Forecast Presents

Driving the Human: Seven Prototypes for Eco-social Renewal

From November 25–27, 2022, Driving the Human mounts a three-day festival that marks the culmination of three years of transdisciplinary collaboration, research, and experimentation connecting the sciences and the arts.

Hosted by Forecast at silent green in Berlin, the festival centers on seven tangible prototypes that respond to our current planetary moment, enabling new ways of envisioning and inhabiting the world.

The Seven Prototypes for Eco-Social Renewal propose new ways for us to engage with each other and with our surroundings, on the surface of the planet and beyond. They explore ways in which AI could mitigate instead of accelerating climate change; immerse us in conceiving new forms of community through ancestral agricultural knowledge; employ fiction as an imaginative instrument for nurturing multispecies conviviality; or create embodied connections as a tool for understanding and changing the human impact on threatened territories. Together, the seven prototypes reinforce perspectives in which collaboration and interdependency become essential, determinative factors for life and survival on our planet.

To explore the many dimensions of these powerful ideas, the festival brings together a variety of formats and guests. Over the course of three days, visitors can meet and exchange thoughts with the authors of the seven prototypes, through an experience of installations, conversations, workshops, performances, and other experimental platforms. An invited cohort of international experts, from philosophers to biologists, will offer in-depth explorations of the narratives and approaches assembled on this occasion. A concert evening will allow visitors to experience the polymorphous sounds of Marina Herlop and Low Khey. Lastly, the research of three projects associated with the LINA platform will be presented.

Participants include: Akwasi Bediako Afrane, Anne-Sofie Belling, Brigitte Baptiste, Tatiana Bilbao, Daniel Cremer, Bea Delgado Corrales, Lena Geerts Danau, Sarah Donderer, Sandra Fendl, Mang Dian, Washington Fajardo, Marina Herlop, Julia Ihls, Hyeseon Jeong, Romy Kaiser, Low Khey, Freo Majer, Hemal Naik, Paula Nerlich, Eliana Otta, Corine Pelluchon, Suzanne Pierre, Andra Pop-Jurj, Xiaoyu (Iris) Qu (曲晓宇), Anton Rahlwes, Margit Rosen, Vincent Rumahloine, Vera Sacchetti, Martina Schraudner, Yuri Tuma, Seongmin Yuk, among others.

For an overview of the festival’s vibrant program and a full participant list, please visit drivingthehuman.com.

Festival tickets are now available at this link.

From 2020 to 2023, the scientific and artistic collaboration Driving the Human develops and produces seven tangible prototypes responding to complex contemporary scenarios. The project is jointly led by four partner institutions – acatech – National Academy of Science and Engineering, Forecast, the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design and ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe – and relies on the expert knowledge and skills of their combined networks. Together, these partners will work to enrich the various developments and outcomes of the initiative.