Last summer, 24 young people came together during an ART-SCIENCE summer residence at artist Koen Vanmechelen’s LABIOMISTA. They thought profoundly and creatively about the future. During this closing session 'In Search of Future Gardens’, the new narrative that they co-created was presented to a local audience of students and decision makers in Vienna.
PROGRAM, DEC 10TH, 2024
Vienna Master of Arts in Applied Human Rights & University of Applied Arts Vienna
17h00 – 17h10
Mariella Greil & Peter Kozek, APL-Angewandte Perfomance Lab
Welcome
17h10 – 17h30
Opening by Manfred Nowak, Co-Founder and Program Director of the Vienna Master of Arts in Applied Human Rights at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and Verena Benedict-Orlicek, Head of Cooperations Vienna Master in Applied Human Rights
17h30 – 18h40
Lecture Future Garden by Koen Vanmechelen, artist & founder of The Unthinkable Experiment & Chido Govera, social entrepreneur & Pythia of Chapter Future Garden
18h40 – 19h00
The Unthinkable Experiment – Chapter Future Garden
19h00 – 19h30
Presentations by the participants
- Anna Lusser
- Video message by Zhou Yuqi
THE UNTHINKABLE EXPERIMENT – an experience shared by anna lusser
At the beginning of July, I took the train to Vienna Airport to catch my flight. Destination: Brussels, with a connection to Genk. When I booked the ticket and packed my bag, I didn’t really think about what was about to happen. Truthfully, I didn’t imagine how the next two weeks could look. I was tired—exhausted from the semester—and all I wanted was some quiet time in Vienna. But there I was, on a train in rainy Belgium, on my way to the unknown."
At the train station in Genk, a small place in the middle of Belgium, I met Emilio, one of the facilitators, and 5 strangers: Joao, Beatriz, Daniel, Rita, YuQi, and another Joao. This group was chosen to spend the next three days together intensively; getting to know each other, organizing themselves, camping among chickens and flamingos, cooking and sitting together in a box, thinking about what our future garden could look like. Obviously, those strangers soon became friends, mainly shaped by Rita reading Tao to us.
But why was I here? I had been invited under the scope of the Applied Human Rights Master’s Program to participate in something bold: the Unthinkable Experiment.
So here I found myself, literally in a box – asked to think outside of that box, as Koen himself likes to phrase it. This was no ordinary workshop. It was an experiment in creativity, daring us to dream about a world that doesn't yet exist and to ask unthinkable questions.
The Unthinkable Experiment - video installation by yuqi zhou
Reflections on The Unthinkable Experiment Chapter Future Garden
By Emile von Schomberg, facilitator
Stepping through The Ark – the thought-provoking entrance to LABIOMISTA – demands a certain courage to break free from convention. This summer, it served as the metaphorical immigration checkpoint for 24 young, curious minds from around the globe to migrate from society into a world distinctly their own. The fourth chapter of The Unthinkable Experiment had begun: a pluralistic space that borrowed just 2 weeks of society's clock. This year's topic, 'Future Garden’, fittingly unfolded in the beautiful park, offering a playful yet profound twist.
Poem by anna lusser
With the inputs from the interactive activity, Anna created a little poem, a little time capsule created by the whole audience in Vienna.
Facilitated panel discussion
How can the unthinkable shape our future?
Manfred Nowak, Koen Vanmechelen, Chido Govera, Anna Lusser, Emil Rousseau, Verena Benedict-Orlicek (facilitator)
Organising partners
