TEC ART SYMPOSIUM:
FUTURE PREDICTIONS
On Wednesday 18 May 20.00, TEC ART presents its yearly symposium in WORM (Boomgaardsstraat 73, Rotterdam, NL) with a controversial but urgent theme: SO FUTURE – from Solarpunk to Metaf*ck. We look at the phenomenon of future predictions with four distinguished guests. Can we be saved or are we metaf*cked? An evening not to be missed!
Book your free ticket online.
The evening in a nutshell, scroll further down for detailed info:
– We hear how the future is made from Maya van Leemput, Senior Researcher in Futures Research at the Erasmus University of Applied Sciences in Brussels.
– Koert van Mensvoort presents a sneak preview of the amazing New Evoluon, a look into how the future could be, that will take shape in a completely renovated Evoluon in Eindhoven.
– PLANETART creative director Kees de Groot introduces us to the Museum of The Future, which is not only located in Dubai but also in The Netherlands, Enschede.
– Artist Floris Kaayk talks about the latest developments in his Next Space Rebels project.
Speakers
Maya Van Leemput is the Senior Researcher of Open Time | Applied Futures Research at Erasmus Brussels University of Applied Sciences and the Arts, where she also teaches Strategic Futures Orientation. Van Leemput is also the UNESCO Chairholder Images of the Futures and Co-creation for the Open Time team and Fellow of the World Futures Studies Federation and the Centre of Postnormal Policy and Futures Studies, a member of the board of the Association of Professional Futurists, and a founding member of the interdisciplinary visual arts collective OST and the Plurality University.
“Humans have the innate capacity of foresight. So why do we stumble as if moving in the dark when it comes to thinking about the future? While we are well-aware we cannot know what’s coming, we are still fatally attracted to prediction, be it from the oracle, the prophet or algorithms. We use and abuse images of the future all the time. How will we ever get better at (co-)creating such images without pushing today’s ideas on tomorrow, without submission to pre-determined fixed goals and without losing our way in today’s complex, chaotic and contradictory realities?”
Dr. Koert van Mensvoort is an artist and philosopher best known for his work on the philosophical concept of Next Nature, which revolves around the idea that our technological environment has become so complex, omnipresent and autonomous that it is best perceived as a nature of its own. It is his aim to better understand our co-evolutionary relationship with technology and help set out a track towards a future that is rewarding for both humankind and the planet at large.
Van Mensvoort is director of the Next Nature Network; a 21st century nature organization that wants to go forward – not back – to nature. Furthermore he is appointed Next Nature fellow at the Eindhoven University of Technology, board member at the Society of Arts of the Dutch Royal Academy of Sciences and supervisory board member of VPRO broadcasting organisation.
Earlier Van Mensvoort worked a researcher at the Center for User-System Interaction (1998-2003), as a teacher at the Sandberg Institute (2002-2006) and as a Visionary in Residence at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena (2008). He is also the author of numerous books and publications; among them Next Nature, Save the Humans, Pyramid of Technology, What You See Is What You Feel, Natuur 2.0 and the In Vitro Meat Cookbook.
ENTER SPACESHIP EARTH
Wild systems, genetic surprises, autonomous algorithms, and beautiful black flowers. Our technological environment has become so complex, omnipresent and autonomous that it becomes our Next Nature. How are we going to find a path into the future that is not only rewarding for humankind, but also all other species and the planet at large? Van Mensvoort believes we need to work harmonically as one crew on spaceship Earth. In his talk he will delve into the trenches of future thinking, explore what we can learn from yesterdays futures and talk about the public reopening of the Evoluon with the expo RETRO FUTURE in September 2022.
WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM YESTERDAYS FUTURES?
Interactive paint, medical candy, lab grown meat and the Twitter tooth are a just few of the products that might hit the shelves in the future. Dr. Van Mensvoort designs speculative products to provoke debate on the new technologies that are transforming our lives. A vibrant time to live, yet technological transformation is not new. From stone-axes to mobile phones, throughout history people have given birth to a wide range of technologies. Today, our technological environment has become so complex, omnipresent and autonomous that it becomes our Next Nature. How are we going to find a path into the future that is not only rewarding for humankind, but also all other species and the planet at large? Van Mensvoort believes we need to work harmonically as one crew on spaceship Earth. In his talk he will delve into the trenches of future thinking, explore what we can learn from yesterdays futures and talk about the public reopening of the Evoluon with the expo RETRO FUTURE in September 2022.”
Kees de Groot is artist, the Creative Director of PLANETART, and the mastermind behind the GOGBOT and TEC ART festivals, yearly festivals which brings together all the alternative scenes of the Netherlands in respectively Enschede and Rotterdam. Kees de Groot recently founded the GOGBOT Museum of the Future, located in the WARP building at the Stationsplein in Enschede.
“GOGBOT MUSEUM OF THE FUTURE hosts continuous exhibitions, presentations, and parties at the intersection of creative technology, avant-garde art, and social current affairs. GMOTF offers top international art and upcoming talent of an insane quality, as we already know from 18 previous editions of the annual GOGBOT festival in September. Our mission is to transform Enschede into EU Cultural Capital in 2033 with the GOGBOT MUSEUM OF THE FUTURE open 24-7 and 365 days a year.”
Floris Kaayk is currently living and working in The Hague (NL) and pointed out as Ambassador of the Creative City The Hague. He graduated cum laude at the St. Joost Art Academy and received his Master of Fine Arts degree at the Sandberg Institute. His work focuses on futuristic visions, fantasies and concepts. It visualizes technological progress, sometimes by showing the benefits, at other times by presenting the negative consequences. Among his videoworks are The Order Electrus, Metalosis Maligna, The Origin of Creatures and Juxtaposis. These video’s were presented and awarded at exhibitions, filmfestivals and art events all around the globe.
“I have a keen interest in the tinkering and DIY aspect of amateur rocket builders and am fascinated by the desire of ordinary citizens to travel to another planet just like wealthy big business and governments. I also find the motivations of the hacker community interesting; they want to secure a spot in orbit without those big companies and with their own resources.”
Floris Kaayk is part of TEC ART 2022 with his installation Next Space Rebels.