In order to envisage a future that doesn’t centre humankind, but instead values a thriving web of planetary interrelations between human and non-human bodies, our understanding of living and autonomous systems has to be developed in new ways. Get to know the artist-scientists whose artistic work captures the otherworldly workings of living and self-learning systems.

Thursday 28 October, 19:00 - 20:30 CEST

Under the current capitalist system, identities and bodies are held captive in the way they were born. Free experimentation with transformation is rejected. Simultaneously, capitalist petrochemical and pharmaceutical systems create global pollution and cause unwanted (and often unregistered) mutations in humans and non-humans.

Artists and biohackers reveal and break through these systems using DIY and speculative art projects. Experimenting on the self to achieve body autonomy and dis-alienation from the destructive constraint that capitalism places upon us. In this session, two speakers take us through their experimental research at the intersection of biohacking, technology and science.

Thursday 28 October, 21:15-22:45 CEST

Many of the ecological and social problems the world faces today can be traced back to thinking and acting in divisions and categorisations. Just as there's a separation between ‘nature’ and ‘culture’ in Western thinking, there’s a clear separation between the ‘mind’ and the ‘body’ (also known as the mind-body dualism). This puts us in all kinds of problematic situations, separating the impact of our actions from a holistic reality.

In this session, we will talk to two change-makers who are active at the crossroads of embodied art, activism and the psyche. What can we learn from them in the fight for systems change and building new communities?

Friday 29 October, 13:30 - 15:00 CEST

The idea that our existence as human beings on earth is finite is becoming an everyday reality for more and more people. The impact of runaway climate change on our planet becomes more tangible every year and it seems unlikely that we will stay below a 2 degree global warming.

How do we deal with this realisation and the moment we are in? In what way will thinking (and speculating) about the inevitable end of human life affect us and in what way will it cause us to act?

Friday 29 October, 16:00 -17:30 CEST

When we think of 'nature', it is always something that is outside ourselves. We go into 'nature', but are misled by what is called the nature-culture divide. This has caused man to see the planet as a backdrop for extracting resources for the development of a hyper-society. Now that we have gone beyond the limits of the planet, we must think and act beyond this dichotomous divide.

In this session, the speakers will stage a different perspective on the interconnectedness of our planet, ourselves and our technologies and contemporary society.

Saturday 30 October, 13:30 - 15:00 CEST

Worldbuilding - the craft of creating desirable worlds - gives an impulse to the actual development of new realities. In this panel, we will discuss the role of myths and how artists merge stories, creatures, symbols and environments to alter our understanding of the world around us.

In what ways can they help us understand the impact of colonial history on culture and the planet? Can they work as tools to build desired green futures?

Saturday 30 October, 16:00 - 17:30 CEST

In order to develop a true understanding of how ecosystems work, we will have to step outside the borders of human perception and communication. For instance, plants and animals interact with the world in different ways.

How do plants experience the concept of time differently? How does an octopus communicate through complex bodies? In this session, we will talk to artists who use artificial intelligence and scientific research to develop new ways of interspecies communication.

Saturday 30 October, 18:45 – 20:00 CEST