HYBRID CONVERSATIONS

Social Practice Lab X KUBU
Teresa Dillon

What’s softest in the world rushes and runs over what’s hardest in the world. Water and Stone.
– Ursula Le Guin, Tao Te Ching, (1997, p.43)

The Social Practice Lab at Winchester School of Art, in partnership with the community arts group KUBU (Finland), invites you to tune into our Elemental Threads Hybrid Conversation series.

Our monthly sessions kick off in March with a focus on the element of water, with each conversation bring us into deeper concord with this vital force, often described as the “matrix of life.” Drawing on a wide range of perspectives, the series spans ocean justice and governance, hydropolitics, the fluid mechanics of computer circuits, to the weaponisation of water and the breath-holding experiences of a free-diver.

Conversations with guests are moderated by Prof Teresa Dillon, convenor of the Social Practice Lab, at Winchester School of Art and curator of the Elemental Threads programme.

2026 WATER

20.2. 13.30 GMT
Annual Element introduction: Water

26.3. 13.30 GMT
Giulia Champion
Researcher at Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute
University of Southampton, UK
Blue, energy and environmental humanities scholar and researcher working on ocean governance, kelp forests, and seabed extraction.
https://www.southampton.ac.uk/people/629gxd/doctor-giulia-champion

16.4. 13.30 GMT
Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos
Professor of Law & Theory and Director of The Westminster Law & Theory Lab, University of Westminster, UK
Legal scholar, artist, and author of the book ‘Hydropolitics’ (2025).
https://www.westminster.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/directory/philippopoulos-mihalopoulos-andreas

21.5. 13.30 GMT
Kaajal Modi
Multidisciplinary artist and Teaching Fellow, University of Leeds, UK
Exploring more-than-human life entanglements with a focus on microbes and water pollution.
https://kaajalmodi.com/

25.6. 13.30 GMT
June: (TBD)

16.7. 13.30 GMT
July: (TBD)

27.8. 13.30 GMT
August: (TBD)

24.9. 13.30 GMT
Merja Puustinen and Andy Best
Independent Artist & Uni Arts Helsinki,
Transforming a Pahi 42 polynesian style sailing catamaran, into Imagining Godzilla – a mobile platform for creative research with a focus on the Baltic Sea and its surroundings.
https://imagininggodzilla.fi/

22.10. 13.30 GMT
October: (TBD)

26.11. 13.30 GMT
Ioana Vreme Moser
Sound artist engaged with hardware electronics, speculative research, and tactile experimentation, specialising the in the field of fluid mechanics.
https://www.ioanavrememoser.com

10.12. 13.30 GMT
Nina McGown
Professional record-breaking freediver, artist, and climate advocate, working on sea level rising and water bodies.
https://ninamcgowan.com/