Driving the Human – seven prototypes for eco-social renewal
++ NEWS ++ Open Call from February 10 to April 9, 2021 asks for ideas and concepts to shape the future ++ NEWS ++
How can the standard of living achieved today be linked to the idea of sustainability? What can each and every individual do to prevent threatening future scenarios from becoming reality? How can technologies help?
The Driving the Human collaborative project, which combines science, technology and art in a transdisciplinary and collaborative approach, aims to find answers to these questions over the next three years. The project serves as a catalyst for experiments that rethink the methods and tools for social change and drive the design of sustainable visions of the future.
At the launch of the Driving the Human Open Call, Prof. Dr. Martina Schraudner, member of the acatech board, and Freo Majer, founder of Forecast, discuss how science and the arts can learn from one another, why Driving the Human is not just an art project but also addresses the scientific community, and talk about the role of acatech.
The answers to the central questions help us to think ahead to the social coexistence of the future and to actively shape the social change triggered by technological innovation in the interest of the common good. For this to succeed, people must be at the center of the discussion: their formative habits, needs, sensitivities, but also weaknesses, as well as the relationship between the individual and society.
Photo: Vera Christoph
We need new ways to combine social and technological innovations in order to rethink visions of the future. That’s exactly what Driving the Human is aiming to create, a platform for collaborative ideation and realization of these visions. I am excited about the possibilities that will arise from intertwining our insights.
Prof. Dr. Martina Schraudner Member of the Board acatech
Content
Under the joint leadership of four partner institutions – acatech, the mentoring platform Forecast, Karlsruhe University of Design (HfG) and ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe – Driving the Human will produce seven concrete prototypes for sustainable coexistence that respond to complex contemporary transformative challenges often perceived as threatening, such as climate change.
The community of participants, the partners’ network of expertise and knowledge, and the larger audience that Driving the Human brings together will do so by examining various phenomena, such as the social impacts of global warming, energy cycles and technology-driven disruptions, the effects of collective decision-making, and current processes in the exchange of values and objects. In doing so, the initiative links scientific approaches with those from the arts, using this as a deeply transdisciplinary approach to effective communication. At the same time, Driving the Human develops strategies for action in the form of concrete physical experiences that can have powerful individual and collective impacts.
Ultimately, the seven prototypes to be developed will give rise to tools that allow new ways of perceiving and inhabiting the world to emerge and help shape the development of possible solution scenarios to the challenges. These can take different forms, such as walk-in spatial installations, design objects, architectural mock-ups, interactive games, video works, and performances. In the course of their development, they are presented to the public, put up for discussion in different contexts and questioned by experts as to their suitability. The seven prototypes, which can be physically experienced, are intended to convey possibilities for action and motivate the individual to identify with them and to transfer insights gained to his or her own actions.
Timeline
2020
At the virtual Opening Festival – November 20-22, scientists, artists, designers and other multidisciplinary participants discuss current issues that currently define our existence. As a catalyst for experimental work, the festival formulates questions and defines thematic fields that launch the next phase of Driving the Human.
2021
As part of an open call, the lead organizations invite creatives, initiatives and offices to submit project outlines from February 10 to April 9, 2021. In doing so, they are in close exchange with the partner institutions and their network, which enriches the development process with relevant expertise and technology.
From all the submissions, a high-caliber, multidisciplinary jury of experts will select 21 concepts to be presented in the fall at a conference in Berlin organized by Forecast. The seven most promising concepts, which will be produced over a period of one year, will be presented in December at a conference in Munich hosted by acatech.
2022
The leading curators, together with an international network of supporting institutions, companies and experts consulted in each case, accompany the elaboration and production of the seven prototypes.
At the final festival at the end of 2022 in Berlin – organized by Forecast – Driving the Human will present the seven results to the public. They will consequently be discussed with a broad audience at conferences, festivals, etc.
