Care and Waiting

The COVID-19 pandemic and recent political, social and environmental crises have fundamentally changed the way that we perceive and experience care. As a result, the double-edged meaning of the term can be felt more sharply than ever; care encapsulates our attention and concern for someone or something at the same time as it defines our troubles, pains and sorrows. Moreover, taking care with our writing is an ethical and aesthetic imperative. In 2021, the Critical Poetics Summer School was delivered care of a group of internationally recognised artists, writers and thinkers whose work addresses current and pressing issues of care and caring. How has the global pandemic changed care? What does care now mean in light of the social injustices and inequalities foregrounded by Black Lives Matter? What does it mean to be charged with the care of animal, vegetal and mineral lifeforms during the sixth mass extinction and the care of the environment in the ongoing climate crisis? Furthermore, how has care, both as a concept and an experience, changed for writers, artists, critics and readers? Over the course of the 2021 summer school, we explored these issues together, and in the process we interrogated the degree to which writing, art, criticism, or a combination of these, can help us attend to manifold, interconnected and collective care responsibilities. Coordinated in partnership with Nottingham Contemporary, Curated & Curated at NTU and Metronome, the 2021 programme featured a wide range of virtual activities – from one-to-one tutorials, to workshops and public events – tailored for interdisciplinary scholars, writers, artists and students. Participants benefited from access to internationally renowned practitioners and thinkers and were provided with time and resources to develop their own critical-creative practice