Driving the Human

Sieben Prototypen für ökosoziale Erneuerung
Digitales Eröffnungsfestival vom 20.-22. November 2020

Das Eröffnungsfestival von „Driving the Human“ wird die Dringlichkeiten unserer Zeit aufzeigen und sich kritisch mit ihnen auseinandersetzen. Es wird Fragen und Visionen zur Gestaltung einer nachhaltigen und kollektiven Zukunft durch die Verbindung von Wissenschaft, Technologie und Kunst öffentlich diskutieren und verdichten.

Das Festival, das von der Staatlichen Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe und dem ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medien Karlsruhe veranstaltet wird, lädt WissenschaftlerInnen, KünstlerInnen, DesignerInnen und andere multidisziplinäre TeilnehmerInnen ein, eine Debatte über die Themen anzustoßen, die derzeit unsere Existenz bestimmen - vom Menschlichen zum Nichtmenschlichen, vom Dasein zum Zusammenleben, vom Digitalen zum Analogen. Als Katalysator für das Experimentieren wird das Festival die Fragen formulieren, die die nächste Phase des Kooperationsprojekts „Driving the Human“ definieren werden.

Zu den FestivalteilnehmerInnen gehören u.a.:
Frédérique Aït-Touati, Albert-László Barabási, Michel Bauwens, Bio Design Lab (Ina Grabosch, Julia Ihls), Jan Boelen, Melanie Bonajo, Joanna Bourke, Lili Carr, Claudia Chwalisz, Alba G. Corral & Tutu, Sasha Costanza-Chock, Ariana Dongus, Jan Fermon, Sabine Faller, Anett Holzheid, Maximilian Ilse, Susanne Kadner, Michael Kaethler, Bogna Konior, Kim André Lange, Bruno Latour, Sarat Maharaj, Freo Majer, Daria Mille, Alexandre Monnin, Simone Niquille, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Alexandra Pirici, Guillaume Pitron, Lena Reitschuster, Teresa Retzer, Denis ‘Jaromil’ Roio, Vera Sacchetti, Martina Schraudner, Jeremy Shaw, Jonas Staal, Isabelle Stengers, Jenna Sutela, John Thackara, Vivien Tauchmann, Julijonas Urbonas, Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas, Peter Weibel, Cary Wolfe, Richard D. Wolff, Feifei Zhou.
Das Eröffnungsfestival wird online übertragen. Das vollständige Programm können Sie auf der Website https://drivingthehuman.com einsehen.
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Das Projekt:
DRIVING THE HUMAN
Sieben Prototypen für ökosoziale Erneuerung

Von 2020 bis 2023 wird das wissenschaftliche und künstlerische Kooperationsprojekt „Driving the Human“ zu einem Katalysator für die Gestaltung nachhaltiger und kollektiver Zukunftsvisionen, die Wissenschaft, Technologie und Kunst in einem transdisziplinären und kooperativen Ansatz verbinden. „Driving the Human“ entwickelt und produziert sieben greifbare Prototypen, die auf komplexe zeitgenössische Szenarien reagieren und sich auf ein erweitertes Experten- und Wissensnetzwerk stützen. Das Projekt wird gemeinsam von vier Partnerinstitutionen geleitet - acatech, der Nationalen Akademie der Wissenschaften und Ingenieurwissenschaften, der Mentorenplattform Forecast, der Staatlichen Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe und dem ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe - die daran arbeiten, die verschiedenen Entwicklungen und Ergebnisse der Initiative zu bereichern.

Program

Friday, November 20

6.30 pm–9.30 pm
Workshop
THERE ARE BIOCOMPOSITES GROWING IN MY GARDEN
Kim André Lange, Bio Design Lab
Assignments and Q&A via live stream, Instagram @biodesignlab_hfgk

6.30 pm
Welcome and Introduction to the Program
Barbara Kiolbassa (art mediator), Julien McHardy

6.45 pm
Welcome
Jan Boelen (rector, Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design) and Peter Weibel (CEO of ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe)

6.55 pm
Music and Visuals
Alba G. Corral & Tutu

7 pm
Presentation of the Exhibition Critical Zones at the ZKM
Daria Mille (curator at ZKM)

7.15 pm
Presentation of the Bio Design Lab at the HfG
Lisa Ertel, Ina Grabosch, Julia Ihls, Anne-Sophie Oberkrome (HfG alumni and students)

7.30 pm
What are the urgencies of our times?
Festival participants

7.45 pm
Statement and Performance
Vivien Tauchmann, Self-As-Other-Training: Smartphone (1)

8 pm
Project presentation
Hans Ulrich Obrist, IT’S URGENT!

