We are happy to announce that the 2nd Renewable Futures conference will take place next week, in Eindhoven, April 28–29, 2017, as a part of Economia festival, please see the programme below. And on this occasion we have published the new volume in the Acoustic  Space series (No. 16), which contains the papers from the 1st Renewable Futures conference (Riga 2015), and overview of the Fields exhibition (Riga 2014): http://acousticspacejournal.com.

RENEWABLE FUTURES 2017: Economia
The 2nd Conference on Art, Science and Society in the Post-Media Age
Eindhoven, April 28–29, 2017

The second edition of the Renewables Futures conference with the title Economia will take place in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, aiming to push the boundaries of our thinking about economy. Two-day conference is a part of the larger programme of Economia festival, organized by Baltan Laboratories from April 28–30, 2017 in NatLab, former Physics Lab of Philips.

http://thinkeconomia.com/renewable-future-conference

Background – the Renewable Futures conference series

The Renewable Futures is new international art and science conference series launched by RIXC Center for New Media Culture in collaboration with Renewable Futures European network, and supported by Creative Europe programme. The Renewable Futures aims to invent new avenues for more sustainable and imaginative future developments by shaping new contact zones between traditionally separated domains – art and science, academic research and independent creative practices, sustainable businesses and social engagement in the 21st century.

The conference launching event took place in Riga 2014, inspired by the approach of Fields Exhibition (co-curated by Armin Medosch, Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits). The Fields Exhibition was large-scale manifestation of the art in post-media age, which suggested not to look at art in a narrow sense but to take into account all kinds of creative practices that bring together new ways of thinking, scientific knowledge, aesthetics, technologies and social practices (http://fields.rixc.lv).

The first edition took place in Riga, 2015, focusing on transformative potential of art in the post-media age. Following the Eindhoven's “economia” edition, the third conference is planned to take place in Helsinki, 2018/2019.

http://renewablefutures.net

 ECONOMIA FESTIVAL – on economy, without economists

In its second edition, the Renewable Futures conference is moving to Eindhoven. Organized by Baltan Laboratories, this year's conference aims to push the boundaries of our thinking about economy. The 2-day conference (April 28–29) is a part of a broader programme of the Economia festival that explores new ideas and thinking about our economy. The organizers call it “laboratory for ideas”, and invite participants to “step out of the existing frame of thought”. The festival presents “unexpected and playful approaches looking at the essence of economy, thus establishing a fresh point of view on the economic system and our society”. The Festival is curated by Wiepko Oosterhuis and Olga Mink.

The Economia festival programme will feature public keynotes by Pankaj Mishra, Evgeny Morozov, Geerat Vermeij and Frank Trentmann. It also offers an extensive program with films, performances, installations, and includes the 2nd edition of Renewable Futures conference.

Thematically, this year's conference is based on five characteristics of economy:

• Economy as evolution: economy is about development and evolution. The direction in which societies evolve is influenced by the type of economic relationships they develop. 



• Economy as a game: economy is about rules and laws. Gaming is about learning the laws and rules of a game so that you get better at it and win.

• Economy as a fiction: economy is about ideas and faith. Credit has existed right from the start of societies, in the form of trust that A would pay B. Every form of an economic relationship is an idea, or to put it better perhaps a prejudice. Which means it can change.

• Economy as a market: economy is about supply and demand. The greatest and most misunderstood cliché́. Demand and supply is a way to describe life. Each influences the other in unpredictable and complex ways.

• Economy as magic: economy is both tangible and invisible. We are familiar with two forms of trade, goods and money. The one that you can handle and the other that exists only in the form of ones and zeros. The latter seems like pure magic. It is with good reason that some of these "financial wizards" call themselves "Master of the universe".

Explore all these different roles of economy yourself!

http://thinkeconomia.com

ECONOMIA Festival

Keynotes

Friday, April 28, 19.45 – 21.30
Age of Anger. Individual well-being as a necessity for economic growth.
By Pankaj Mishra
Pankaj Mishra’s latest book Age of Anger couldn’t be more well-timed. He shows that this time is not unique: even the beginning of the twentieth century was full of destructive instinct, nationalism and terrorism. 

