The Anthropocene discussions often focus on the so-called “great acceleration” which underestimates the effective role of urbanization and the geographic, economic, social, cultural and political upheavals accompanying it. Urbanocene, which is widely discussed by scholars Geoffrey West, Massimo Palme, Agnese Salvati and Daniele la Rosa, situates the great acceleration of the late XX Century where it takes place: cities and urbanization.

This workshop aims to discuss the radical strategies employed by contemporary artists in navigating the Urbanocene by metamorphosing urban public spaces into vibrant arenas of introspection, advocacy, and resilience. Through a multifaceted examination of artistic praxes encompassing installations, murals, public art, digital arts, performance and theater, this session scrutinizes the manifold modalities as conduits for discourse on ecological imperatives, heralding advocacies for radical ecology, multispecies coexistence, preservation of biodiversity, and the pursuit of climate justice. Can the catalytic potential of these artistic endeavors galvanize urban communities' involvement and nurture a sense of symbiosis within the environment? This session provides a platform for interdisciplinary dialogue and exploration of the transformative power of art within the context of the Urbanocene.

Among the themes to explore are:

• Urbanocene paradigm and its implications for the urban artscapes
• Artistic strategies cultivating ecological consciousness and mobilizing urban communities.
• The potentials and shortcomings of art to galvanize collective action toward sustainability and ecological justice. 
• Visual Narratives of multispecies coexistence: how art can center non-human actors, from plants and animals to microbial life, in the urban fabric.
• Case studies of transformative artistic interventions in the urban space inspired by new materialism and posthumanism.

This workshop is for doctoral students, teacher-researchers and artists. It will take place in the research unit Practice and Theory in Contemporary Art ( PTAC) University of Rennes 2.