How can we stay with the trouble and dwell in the collapsing space between the urgent and the eternal?
The global landscape of 2026 is defined by a sense of fracture and eroding baselines. We see it in the stalling currents of the Atlantic and the geopolitical tensions stretching from the Arctic to the Middle East. As carbon budgets dwindle and the 2030 threshold looms, the distance between scientific projections and our lived reality has vanished. We inhabit a strange paradox where we are simultaneously running out of time and standing at the threshold of a new, long-lasting era of instability. In the face of tipping points and a shifting world order, we gather in Uppsala to search for meaning and community, feeling our way through the darkness.
How do we maintain a sense of place and direction when the natural and political maps are being redrawn and discarded? In an age of extreme weather and ecological loss, how do we navigate the tension between immediate crisis and the slow, deep time of the earth? If the systems we relied upon are failing, what new bridges can we build between the practical needs of survival and the existential need for meaning? How can we stay with the trouble and dwell in the collapsing space between the urgent and the eternal?
CEMUS, Uppsala University invite you to join us for an engaging ClimateExistence conference! We aim to be a creative meeting place for artists, activists, academics, faith practitioners, and anyone interested in the existential and practical aspects of the climate emergency.
When: November 16-18, 2026
Where: Uppsala, Sweden
Early-bird registration February 6-May 31: https://doit.medfarm.uu.se/bin/kurt3/kurt/8900367 (see form for conference fees)
Call for contributions
We invite you to share your work and perspectives for the upcoming ClimateExistence conference. We welcome a wide range of formats, from art installations, performances, and poetry to workshops and traditional academic papers. If you have an idea in development and would like to discuss it with us before the deadline, please feel free to send us an email with your initial thoughts.
The conference explores several themes within the concept of ClimateExistence. Our review committee helps curate the program by suggesting where accepted contributions might best fit in. We aim to dissolve rigid categories by weaving different forms of expression together, focusing specifically on the connections and tensions that emerge between different disciplines and expressions.
Send in your contribution here: https://doit.medfarm.uu.se/bin/kurt3/kurt/8900109
Alongside written text, we encourage you to include audio files, videos, or images if they help illustrate your proposal. If your files are too large for standard upload, please provide a link to a website or cloud storage where we can view the material. The review committee will evaluate all submissions and contact you following the deadline. We are happy to answer any questions you might have as you prepare your proposal.