'The end of the world as we know it is not the end of the world full stop.'
THE BIG QUESTIONS
The weekend centres on two big questions: what do we do after we stop pretending? And where do we find new stories when the ones our societies have been telling turn out to be bankrupt?
On Saturday afternoon, Dougald Hine grills George Monbiot on whether environmentalism is in denial, Alastair McIntosh helps us dig deep to find grounds for hope, while Vinay Gupta, Lottie Child and Paul Kingsnorth offer new perspectives on where we go next.
On Sunday, the focus shifts to the role of writers and artists. Poet and physicist Mario Petrucci asks how art helps us navigate an age of contraction; Jay Griffiths explores the roots of language in the non-human world; while novelist Gregory Norminton and poet Melanie Challenger explore possible directions for literature with William Shaw of the RSA's Arts & Ecology programme.
TALKS & DISCUSSIONS
From nature poetry to the nature of pilgrimage, roadbuilding and resistance to the mythology of the Enlightenment, archaeology to environmentalism, medieval economics to the peasantry of Poland, we have a programme of speakers to fire your imagination and set your mind running.
The line-up includes Tom Hodgkinson, Penny Rimbaud, Adrian Arbib, John Mitchinson, Christine Finn, Caspar Henderson, Julian Rose, Jadwiga Lopata and Christian de Sousa. The informal atmosphere of the festival will create plenty of opportunity for discussion with the speakers, both in the sessions and afterwards.
Workshops
For those who want to work out what to do next and how to actually do it, we present two days of workshops. Learn about the practicalities of becoming less reliant on industrial systems, foraging for wild food, and preparing for a future in which we have to rely less on money and more on each other. There will also be sessions on writing and creativity with some of the writers taking part in the festival.
Guides include Vinay Gupta, Mark Boyle, Keith Farnish, Susan Richardson, George Marshall, Andy Hamilton, Anthony McCann and Briony Greenhill.
Music
At night, the musicians take over, with a line-up featuring some of the most powerful, radical voices in British music today.
Acts playing UNCIVILISATION 2010 include Chris Wood, Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, Circulus, Will Hodgkinson and the Ballad of Britain, Chris T-T, Marmaduke Dando's Powerdown, Yon, Zarathrustra, Caulbearers, Bleak and Billy Bottle.
And More…
Around and about the festival site, things will be happening all weekend. You are encouraged to bring your own: Uncivilisation is not a festival with an audience, but a gathering of participants. There will be an open mic venue available all weekend to anyone with something to say, talk about or demonstrate, and we look forward to spontaneous events erupting around Llangollen.
On top of this we will be featuring a collection of other activities and events including photographic and art exhibits, a Dark Mountain cinema, a bookshop, an expedition to World's End, theatre events, including a one-man version of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness performed by James Auden, a visit to a community organic garden, the Kinetic Caravan and, of course, the official launch of Dark Mountain: Issue 1, our first book of stories, essays, art and poetry.
