ART FOR FUTURES LAB - Worldbuilding for Future Imaginaries
“If you want to build a ship,” advises Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, “then don't drum up people to gather wood, assign tasks and divide up the work, but teach the people to long for the vast, endless sea.”
- Project start:
- 2020
- Project completion:
- 2025
The Art for Futures Lab is an interdisciplinary research and teaching platform developed by Angelica Böhm (Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF) and Nicole Loeser (Institute for Art and Innovation).
It uses scenographic methods to develop and explore future scenarios in collaboration with international partners. Through co-creative processes, participants create narrative, spatial, and media-based formats that make ecological and societal transformations tangible and negotiable.
The methodology combines worldbuilding, artistic research, and speculative design with design thinking and future prototyping. Scenography is understood as a tool for translating complex systems into experiential situations and opening new perspectives on possible futures.
The Art for Futures Lab is closely integrated into teaching within the Scenography program and is implemented through studio-based formats, workshops, and international collaborations. Students work in interdisciplinary teams and develop experimental projects at the intersection of art, research, and society.
Recent collaborations include partners from art, research, and education, including projects with institutions in Europe and Australia.
Selected Activities:
- ELIA Biennial Conference
- Ars Electronica
- Futurium Berlin
- international workshops and research collaborations
Photo sequence: New Greening Studioset at Babelsberg Film University in the summer semester of 2021 during the construction phase. BA Szenography: Kim Lange, Anastazja Gawron, Sophia Roetschke, Johanna Kowalski, Anika Koppe, Uju Choi, Linda Gagelmann
Website resulted of an ArtForFuture-Lab / New Greening Workshop on 11.05.2021 at Filmuniversity Babelsberg:
Team: Sebastian Esposito (MA VFX), Jana Herrmann MA VFX), Josephine Bischof (MA Digitale Medienkultur), https://josephinebischoff.wixsite.com/projektmomentum
Showcase
A collection of recent works created during the project can be viewed here: ART FOR FUTURES LAB showcase.
Film exercise and teaching on the New Greening World in the summer semester 2021.
Events
- Art For Futures Lab@ ELIA Biennial Conference Helsinki, Finland, 24.11.2022
- Ocean Future Lab, Online Hackathon, 21. – 23.9.2022
- Ocean Future Lab@ Futurium Berlin, 26.8.2022, 14:00-18:00
Archive
- Ocean Future Lab, Online Workshop, 7.7.2022, 14:00-17:00
- Ocean Future Lab@ German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven, 25.6.2022, 12:00-19:00
- Art for Futures Potsdam@ Filmmuseum Potsdam in cooperation with HTW, 30.6.2022, 14:00-22:00
- Art For Futures Lab@ ELIA Leadership Symposium: Stories of Uncertainties, Tallin/Estonia, 10.6.2022
- Ocean Future Lab, Online Workshop, 9.6.2022, 14:00-17:00
- Ocean Future Lab@ German Maritime Museum Foundation in Stralsund, 31.5.2022 12:00-19:00
- Ocean Future Lab@ Online Workshop, 24.5.2022, 14:00-17:00
- Art For Futures Lab@ Potsdam Science Day, Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy, 7.5.2022, 13-19 Uhr
- Ocean Future Lab@ MS Wissenschaft, Wissenschaftsjahr 2022 Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, 6.5.2022 13-19 Uhr
- Ocean Future Lab@ Filmuniversität BA Szenografie, 14.2.2022 9:30-15:30 Uhr
- ArtForFuture-Lab@Climate SciFi: Art and Business-Cooperations for a sustainable Live-Event. A collaboration between HTW Berlin and Filmuniversity Babelsberg, 27.10. and 3.11.2021
- ArtForFuture-Lab @ Entrepreneurship Summit, 23.10.2021, 10:45 - 13:00
- ArtForFuture-Lab @ International Transdisciplinary Conference, 24.9. 2021, 13:30 – 15:00 CET
- Presentation & Workshops @ Zero Waste Berlin Festival 17. - 19.9. 2021
- ArtForFuture-Lab @ Impact Festival 17.9.2021, 10:30 - 12:00 CET
- Workshop @ Leuphana Utopia Camp initiated by the transformation researcher Maya Goepel and the philosopher Richard David Precht, August 24 & 25 2021, 9-19 CET
- Presentation ArtForFuture-Lab @International GEECT-Conferenz "Transversal Entanglement - Artistic Research in Film", 3rd June 2021
- ArtForFuture-Lab / New Greening, 11.5. 2021, Filmuniversität Babelsberg & with international guests from e.g. Goldsmith University London
- ArtForFuture-Lab @The Future Living - Conference, 6.5. 2021
- New Greening Design-Workshop, Filmuniversität Babelsberg 26.4. - 7.5. 2021
- Presentation ArtForFuture-Lab @ UpdateDeutschland since 15th April 2021
- The Future of Art - Workshop 13.4. 2021, Filmuniversität Babelsberg & with international guests from e.g. Maastricht University
- Future Prototyping of Kärcher 2050, 18.11. 2020
- ArtForFuture-Lab: CO-IMAGINATIONS and CO-PRODUCTIONS, Kepler's Garden, Ars Electronica, 10.09. 2020
- Zukunftsbeben, Hackathon and Design-Workshop, Filmuniversität Babelsberg, 03. - 10.06. 2020
- Art For Futures Lab Workshop @ For Futures Summit, 30.05.2020
Collaborators
- Concept and Realization: Prof. Angelica Böhm, Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, Nicole Loeser, Institute for Art and Innovation e.V.
- Design & Research AFFL playing area: Kay Scholz, Lucia Eifler, Franziska Herbes, Jan Schneider
- Concept Designer: Jan Schneider, Emad Metwally
- Design Workshop “Zukunftsbeben” Videoclips: Aisha Muthesius, Philomena Koebele, Kasia Zucheka, Anna Laszlo, Antonia Nestler, Linda Bruna
- Partners: Scientists for Future, AWI, Ars Electronica, IKF, Potsdam UNESCO-City of Film, Made out of WHAT!?, Makers4Humanity etc.
Further Links:
