Modern life, you know? It’s chaotic, it’s awful, it’s relentless. And it’s really, really fast. So wouldn’t it be nice to slow things down for a few moments and ponder the power and beauty of, well, slowness? Yes, yes it would.
Enter “Slow Knowing: The Pace of Being Human.” It’s the spring event series from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Center for 21st Century Studies (C21), and it sounds like just the thing right now. Lectures, panel discussions, workshops, nature walks, and more dedicated to “what it means to act, think, and exist, slowly,” and how “taking one’s time [can] aid an understanding of communities, ecosystems, and shared human experiences in an increasingly fast-paced world”? Sign us up!
“While the focus of our spring 2025 event series is slowness (think slow food, cities, science, etc.), the events are very much of the moment,” says Jennifer Johung, PhD, Director of the Center for 21st Century Studies in a press release. “We’re bringing a group of attention activists to Milwaukee just as the attention economy and its intrusion into politics is being called out by journalists. We’re hosting a writer who questions the point of thinking in the age of AI. Our main event is a lecture by an Indigenous scholar of environmental justice at a moment when hard-won environmental protections are being undermined. C21’s spring events will give everyone a lot to think about, and maybe even some ways to take action.”
Interested? Feel free to leisurely browse the lineup HERE and below. Most events are free and open to the public. Slow down. Breathe. Concentrate. We can do this.
Slow Film Series
Showcasing Nainsukh. Curated by Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece, Director of Film Studies at UWM.
• UWM Union Cinema 2200 E Kenwood Blvd, Milwaukee
• Nainsukh – Thursday, March 13, Time TBD
Slow Silencing Panel Discussion
Discussing censorship and the arts in Milwaukee. Organized by the Muslim Milwaukee Project.
• Curtin Hall, Room 939, 3243 N. Downer Ave., Milwaukee
• Wednesday, March 12, 6:30-7:30 PM
What Winter Did to Us: A Nature & Poetry Walk
Celebrating Ada Limón’s work with a group walk through Downer Woods, featuring reflective writing exercises, group poetry readings, and acts of radical attention.
• Meets at Curtin Hall, Ground Floor Lobby, 3243 N. Downer Ave., Milwaukee
• Thursday, April 3, 3:30-5:30 PM
Attentive or Absentminded: Habits of Mind in the Age of AI
Thinking about the point of thinking itself in the era of outsourcing creative and intellectual tasks to machines with guest lecturer Meghan O’Gieblyn, author of God, Human, Animal, Machine.
• Golda Meir Library, 4th Floor Conference Center, 2311 E Hartford Ave, Milwaukee
• Thursday, April 10, 4-5 PM
Events organized by the Slow Growing in the Time of Trees Collaboratory
Exploring the temporal natures of trees, mushrooms, and humans with a writing workshop and panel.
• Writing Workshop – Curtin Hall, Room 939, April 17, 3-4 PM
• Panel – Lynden Park Sculpture Garden, May 2, 2-4 PM
Kyle Whyte – Slow Knowing: The Pace of Being Human
Delving into C21’s annual theme with Kyle Whyte, Professor at the University of Michigan, whose research on environmental justice addresses moral and political issues facing Indigenous peoples.
• Golda Meir Library, 4th Floor Conference Center, 2311 E Hartford Ave, Milwaukee
• Thursday, April 24, 5:30-6:30 PM
Attention Activism with the Strother School of Radical Attention
Liberating awareness and practicing appreciation for the here and now with the Milwaukee Turners and special guests from the Strother School of Radical Attention.
• Turner Hall, 1040 N Vel R. Phillips Ave, Milwaukee
• Saturday, May 3, time TBD
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