SAVA Research Week V - Geotransformación: Southerning the Socialist Anthropocene

Talk Massinissa Selmani — "1000 Villages"
Wednesday March 19th, from 6pm to 7pm30
UCL Institute of Advanced Studies
South Wing, Wilkins Building, Gower St, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom

UCL Institute of Advanced Studies

Massinissa Selmani will speak about his project 1000 Villages (2015-) that investigates the structure of history in 1970's Algeria and the plans made to create a new model for society through the transformation of the countryside. Selmani's point of departure was an archive of press clippings about a rural development project initiated by the Algerian government in the mid-70s under the aegis of the “Agrarian Revolution”. The goal of this planning project was to redevelop the agricultural sector of Algeria's economy by collectivizing its infrastructure. Together with curator Natasha Marie Llorens, Selmani spoke with architects, filmmakers, writers, artists, sociologists, academics, journalists, and regular Algerians who had either lived through the period during which the 1000 socialist villages were being built, or had associations with a period of Algerian history that remains vivid in the nation's collective imagination as a relatively prosperous and optimistic time of construction and unity.

More information here