C21: Center for 21st Century Studies

We are excited to welcome, and welcome back, C21’s 2026–27 collaboratories and returning working groups.

C21's collaborative project funding provides a space to bring new, humanities-informed ideas and knowledge to many different audiences both on and off campus.

Super excited to announce that the physical copies of our graduate student led En-Vision: Toward a Q***r Ethics of Slow Care zine, are now available for pickup!

Stop by the 9th floor of Curtin Hall this summer and take a zine home with you!

A digital copy of the zine will be posted on our website soon.

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In this week’s Slow Digest, C21 Story Fellow, Adam Carr, reflects on his creative process as he prepared for his three attention experiments during the 2025-26 academic year. 

Carr describes Beach Class as an endeavor of the mind, Crystal Quest as one for the spirit, and Skyward Ho! As one for the body. Each workshop was created with attention activism in mind, centered around a guiding question: What happens when we step away from technology and redirect our attention through imagination, movement, and spiritual connection?

While each experiment offered an important glimpse into how Milwaukeeans might slow down, even for just 10-15 minutes at a time, Carr acknowledges that the workshops did not necessarily solve the attention crisis. What they did offer, however, was a renewed sense of hope. As he writes, “I love surrendering my attention to the world, and I’m drawn to those who do the same. It’s been painful to watch how my neighbors’ attention has been nibbled to the bone. In dire times, this work has helped me feel a different kind of hope. “ 

Check the link in our bio to read the full post.

Many thanks to all the 25-26 research fellows who shared their incredible works-in-progress Friday. We loved hearing about these impactful, wide-ranging, thoughtful projects that ranged from sculpture to novels and mental health research labs. We can’t wait for what’s in store for the next cohort.

Swipe to see Yevgeniya Kaganovich, Gabriela Nagy, Kidiocus Carroll, Nan Kim, and Lynn Goerdt in action. Kudos also to presenters Sharity Bassett and Kate Beutner. (Our photos of you were well-intended but poorly timed.)

The final C21-sponsored event of the academic year is coming up this Wednesday at the Islamic Resource Center (IRC).

If you’re not familiar with the IRC, it’s Wisconsin’s only Islamic cultural center and lending library, and it’s a project of the Muslim Women’s Coalition, a non-profit driven by their mission to “empower Muslim women and girls through education, leadership, outreach, and wellness programs, helping them reach their fullest potential while creating a positive impact on the broader community.”

We’re so excited to get off campus and into a cherished community space to cap off our year of exploring Slow Care.

Curious? Join us 05/20, 7-8:30pm for Book Talkback – Muslims in Milwaukee: Placemaking, Belonging, and Activism with the Muslim Milwaukee Project Collaboratory and prominent members of Milwaukee’s Muslim community.

Check the link in our bio for details.

This week’s Slow Digest looks back on a year of Story Cart: Attention. For this edition of Story Cart, C21 recruited three community Story Fellows—a licensed counselor, an artist-archivist-organizer, and a Milwaukee Renaissance man—to create attention workshops. The fellows made decisions about workshop content and formats, sometimes bringing in special guest artists and facilitators.

With phones tucked away, participants directed their attention inward, outward, and all around as they considered, and discussed on-record, the world beyond the screen.

Check out the link in our bio to hear five of their stories.

(📸: Story Fellow Symphony Swan leads the “Stills of Milwaukee: Listening as Archive” workshop at Fruition MKE on April 11, 2026.)

Here’s one last reminder to visit us at Curtin Hall 939 on May 15, 3-5pm, to learn more about what our research fellows were up to this year. From 3 to 4:15ish, each fellow will give a 10-ish minute talk about their research/project, then we’ll round out the afternoon with a reception. Light refreshments will be served. Check the link on our bio for more info.

Big thanks to Wisconsin Humanities for organizing this morning’s listening session and Arts at Large for hosting. There’s something so energizing about getting like minds from different walks of life together in a room to exchange ideas (so many ideas!). We can’t wait for the next one.

Bonus pics of the current Arts at Large installation by artist Hattie Grimm, which happens to resonate with the purpose of the gathering, C21’s Slow Care theme, and our Story Cart focus on attention.

Swipe for image #4: When a murmuration of starlings move together, each bird “…focuses attention on its seven closest neighbors, creating a larger synchronization. Every bird has the power to shape the movement of the entire flock.”

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Swing by C21 HQ on May 15, 3-5pm to learn more about what our research fellows were up to this year. From 3 to 4:15ish, each fellow will give a 10-ish minute talk about their research/project, then we’ll round out the afternoon with a reception. Light refreshments will be served. Check the link on our bio for more info.

📲➡️Swipe to learn about each fellow’s work!