8.35 pm
Film screening
Melanie Bonajo, TouchMETell, 2019, 25 min

9 pm
Music and Visuals
Alba G. Corral & Tutu

Saturday, November 21

11 am – 12 pm
Workshop
THERE ARE BIOCOMPOSITES GROWING IN MY GARDEN
Kim André Lange, Bio Design Lab
Assignments and Q&A via live stream, Instagram @biodesignlab_hfgk

3 pm
Welcome and Introduction to the Program
Barbara Kiolbassa (art mediator ZKM), Julien McHardy (para-academic)

Section 1: (NON-)HUMAN
What is Human? Have we ever been human?
Until now, the categorization of the world has always been based on the human perspective. From the observation of subatomic elements to the examination of the whole universe, being is categorized through the human lens. However, the world is not as abstract as human divisions suggest, for example, humans and animals, culture and nature, organic and non-organic. In fact, we are deeply interconnected with other-than-human lifeforms, with non-living matter as part of biochemical processes or other entities that shape life on this planet. This panel thinks beyond traditional categories and embraces the complexities of the (Non-)Human by exploring posthumanism, transhumanism, and the relation and interconnectedness between human and non-human entities.

3.10 pm
Lecture
Alexandra Pirici, Future ground: A movement-lecture on nurturing different sensibilities, pleasures, and collaborations with land

3.40 pm
Panel Discussion
Joanna Bourke (social and cultural historian), Bogna Konior (writer, academic), Cary Wolfe (professor of English, Rice University), moderated by Lena Reitschuster

4.30 pm
Film screening
Jenna Sutela, nimiia cétiï, 2018, 12 min

Section 2: HABITAT
Where do we live? Where can we land?
There is an existential threat to our collective conditions of existence. There are no tools yet, but to address these problems and one way to map this new Earth is to understand it as a network of „Critical Zones“. Although human activity is barely visible at the planetary or universal scale, it is hugely disruptive in the thin, fragile, and highly complex layer that is the habitat upon which all life on Earth depends. Can we engage with our habitat in other ways? And can we work together to become „terrestrial“ – to build a common ground? This section explores how we can learn how to live within the Critical Zones.

4.45 pm
Performance
Julijonas Urbonas, Rehearsing a planet made of human bodies

5.10 pm
Conversation
Julijonas Urbonas (artist, designer, researcher, engineer and founder of Lithuanian Space Agency) with Jan Boelen

5.30 pm
Panel Discussion
Frédérique Aït-Touati (historian of literature and modern science, theater director), Guillaume Pitron (journalist, author and documentary filmmaker), Alexandre Monnin (philosopher, Scientific Director of Origens Media Lab), moderated by Sabine Faller

6.25 pm
Lecture
Gediminas & Nomeda Urbonas, The Swamp Observatory

6.40 pm
Performance
Vivien Tauchmann, Self-As-Other-Training: Smartphone (2)

Section 3: ECONOMY
What is progress? How do we produce and exchange value?
By reconnecting with actual needs of living entities, new links between global and local, urban and rural, big and small scale economies can emerge, and „growth“ can develop. Currently, progress is defined by socio-economic processes, while it should rather be measured by its positive influence on the Commons, the treatment of nature and human and non-human life. Can the concept of progress be reconsidered? Can a new economic approach help to develop alternative models of production and consumption? This section explores collective and democratic practices, while investigating small scale economies and alternative production cycles.

