueting Hall and workshop spaces
– Accessible toilets available on-site
– Seating can be rearranged to accommodate wheelchair users and access needs
– Staff available on the day to assist with access requirements

If you have specific access needs or questions, or would like to discuss adjustments in advance, please contact Jessica Wan [[email protected]].

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Privacy Notice

The panel discussions and keynote performance lecture will be video-recorded and broadcast live via Zoom concurrently with the in-person events.

UAL’s Virtual Event Privacy Notice sets out how your personal information will be collected and processed when you register and attend a UAL virtual event on Zoom: arts.ac.uk/privacy-information/ual-virtual-event-privacy-notice

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Filming and Photography Notice

Please note that filming, photography, and audio recording will take place at this event. If you do not wish to be recorded, please notify event staff on arrival. Reasonable steps will be taken to respect your preference (for example, seating in a designated area). For questions about filming, photography, or the use of Recordings, please contact: [email protected]