Madeleine
Schwinge

Madeleine Schwinge is an art researcher, curator and consultant at the interfaces of art, systemic psychology and future forsight.

As an extension of her studio practice and based on many years of practice based research, she founded the re:future lab in 2020 with the mission of promoting art as a social practice, foster collective agency, futures literacy and transformative learning.

In 2022 she coined the term HOLITOPIA. Her ‘HOLITOPIA Manifesto’ both calls for a paradigm shift through creative intelligence, and provides a methodological framework for transformation process.

The 'HOLITOPIA Festival for Arts and Futures 2024' was awarded by Projekt Zukunft, a program of the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises, in the highest category for innovation and international attention.

In her artistic work, she uses multimedia and performance to explore the upheavals of our time and their effects on our psyche and behaviour. Her ongoing series ‚The Psychedelic Chicks‘ has been featured in scholarly publications on post-studio art and was nominated for the 2019 Social Art Award.

With her rare blend of expertise in visual arts, future forsight, systemic consulting and transformation research - paired with over 20 years of experience in international brand management and serial entrepreneurship - Madeleine is a sought-after expert for transition processes, strategy and sense-making. She mentors change makers in business, science, culture, and politics. As a speaker and panelist, she brings undisciplined fresh perspectives to conferences and events in the context of innovation, social business, futures strategy, and political governance.

She lectures at the HTW University of Applied Sciences in Berlin in the master's program in System Design.

She is engaged with the WFSF World Future Studies Federation (a UNESCO Partner) and the Gesellschaft für künstlerische Forschung Deutschland. She served the Ogilvy Futuring Science and Ethics Advisory Board in 2022-2023, and was appointed a founding member of Berlin Design e.V. in 2023.

She holds a diploma in economics (DHBW Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University Stuttgart) and is a certified systemic coach and teaching coach (Dr. Bock Coaching Akademie). She pursued further studies in art history (Free University Berlin) and obtained certificates in curation and fine arts (Berlin University of the Arts).