CAPAS' Alumni Conference “SUSTAINABILITY & APOCALYPSE”
by Luis Pesce
From January 29 to 31, 2025, CAPAS hosted its first Alumni Conference, titled “Sustainability and Apocalypse.” The event brought together former fellows, collaborators, and affiliated researchers from a wide range of disciplines to critically explore the intersection of sustainability discourses and end-of-the-world scenarios as part of the growing field of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic studies.
Day 1
Prof. Dr. Christine Hentschel (Hamburg University) delivered the keynote lecture “Sustainability and Apocalypse: An Orientation.” During her time at CAPAS, her research focused on building a transdisciplinary inventory of critical devices for reading apocalyptic imaginaries and the collectivities that engage with them. The first panel, “Un/Sustainability,” set the tone for the conference with wide-ranging insights from panellists Dr. Daniel Barber (Eindhoven University of Technology), Dr. Thomas Lynch (University of Chichester), and Dr. Elke Schwarz (Queen Mary University of London).
Shifting to a planetary scale, the second panel, “Beyond Habitability,” featured Dr. Florian Mussgnug (University College London), who presented the paper “Scaling Up Sustainability—Troubling Apocalyptic Narcissism.” The first day of the CAPAS Alumni Conference concluded with an interactive workshop titled “Mapping your Apocalypse,” facilitated by Dr. Paolo Vignolo (National University of Colombia).
Day 2
Day two began with the second keynote lecture, titled “The Anthropocene as a Slow Catastrophe: on the Aesthetics and Politics of Estrangement Today,” delivered by Dr. Mathias Thaler (University of Edinburgh). Thaler’s contribution invited reflection on the protracted temporality of catastrophe and the political potential of estrangement. The panel “(Un)Sustainability of Social Contracts” followed. Panellists included CAPAS team members Dr. Bruna Della Torre and Dr. Eduardo Altheman, as well as Dr. Nina Boy, an honorary fellow at the University of Warwick. In the afternoon, Dr. Altheman also chaired the panel titled “The Art of Coping.” The conversation included contributions from Prof. Dr. Timo Storck (Berlin Psychological University), Dr. Juliet Simpson (Coventry University), Dr. Luis Alberto Pérez Amezcua (University of Guadalajara), and Dr. Richard Wilman (Durham University). The day concluded with the workshop “Annihilation and Sustainability,” organised and facilitated by Dr. Adolfo Mantilla (Academy of Arts in Mexico) and artists Dr. Nadia Osornio and Federico Cuatlacuatl.
Day 3
The third and final day began with the panel “Sustaining the Unsustainable,” chaired by Emilian Ortega (Heidelberg University / CAPAS). Panellists included Dr. Amin Samman (City St. George’s, University of London), Dr. Teresa Heffernan (St. Mary’s University, Canada), and Dr. Stephen Shapiro (Warwick University). The conference concluded with the workshop “Sustainable Degradation,” co-facilitated by Dr. Emily Ray (Sonoma State University), CAPAS team member Laura Mendoza, and Dr. Robert Kirsch (Arizona State University). By bringing together former and current fellows from CAPAS’s first four years, the Conference stood as a compelling testament to the Centre’s deeply internationalised and interdisciplinary ethos. Drawing participants from ten countries across Europe, the Americas, and Asia—including Germany, England, Scotland, the United States, Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Thailand, and Canada—the event reflected CAPAS’s commitment to fostering global dialogue and critical exchange. This diverse constellation of scholars and institutions underscored the Centre’s unique role as a global hub for apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic studies, where regional perspectives are brought into productive dialogue around shared existential challenges and planetary futures. Robert Folger and Eduardo Altheman are currently editing a volume that will feature the key takeaways and core discussions from the Sustainability & Apocalypse conference. As in the conference itself—and, of course, we could hardly expect otherwise when gathering four generations of CAPAS fellows—the tone of the volume will be marked by critical inquiry and problematisation rather than unreflective endorsement or celebration.
Luis Pesce is a research assistant at CAPAS.
