Future Based meetup #9

With Annika Kappner, Amelia Emma Forrest, Michelle Geraerts, and Monika Dahlberg.

The world is completely entangled in the Anthropocene with human technologies, human reason – and human-centered knowledge infrastructures. In addition, this knowledge is characterized by the global society’s increasing dependence on results and the further expansion of scientific and technological developments.  But at what cost? And are there alternatives?

In the light of urgent ecological circumstances, one of the greatest challenges is to rethink the relationship between man and the world. Underlying is the search to define what is of value: What are the infrastructures of ‘value’ in the Anthropocene? By repositioning ourselves as human beings and exploring the blind trust we have with our senses, we can open up alternative ways of knowing and being in the world.

Because when it comes to interpreting information and making sense of reality through our senses, human brains are hard-wired to make all kinds of errors that impact ability to make (rational) judgments. There is no simple way to get around these basic human instincts, but one thing that we can do is to at least acknowledge the bias of the senses,  that warp our sense of reality. But are these biases still of value? Or could it be that these biases are not quite as adaptive in today’s much more complex world?

During this meeting we will examine the bias of the senses and explore the possibilities of alternative forms of knowledge. In what other ways would we be able to perceive the world? Perhaps it is enough just to know and consider these universal prejudices of our senses in order to use them differently, and it can help us develop a critical and alternative perspective on our relationship with the world around us.

18th January at De Utrechtse Boekenbar | 20:00 – 22:00

Speakers:

Annika Kappner creates multi-sensory compositions in the extended field of painting, combining installation, sculpture, sound and performance to create glitches in perception. Prompted by her experience as an investment banker, her work is interested in the evolution of consciousness, the shifting perception of (self) image in relation to mental patterns and the underlying forces that shape their systemic counterparts in nature, visual arts, technology and science. She seeks to add experiential perspectives of the contemporary relationship between human, nature and technology, addressing concepts of non-duality and otherness. She is a co-founder of the multi-disciplinary artist collective Elephants & Volcanoes. http://www.annikakappner.com/

Amelia Emma Forrest is an emerging performance artist based in the studios of Tatwerk Berlin. She is most inspired by metamorphoses and embodiment, with the intention to break down the wall between audience and performer and create together a space. She finished her formal training at Rudra-Béjart after being taken into the Baltic Dance Theatre. Later she moved to Berlin to journey into the world of butoh in the west, simultaneously deepening her exploration into somatics. She is putting into practice the new information generously shared with her by creating and collaborating within theaters, club spaces and club nights. Amelia is also a co-director of Radiant Love along with Byron Yeates and Jochem Van Bruggen. Radiant love is a rave, label, art and performance collective and has a monthly radio residency on HÖR. www.ameliaforrest.com

Michelle Geraerts is a cultural anthropologist and teacher, specialized in ecological anthropology and sustainable citizenship. She is a true lover of fieldwork and has engaged in various transdisciplinary collaborations with artists and experimentalists throughout her studies and research. Currently, she teaches Politics of Kinship at the Cultural Anthropology Department of Radboud University in Nijmegen. LinkedIn page Michelle.

Monika Dahlberg makes sculptures, installations, collages, photos and texts. Social, aesthetic and political criticism are obvious instruments of her working method. Her vital and powerful work is permeated with sensory, erotic energy. Characteristic of her work are the art-historical references that she links to her own biography. She developed her own visual language that interweaves with how she lives and experiences life. Follow Monika here.

Background photo: Annika Kappner

Please note: only online tickets available. Limited amount of seats. Refund possible till two weeks in advance.No refund possible when the event has sold out.