Mateus Guzzo: Latin American Centered Speculative Design

16 - 19 April 2018, 6-8 p.m.
Performance Space, Visual Arts Facility 306, UC San Diego

LACES(D) - a conference to critically reflect on Speculative Design as a potential area of knowledge, political practice and art from a Latin American perspective. Focused in a shift, even if temporary, in the disciplines of Design, LACES(D) proposes a public debate of contemporary critical issues and its unfoldings in fields of Media, Architecture, History and Art.

MONDAY, April 16, 6 p.m.
Towards Latin­ American Centered Speculative Design(s)
— opening lecture by Mateus Guzzo trying to answer the question ‘what is Speculative Design’ followed by a conversation with Teddy Cruz on the newly inaugurated Speculative Design undergraduate major in UCSD.

TUESDAY, April 17, 6 p.m.
Talk: Why We Are Here - On Social Organizing in San Diego
— conversation with representatives of the the Student Workers-Union, Lumumba Zapata Collective (LZC), International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) and others on social organizing in San Diego area.

THURSDAY, April 19, 6 p.m.
Panel: The coup of 2016 and the future of Democracy in Brazil
— panel discussion with Prof. Teddy Cruz, Dr. Prof. Mariana Wardwell, Prof. Brian Cross and Dr. Prof. Daniel Hallin mediated by Mateus Guzzo followed by closing reception with music.

The Coup of 2016 conducted in Brazil is a recent historical event that marks not only a social, political and economical shift in Latin­ America, but also a symbolic one. More recent events such as the violation of academic freedom of Brazilian universities, the assassination of Council Representative Marielle Franco under the auspices of the military intervention in Rio de Janeiro and the selective arrest of former president Lula push the need for this panel to address the following question: Even if Latin American conditions are characterized by the state of exception as a rule, what are the strategies of mediation in society that can flourish another kind of sociability, governance and economical architecture?