CEMUS Research Forum – CEFO seminar: Creating Collective Futures: Aesthetic Action, Friction, and the Zinessay
- Date
- 27 January 2026, 13:15–15:00
- Location
- Geo Centre, Baltic Library (and Zoom)
- Type
- Seminar
- Lecturer
- Simon Lindblad
- Organiser
- CEFO
- Contact person
- Malin Andersson
The Center for Environment and Development Studies Research Forum (CEFO) is a transdisciplinary research forum. Once per month CEFO hosts a research seminar on environment, development, and sustainability studies with CEFO members and invited speakers. The seminars are open to researchers, Ph.D. students, and master's students at Uppsala University, SLU, and other universities in Sweden, as well as the interested public. More info about CEFO: https://www.cemus.uu.se/cefo/
About the seminar:
"In a world often driven by extraction, speed, and a narrow definition of progress, how do we find the space to create genuine sustainability? In this seminar, I will present the article Creating Collective and Sustainable Experiences: A Zinessay, exploring how we can move from being passive consumers of a pre-determined future to active creators of a shared one.
The presentation critiques the "Historical Action" of constant optimization and digital alienation, proposing instead an ethos of "Aesthetic Action"—a mode of acting grounded in hope, refusal, and care. I advocate for "anti-progressive designing," which prioritizes collective well-being over linear growth.
To operationalize this, I will introduce the "Pedagogy of Friction." This framework suggests that sustainability requires us to resist the demand for frictionless efficiency. By introducing slowness and complexity—"Weaving on the Horizon of Now"—we cultivate the agency needed to break harmful patterns and imagine futures that are not just efficient, but life-affirming and sustainable for all."
Bio:
Simon Lindblom is a PhD student in Innovation and Design at Mälardalen University (MDU) and affiliated with Konstfrämjandet Västmanland. His research sits at the intersection of critical design, aesthetics, and pedagogy. Through visual narratives like the "Zinessay" and participatory art-based methods, he investigates how we can reclaim agency to shape collective and sustainable futures in an increasingly uncertain world.
Location: Baltic Library at the Earth Sciences Department as well as on Zoom: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/65962758099