Nordic Summer University Circle 4:
Situated Writing as Feminist Philosophy/Practise
Call for participation
Situatedness in Body:
Writing as an Embodied Practise of Truth
“To create a space in which to carry and be carried by others to (re-)fin(d/e) hope.”
Invitation to winter symposium 17 – 21 February 2027
In collaboration with Laukku
At an art residency in the forests of Northern Latvia
About the topic
There is a need for truthfulness. In a world in which writing is becoming a skill mastered by machines, where reality is reduced to a set of tropes that are validated by repeating them over and over, where words that once retained meaning have been slaughtered on the altar of commerce, the question of truth arises. This is not a new question, yet the present context is singular, and requires a new approach towards an answering.
There is a need for a return to beginnings that is revolutionary. In a world in which the pressure of linearity weighs on everything that carries meaning to be framed in terms of productivity and growth, where new is equated with more and better, where everything that doesn’t move is considered dead, the question of return as a revolution arises.
There is a need for meaning creation beyond knowledge production. In a world in which production is the measure of success, where humanness is measured in terms of impact and quantitative goals, where pedagogy is forced into creating consumers, where value is an economic concept, the question of unproductivity and meaning arises.
There is a need for a community of practitioners of listeners that aim for writing. In a world in which importance is given to those who speak, where listening is reduced to invisibility, where writing is reduced to giving an opinion, the question of writing as a way to listen arises.
There is a need to do more than responding and being against. In a world in which events shake the world continuously, where everyone is called upon to decide and act to oppose and protest, where the value of one’s voice is reduced to its political usefulness, the question of what it means to be as a human who writes arises.
These are the needs we want to address through writing as situatedness in body.
During this writing workshop/retreat, we ask everyone to design one intervention/workshop (30-60 minutes) to open up a way of situatedness in body as it works for you, and lead the intervention during one of the days we are together. We aim for two interventions per day, after which everyone has time to work on their own project(s), in a way that fits their own practise and needs – writing, dancing, walking, weaving, cooking, drawing, etc. So there is a lot of time to work at your own pace, taking your own space. Collaborating during this time is of course also possible, but dependent on your own initiatives. During the evenings after dinner we come together and share about our process, our thoughts, our writing, to evaluate the day.
What we look for in participants
As the space at this symposium is rather limited, we will be very selective in who will be invited. Our aim is to have a great mix of people that can talk with each other from varied backgrounds and perspectives on what writing means and how writing happens in their lives. We especially look for people who are attracted by an open investigation that allows for everyone to carry each other while being carried. Preferably we don’t all agree with one another, we don’t all have the same aims in our own writing process, and we don’t all write the same language(s). Special invitation to people with different relationships to writing: writing teachers, pastors, therapists, authors, academics, vocalists, translators, etc etc. Language used during the shared workshops in this symposium is English.
How to apply
Please share with us why this workshop-retreat attracts you and how you would benefit from it. Also a short biography, focussing on what writing means to you and how writing is part of your life, would be appreciated.
In your application you do not need to specify what your intervention/workshop will look like, but we would like to receive a title / one sentence, which we can use to create the program. If you would like to receive support designing your intervention, you are very welcome to write to us with questions, but otherwise we will trust in your ability to share your own embodied truth-making method in an interactive way during the symposium.
Please send in your application, including diet restrictions and whether you would like to share travel from and/or to Riga, to Nicole des Bouvrie and Emilia Plichta (nicole.nobyeni@nsuweb.org) by December 15, 2026.
Practical information
Accommodation
We will be hosted by Laukku, a beautiful house where we will be sleeping and working mostly in one very spacious room that was decorated by Latvian-American extravagant artist Eso Antons Benjamiņš. Due to the location, the amount of participants will be limited to 5-8 people. Please be aware that everyone will get their own bed, but we share one large room to sleep in. The room is on the first floor and not wheelchair accessible.
On the ground floor there is a fully equipped kitchen where we will be making our own food, we will share in making and eating meals together. As we will be organising the food ourselves, we ask you to please let us know of any allergies or diet restrictions you may have. We will try to accommodate everyone within reason.
Cost for food and accommodation is included in the participation fee.
Travel
As the location, close to Braslava in the Limbazu region, is not easily reached by public transport, we aim to organise transportation for the group from Riga (airport / center), and share the costs among ourselves. It takes about 2.5 hours to drive from Riga airport by car. It is also possible to travel by yourself to Valmiera, from which we can pick you up.
Dates
Arrival day is 17th of February, starting at the location with dinner. We leave Sunday 21st in the morning after breakfast.
Weather
Please be aware that it will probably be cold in February, and heating is very expensive. So dress accordingly. There will be a sauna, and plenty of opportunity to walk around in the rural surroundings of the accommodation.
Costs
- Students, self-employed: 175 euro + NSU membership 2027 fee (50 euro)
- Institutional: 350 euro + NSU membership 2027 fee (150 euro)
Costs includes accommodation for four nights, and all food and drinks.
Travel is not included, we will inform you at a later date once we know who will be joining to see how to best organise it.
Please be aware that NSU is fully organised by volunteers, and by participating in this workshop we would appreciate your support in sharing practical tasks throughout the days we spend together.
About our study circle at Nordic Summer University
Nordic Summer University (NSU) is a voluntary organisation dating back to 1951, founded to bring together artists, policy makers and academics to create a world without war. Everyone is invited to propose study circles around a theme, where people from different epistemic, cultural and social backgrounds are coming together to investigate that topic for three years.
This study circle 4 addresses the abyss between theory and practise. We noticed a broadly shared and ongoing phenomenon: certain women in academia reclaiming their own way to know and write about what they know and what they want to know (for example Aaniyah Martin, Sarah Manguso). By opening the question of what it means to write, we return to that which many feel is lost in current academia: the visceral obsession with the search for meaning and life.
In our circle we embrace the importance of inviting otherness, while being aware of the danger of performativity. Being the homo sacer (Giorgio Agamben), the one that exists outside of academia, art and structured society, and thereby creating a space to return to what it means to be human. The method of escrevivência and autofiction will be explored from different angles. What does it mean to be situated, to be a body in a specific time and space, relating to political reality and polarisation while not succumbing to the burnout society (Byung-Chal Han) it creates.
Our circle intends to continue the strong tradition of feminist encounters within NSU, acknowledging the continuous need to host emerging scholars, writers and artists.
No AI was used in the creation of this call for participation.
Coordinators
