2.11.20 | Rather than a matter of reducing CO2 emissions, sustainability pertains in fact to the nature and structure of relations within a given ecosystem, and is not definable in itself. Thus it acts as a question which can only receive situated, contextual answers. In this way, sustainability can be made a site of empowerment, where awareness for present needs, purposes, and opportunities, replaces setting predetermined targets (such as that of reaching net zero CO2 emissions). This itself represents nothing else but a change of future paradigm: from a future envisioned as a target to be reached in a more or less distant time-space (the naturalized way of thinking about the future in terms of making plans, i.e. forecasting or foresight) to futures envisioned as open-ended processes in the making. Rather than finding orientation for the future, the aim then becomes instead that of keeping futures open.
Category: futures studies
Talking Future: speculation, utopia and simulation in art
17.05.19 | alpha nova & galerie futura Berlin
A conversation on speculation, utopia and simulation with artists Valerian Blos, Mikala Hyldig Dal, and Gosia Lehmann.
An exercise in addressing the future critically
Lecture-workshop | 1.45min (can be reduced to 1h) | contact me if interested This lecture-workshop is built around two parts: … More
Lecturer at Human Life Center#2 | 5-6 April 2019
Two days of art, research and dreams of the future with Human Life Center#2: Dreaming, Trauma and Seeds (for futures … More
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” – Soren Kierkegaard (1844)
This quote from Danish Philosopher Kierkegaard illustrates a well-known issue in futures research: we act in the hope of specific … More