Human actions have shaped a new geological age and brought the world to a point of crisis. We need to find new ways to manage Earth’s resources to overcome the dependencies of the industrial age
Venue: Various venues, Manchester
Wed 30th March - Sat 2nd April 2016
Human actions have shaped a new geological age and brought the world to a point of crisis. We need to find new ways to manage Earth’s resources to overcome the dependencies of the industrial age
Venue: Various venues, Manchester
In the same year that Manchester was named European City of Science, the FutureEverything Festival for 2016 explored the theme ‘Less and More’. Inviting expert speakers, artists and performers to the stage, the festival asked how we can rethink the world’s resources in a time of crisis.
With everything from food sources to fossil fuels under threat, the first things we look for are potential alternatives and ask where they can be found. FutureEverything 2016 put the experts to the task, asking big questions in the realm of biology, physics, AI and climate change. Discussions centred around how life, intelligence, the Earth, community and uncertainty can be used as resources, often in unexpected ways. Conference speakers included Turner Prize winning architecture collective Assemble, designer and director Nelly Ben Hayoun, artist Addie Wagenknecht, counter-terrorism expert Charlie Winter, and award winning bot-artist Darius Kazemi.
Alongside the conference, we hosted a series of live events including a world premiere from Gazelle Twin, and a specially commissioned series of improvisational performances in response to our commission Smoke Signals, from Jon Hering, Sara Lowes and Joe Dudderidge & Harry Fausing Smith.
FutureEverything 2016 welcomed data visualisation designer Moritz Stefaner to showcase Project Ukko, a groundbreaking climate service for wind energy. Festival visitors could interact with Project Ukko first hand and see the stunning interface in a full scale projection, as well as hear more about the project during an intimate fireside chat.
Project Ukko is a FutureEverything and BSC project for EUPORIAS, based on ECMWF seasonal predictions by RESILIENCE, with data visualisation by Moritz Stefaner.
FutureEverything 2016 invited great thinkers and subject experts to debate the themes of life, intelligence, the Earth, community and how to thrive in times of uncertainty. Speakers explored all sorts from the ethics of food production, to climate change resilience, to social optimism as an untapped resource.
Smoke Signals by Ed Carter and David Cranmer was a data-driven installation that turned the transmission of information into a haunting blend of smoke rings and sound. Commissioned by FutureEverything and hosted at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Smoke Signals built on Arts API, a fifteen-month R&D project from FutureEverything, University of Dundee and Swirrl (made possible through the Digital R&D Fund for the Arts).
Alongside the main conference events, FutureEverything 2016 played host to a number of fireside chats – intimate, exploratory conversations with internationally renowned artists, designers, thinkers and business leaders from across the festival programme. The fireside chats offered an opportunity for guests to experience a more in depth, nuanced exploration of the work and ideas.
