About Absurd Intelligence
The world is sleepwalking into a perfect storm of climate, economic and democratic turmoil. And facts are failing to drive action.
Everywhere we hear “we need a new story” or “we have to join the dots”, yet society seems frozen like rabbits in the headlights of the intersecting crises, incapable of articulating that new narrative – let alone of taking the steps to get there.
Those in positions of power seem able only to offer meaningless epithets like ‘Keep 1.5 Alive’, or ‘Growth’. Progressive calls, like ‘Climate Justice’, risk being similarly empty signifiers, failing to grasp the reality of what our planetary situation actually demands of us.
Our ability to imagine real alternatives in the face of climate breakdown has been degraded.
To have a hope of coping with what is coming down the line we urgently need to defibrillate the collective imagination.
Founded by the creative brains behind Extinction Rebellion, Absurd Intelligence is a think tank for the shitshow, convening and catalysing an unrivalled network of world-class interdisciplinary experts, with the intention of driving much-needed Narrative and Movement Leadership.
Our ambition is threefold:
- To create a mass arts and culture movement that unites us in a desire to build a better world than the one currently on offer.
- Rebalancing the polarities of what it means to live together, polarities that have been massively upended, weaponised and bent out of shape by those who profit from driving us apart.
- A revitalisation of our democracy by putting our trust in people, building a new political culture for a better, kinder, freer world.
Our key work is The Fête of Britain, our campaign to make spaces for people to build and experience in-real-life democracy from the bottom up.
We also run Speak Up, a speaker agency helping artists, organisers and activists speak out on the issues that matter.
And we put on Good Neighbours, the politically positive magazine roadshow channelling 1990s TFI Friday vibes to shine a spotlight on all the amazing people keeping this country running where you live.
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If we can work together, please get in touch.
Here are some of our current collaborations:
Hard Art, a cultural collective standing together in solidarity to tackle the crises we face in the multifaceted, intersecting shit-show.
Humanity Project, creating a new assembly culture to transform politics from the bottom-up.
LOWD Sound System, Love Overcomes World Destruction! Anti-racism through bass culture.
Working with us.
Sometimes we are looking for people to perform particular roles. To see the current list, go to this page.