The third edition of Disruption Network Lab’s new programme stream – DISRUPTIVE FRIDAYS (live every Friday at 5pm Berlin time) features a conversation between Valeria Graziano (Researcher, pirate.care.syllabus), Natasha Falkov (Berlin Collective Action) and Elena Veljanovska (Disruption Network Lab).

The guests speak about self-organized care initiatives in times of Corona in North Italy and Berlin. pirate.care researches, gathers & nourishes initiatives which are taking risks by operating in the narrow grey zones left open between different care knowledges, institutions and laws. Flatten the curve, grow the care: What are we learning from Covid-19 is their curriculum that evolved with the Covid crisis. Berlin Collective Action started a fundraising to provide emergency financial aid to at-risk nightlife workers in Berlin — those whose livelihoods have been severely impacted by COVID-19, and especially those who do not have access to other support systems. Valeria Graziano and Natasha Falkov speak about using piracy as a political tool for care and focus on the solidarity initiatives that are serving as active caretakers since the outbreak of the crisis. The guests also talk about the current societal reorganization and how the crisis is affecting the health and livelihoods of women, BIPOC, queer, trans- and non-binary people, sex workers, non-EU migrants, and other marginalised groups who are all part of the at-risk communities in this crisis.

Valeria Graziano (Researcher, pirate.care, IT/UK) Valeria Graziano is a research fellow at the Centre for Postdigital Cultures, Coventry University (UK). Her work focuses on organisational practices and tecnopolitical tools that foster the refusal of work, a creativere distribution of social reproduction and the politicization of pleasure. Together with Marcell Mars and Tomislav Medak, she is a convenor of Pirate Care (https://pirate.care), a research project focusing on forms of political activism at the intersection of “care” and “piracy”, which are trying to intervene in the current crisis of care in all its multiple and interconnected dimensions. The Pirate Care Syllabus is a tool for supporting and activating collective processes of learning from these practices.

Natasha Falkov (Berlin Collective Action, NZ/DE)
Natasha Falkov is an organiser, writer and filmmaker from New Zealand. Natasha is currently organising with the Berlin Collective Action initiative, a Berlin based emergency fund providing financial aid to those whose livelihoods have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.

Elena Veljanovska (Senior project manager, Disruption Network Lab, MK/DE)
Elena Veljanovska is a senior project manager at the Disruption Network Lab. From 2012 to 2019 she was the executive director and programme curator at Kontrapunkt Skopje, where among other projects, with Iskra Geshoska she co-developed the Festival for Critical Culture – CRIC (founded in 2016). In 2006 she co-founded Line I+M Platform for New Media Art and Technology, where she was the artistic director until 2010. Veljanovska has worked as a curator and cultural manager with numerous organisations and artists.

Photo Courtesy of the organisation