Conference Report

The Floating Laboratory of Action and Theory at Sea (FLOATS) held its first open meeting on the Greek island of Lesvos in July, with the objective of exploring the practices and theories of utopias at sea. The meeting was described as a space in which academics, artists, activists and others could rethink the social and political space of the sea in our political ideas, ideologies and struggles, and explore the themes of refuge, resistance and research. The next meeting will take place in New York in November 2018. The FLOATS project is based at the American University of Beirut, and the meeting on Lesvos was delivered in cooperation with the University of the Aegean. More details can be found at: https://floatsea.org/

 

Articles

Utopia / Dystopia and Contamination:
Conferencing in the Wake of the “Refugee Crisis”
Editorial Introduction
Heath Cabot

 

Between Utopia and Capitalism:
Launching FLOATS, Venturing Beyond Terracentrism
Nikolas Kosmatopoulos

 

The “Terrible Paradox” of EUtopia:
A View from the Aegean Islands
Kathryn Budge

 

Sea Reflections
How is it to be connected through water and sea?
Venetia Kantsa

 

The Sea as Paradigm
Lorenzo Pezzani