HOLITOPIA 2023
Symbiotic Politics
An immersive symposium fusing art, sciences, technology and futurology to facilitate positive futures scenarios.
September 7-8, 2023
re:future lab I SPREEHALLE
Berlin
Opening reception
September 7, 7.30pm
for press, artists, speakers and re:future circle partners
The Experience.
HOLITOPIA is an annual symposium to explore alternative futures and open the vast fields of human fantasy. It has been tailored for innovative businesses, futurologists, strategists, facilitators, applied scientists, creative and cultural practitioners, as well as to curious minds beyond all disciplines.
If you are a change enthusiast, HOLITOPIA is for you.
The experience. 15 top-notch artists and experts (urbanists, anthropologists, economists, system designers, architects, philosophers, nature scientists, and a composer) in one place at one time will share their ideas, visions and expertise—unfiltered.
This is a forum to re-think, co-create and dream. A set of undisciplinary discursive formats, art performances, interactive experiments and unpredictable interventions, will be presented to you in an immersive setting. This is a chance to experience art as an equally valuable form of knowledge transfer. This year’s theme, Symbiotic Politics, focusses on urban and biological speculations, ethics and technology, zero-carbon societies, queer ecologies, and the superhero narrative.
HOLITOPIA takes place in SPREEHALLE, site of the re:future lab, on the grounds of former AEG transformer factory. The halls are located in a vast industrial building complex on the banks of the Spree, in the district Berlin-Schöneweide, designated as one of Berlin’s „Zukunftsorte“. The premises have become a vibrant creative hub, housing artists' studios, exhibition spaces, and creative agencies. Besides being an attractive location for academia, business, and technology, Schöneweide-Adlershof combines the groundbreaking and new with the old and established when it comes to entrepreneurial spirit and urban planning and architecture—which makes it a most fitting location for HOLITOPIA.
Life in complex systems. Unlocking futures.
Sept 7, 2023, 10 am - 5 pm
Chapter one
What can art do for you?
Enter a forest of wonders. Join philosophers, art and film historians, art critics, curators, artists and a composer to explore the creative drive of the superhero genre, how ideas become form, the fractal dimension of our realities and the non-linear quality of time, the poietic power of the Unknown–and some unexpected elements too...
Sept 8, 2023, 10 am - 5 pm
Chapter two
The Entropic Dream
Interweave all the loose ends between "yesterday" and "tomorrow" into a whole new narrative thread. Join architects, artists, designers, art historians and systems thinkers to rethink symbiosis and metamorphosis as a co-design process, the perception of interconnectedness in cultural context, and restorative design in complex environments–it's a call for creative intelligence to defy fundamental change.
Sept 9, 2023, 10 am - 5 pm
Chapter three
Imaginary Territories
Discover the familiar in the infra-thin and navigate a world of endless possibilities. Meet future foresight strategists, technology experts, art and nature historians, anthropologists, culture scientists, artists and designers. Reflect and discuss the incredible algorithmaticity of being, blueprints of vertical communities, queer ecologies, urban and biological speculations and zero-carbon societies.
List of Contributors.
Dr. Giovanni ALOI (art historian, natural scientist, Chicago), Jan BERGER (strategist and futurologist, Berlin), Dr. Jamie BRASSETT (philosopher, London, Dessau), Prof. Dr. Joanna BRYSON (professor of ethics and technology, Berlin), Prof. Pelin CELIK (professor for industrial design, and system design, Berlin), Ludwig ENGEL (urbanist and futurologist, Berlin, Amsterdam, Zurich), Jan-Philipp FRÜHSORGE (curator, Berlin), Prof. Sigurd LARSEN (architect, Berlin), Hollie MILLER (visual artist, London), BURTON NITTA (transdisciplinary studio, London), Ayumi PAUL (artist and composer, Berlin), Chloe PIENE (visual artist, New York, Warsaw), Dr. Emanuele QUINZ (art and design historian and curator, Paris), Madeleine SCHWINGE (curator and futurologist, Berlin), Johanna SEELEMANN (conceptual designer, Reykjavik, Leipzig) / For short bios, see here >
Moderated by art critic and educator Kimberly Bradley >
Conceived by curator and futurologist Madeleine Schwinge
Interventions (selection)
Sept 7, 2023, 10.15–-11
Keynote
Chapter one
The Fragile Human
Continuity and Discontents in the Superhero Genre
Superhero comics are obsessed with continuity. They are made to ensure conformity with the canon, staying the same appears to be important. This seems like a strange position for a genre once deemed controversial, rebellious or even downright deviant. How might we understand this tension? The keynote will look at how an excessive overflowing that deviates from conformity can be, itself, creative.
// Dr. Jamie Brassett, philosopher, futurologist, Lecturer at Central Saint Martins, London and Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, Dessau
Sept 8, 2023, 10.45–11.15
Keynote
Chapter two
The Entropic Dream
Towards a Design of Metamorphosis
In a time of radical change imposed by the ecological and social crisis, there is a need to rethink design—as a force for planning and artifizialising the world—and society at the same time. What does it imply, then, to think of symbiosis and metamorphosis as processes of codesign, in which nature tends to assimilate into society and society into nature?
// Dr. Emanuele Quinz, art and design historian, Senior Lecturer (University Paris 8, Paris)
Sept 9, 2023, 10.45–11.30
Keynote
Chapter three
Imaginiery Territories
The Incredible Algorithmaticity of Being
Life is the algorithm that perpetuates itself—all our sociality and phenomenology come down to this. We can trace through the utility of cooperation, competition, emotions, perception. So what separates us from machines? Can machines have a place in the human social order?
// Prof. Dr. Joanna Bryson, anthropologist, professor for ethics and technology (Hertie School—Centre for digital Governance, Berlin)
Sept 9, 2023, 14.30–15
Lecture Performance
Chapter three
Imaginiery Territories
Shiitake Fungi Storm
An old saying in Japan states that mushrooms emerge after a lightning storm. This folkloric truth reveals a biometeorological interconnectedness between the hidden world of fungi and weather systems. BURTON NITTA’s work invites you to explore the curious dynamics of the fungusscale reacting and perhaps influencing the vastness of storm systems. Join us to experience transversing scales, time-travel, and resonance with other forms of life.
// BURTON NITTA, Anglo-Japanese transdisciplinary design duo, Lecturer at Royal College of Art, London
Tickets
EARLY BIRD TICKET
valid until July 15, 2023
490 euro + VAT 19%
REGULAR TICKET
from July 16, 2023
990 euro + VAT 19%
REDUCED TICKET
Limited amount of ticket for students under the age of 28. If you feel you are eligible too, drop us an email >
200 euro + VAT 19%
CIRCLE TICKET BUNDLE
5.000 Euro + VAT 19%
Come with your team and benefit from signifiant advantages:
six tickets with access to the opening reception (for press, artists, speakers, and re:future circle partners), a one-year circle membership, invitations to exclusive events, your name and logo on our media channels, special conditions for the rental of re:future lab’s house, and one 'Stay-Ahead-Of-The-Curve' workshop.
If you prefer to book outside the e-shop, drop us an email >
Get in touch with us for the bundle offer, a member of our team will contact you to present all benefits and features. Don't miss your chance, drop us an e-mail >
"Art has a fundamental role, as a space for experimentation of the social"
Dr. Emanuele Quinz / art and design historian, curator
University Paris 8
Keynote speaker, Sept 8, 2023
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