7.30 pm
Statement
John Thackara (philosopher, writer, curator)

7.45 pm
Panel Discussion
Michel Bauwens (theorist, writer, advisor, and founder of the Foundation for Peer-to-Peer Alternatives), Susanne Kadner (Managing Director Circular Economy Initiative Deutschland at acatech), Richard D. Wolff (Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and founder of Democracy at Work), moderated by Anett Holzheid

8.30 pm
Performance
Vivien Tauchmann, Self-As-Other-Training: Retail

8.50 pm
Film screening
Jeremy Shaw, I CAN SEE FOREVER, 2018, 43 min

Sunday, November 22

11 am–12 pm
Workshop
THERE ARE BIOCOMPOSITES GROWING IN MY GARDEN
Kim André Lange, Bio Design Lab
Assignments and Q&A via live stream, Instagram @biodesignlab_hfgk

11 am–1.30 pm
Workshop
Feral Atlas as a Verb
Lili Carr, Feifei Zhou
Registration required, not part of the live stream

3 pm
Welcome and Introduction to the Program
Barbara Kiolbassa (art mediator ZKM), Julien McHardy (para-academic)

Section 4: TECHNOLOGY
Can AI help to built up a more Sustainable and Collective Future?
Artificial intelligence is already used to structure all areas of human life. In this data-based reality, human decisions have become data sets that build the infrastructures of our societies. Due to the influence of technology giants on politics and science, research that acts independently of economic interests has become almost impossible. In a web-based environment, passive consumption and active engagement are being stimulated permanently, whereby the border between free choice and imposed consumerism disappears. Can we find a way to engage critically with the use of AI? Could AI become a tool to build a more sustainable and collective future? This section explores critical engagements with AI and probes boundaries and alternative uses, investigating ethical limits and strategies for activism.

3.10 pm
Conversation
Albert-László Barabási (physicist, network scientist) with Teresa Retzer (curator at ZKM)

3.30 pm
Panel Discussion
Maximilian Ilse (PhD candidate at the Amsterdam Machine Learning Lab (AMLab), Simone Niquille (designer, researcher), moderated by Ariana Dongus

4.15 pm
Performance
Vivien Tauchmann, Self-As-Other-Training: Textiles

Section 5: KNOWLEDGE
Who is producing knowledge and for whom?
The creation, dissemination, and consumption of information has reached unprecedented levels. With political and economic powers exerting huge influence on the scope and content of the circulating information, the gap between the content and the actual facts and fundamental knowledge is growing. It used to be said that knowledge is power, but today information is power. How can we turn this around and distribute messages with factual content and generate valuable knowledge? This section engages critically with the production and distribution of information and knowledge.

4.30 pm
Statement
Isabelle Stengers (philosopher)

4.45 pm
Panel Discussion
Indy Johar (architect, co-founder of 00), Sarat Maharaj (Professor of Visual Art and Knowledge Systems, Lund University and Malmö Art Academy), moderated by Michael Kaethler

5.30 pm
Film screening
Karrabing Film Collective, The Mermaids, or Aiden in Wonderland, 2018, 27 min

Section 6: ACCESS
Who has access to knowledge and participation?
Who participates in the formation of political and socio-economic infrastructures and whose opinion is neglected? How can we build a system which addresses both the needs of all humans and also the necessities of non-human beings? This section investigates new models of participation, tools to challenge structural inequalities, and engages critically with digital and analogue tools.

6.45 pm
Project Presentation
Lili Carr, Feifei Zhou, Feral Atlas Collective

7 pm
Panel Discussion
Claudia Chwalisz (author, leads the OECD’s work on innovative citizen participation), Sasha Costanza-Chock (researcher, designer, activist), moderated by Vera Sacchetti

7.45 pm
Project Presentation
Jonas Staal and Jan Fermon, Collectivize Facebook, 2020

8.20 pm
Performance
Vivien Tauchmann, Self-As-Other-Training: Household

8.30 pm
Conclusion
What Is, Then, Urgent? How Can Driving the Human Do Something About It?
Jan Boelen, Freo Majer, Martina Schraudner, Peter Weibel

9 pm
Film screening
Bruno Latour and Frédérique Aït-Touati, theatre play: Moving Earths, 2019, 72 min