The PUÓN Institute is an annual gathering of writers, artists, and academics dedicated to a collective-model of supporting critical and creative individual as well as group projects-in-progress. Emerging out of a context of escalated genocide in Gaza, the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of fascist leaders and authoritarian rule, planetary ecocide, and total wars, this Institute was conceived to express alternative modalities of understanding, experiencing, and feeling, and to bring forth subaltern transindividual capacities and forms of cooperative agency that people engage in that might augur other sustainable, self-determining local and planetary futures. This Institute aims to create a collaborative, supportive environment to explore a particular chosen theme for the year. The Institute is held at the Alfredo F. Tadiar Library in San Fernando, La Union.

The PUÓN Institute sets a conversational, collaborative tone, centered on ideas and aesthetic experiences generated by participants. The interdisciplinary and multimedia composition of the Institute cultivates vibrant exchange, breaking down silos while seeking to build connections through critical engagement. We foster a feedback method that emphasizes dialogue and inquiry, centered on the intent of the author/creator of the work-in-progress. With each gathering, we aim to explore different forms of being with, of sharing, and of fostering a sense of hope and collective growth. We remain interested in small, evolving projects that build over time as we explore what is realizable.

Puón Institute
For more information, email puoninstitutelaunion@gmail.com
or check our Instagram account @puoninstitutelaunion.