A Fair Share of Utopia – publication translated

The publication ‘A Fair Share of Utopia’ is now available in English, published by Jap Sam Books. This book was first published in Dutch (‘Wat Niet Is Maar Kan Zijn’, publisher Jurgen Maas) accompanying the exhibition A Fair Share of Utopia.

Can you put your own interests aside and really fight for a better world in the interest of future generations, or is it easier if you imagine yourself to be part of that unknown future? In her essay ”What if We’re All Coming Back?” in The New York Times of October 2018, human rights lawyer Michelle Alexander tries to imagine the world you would end up in if you were to reincarnate at a random place and under random circumstances. Out of this thought experiment, eleven writers and ten visual artists speculate about an unknown future of which they themselves are part.

Now the publication is translated into English and includes a newly contributed epilogue by the renowned author Jean Kwok and looks at the essays. How do we read them now a year after they were written and a time so different than in the midst of the pandemic? At the same time, she tries to formulate her own answer to Alexander’s question. From her Chinese Buddhist background, which ensured that she was raised with a belief in a multitude of gods and goddesses, and from her experience as a migrant who made her home on another continent twice in her life, Kwok’s utopia is a place of radical equality, of humans and all non-human life.

You can order the publication here.

With essays by: Michelle Alexander, René ten Bos, Dean Bowen, Sander Donkers, Clarice Gargard, Jean Kwok, Sisonke Msimang, Rashid Novaire, Vamba Sherif, Jan van de Venis and Louwrien Wijers.

Artist contributions from: Brook Andrew, Raul Balai, Ghana ThinkTank & AiRich, Claudia Martínez Garay, Femke Herregraven, Nástio Mosquito, Simphiwe Ndzube, Marianne Nicolson and Müge Yilmaz.

Edited by Manon Braat, Heske ten Cate, JLC Coburn, Eleonoor Jap Sam and Clara Ronsdorf.

Editors Dutch publication: Manon Braat, Heske ten Cate, Lieneke Hulshof and Maurits de Bruijn.

Translations: JLC Coburn, Manon Braat and Urgent Vertalen.

This publication was made possible through the support of BankGiro Loterij Fonds, Mondriaan Fund, Gemeente Den Haag and Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds.

Design: Soft Turbo

This program is part of A Fair Share of Utopia & Nest at Art Rotterdam 2021