Saturday, April 29, 13.30 – 15.15
How digital technologies shape society. Does the same apply to economic mechanisms?
By Evgeny Morozov
Evgeny Morozov is one of the best informed critics of cyber-utopianism of our time. In his books and articles, Morozov writes about the political and social implications of technology, and the crossroads our society is at. 

Saturday, April 29, 19.45 – 21.30
The economy of nature. An evolutionary biologist's view on life as an economic model
By Geerat Vermeij
In his book “Nature: An Economic History” (2004) Evolutionary biologist Geerat Vermeij summarizes economic ideas about ecosystems and evolution that he has been developing for several decades. 

Sunday, April 30, 15.00 – 16.45
A world of consumers. The epic history of consuming stuff
By Frank Trentmann
Why we have too much stuff, and what can we do about it? Dr. Frank Trentmann will talk about the epic history of consumption, and the goods that have transformed our lives over the past 600 years.

RENEWABLE FUTURES Conference

Keynotes

Friday, April 28 at 10.00, Cinema 2
Hybrid Economies. In-Between Sharing and Selling, Networking and Fabricating
By Rasa Smite, Kristin Bergaust and Lily Diaz-Kommonen

The potential of hybrid economy lies on relations between a market-based system and sharing economies, between commerce and art. In their presentation, Rasa Smite, Kristin Bergaust and Lily Diaz-Kommonen will explore utopias and realities of hybrid economy. On the one hand, art today has become a source for creative ideas, "feeding" nearly all other fields of society. On the other, artistic research claims to become an independent form of knowledge on its own. The presenters will be tracing both a way back to 90s Internet avant-garde ideas on collaborative networking and gift-economies, and to the promise of the 21st century’s digital currencies and peer-economies.

Friday, April 28 at 17.05, Cinema 2
Post Oil Utopia
By Olga Kisseleva

POST OIL UTOPIA is a multimedia project that is devoted to the global oil depletion. The concept of the project was conceived during Olga Kisseleva’s visit to Kuwait, a country that is one of the most striking examples of a mono-economy state. What will happen to this country if, in the near future, humanity ceases to depend so much on the country’s main source of income? POST OIL UTOPIA is an outright attempt to imagine a model of future society, functioning without the requisite dependence on the single resource. It is a utopian concept of an ideally organized system, expressed in the form of a performance.

Saturday, April 29 at 10.00
Rainbows And Pots of E.Coli: Speculations On Economic Micro-Evolution
By Raphael Kim

Rapid advances in biotechnology might bring evolutions of more than one kind: not only that of artificially-evolved lifeforms, but of our perceived functions of them within society.
In addition to their identity as workhorses – for the development of modern healthcare, sustainable food, energy and the environment – microbes and DNA could play compelling roles in stretching their application bases further in the context of becoming physical components of economic infrastructure. In his presentation, Raphael Kim will be exploring scenarios of bio-engineered finance through speculations grounded in scientific research and argues the values behind such an approach.

Saturday, April 29 at 17.05
A Counting for the Language of Modern-Day Economic Fictions
By Nicholas McGuigan, co-writer Thomas Kern

The goal of this presentation is to explore the language – accounting – that is driving modern-day economic fictions. Nicholas McGuigan and Thomas Kern will provide an insight into how the current degenerative economy is being driven by a monosyllabic language that supports an objective, linear view of reality.
The presenters will argue how the language of accounting is changing in order to begin transitioning towards a more holistic view of the world, paving the way for more regenerative economies. It is precisely this change in the language of business – from one of ac'count'ing – to one of accountability that enables creative collaborative futures for business, accounting and economic systems. Changing this language is critical.

Programme
http://thinkeconomia.com/articles/renewable-futures-conference-schedule

Day 1, Friday, April 28
10.00 - 17.30
Moderator: Dan Diojdescu

10.00
Theme: Economy as Evolution
Rasa Smite, Kristin Bergaust and Lily Diaz-Kommonen / RIXC & Liepaja University / Hybrid Economies: In-Between Sharing and Selling, Networking and Fabricating, Art and Commerce

10.35
Theme: Economy as Evolution
Alexia Mellor / Newcastle University / Interrogating the Local and Global: Participatory Approaches to Wicked Problems and The Economy
Enrico Benco and Dimitra Viveli / Go Sailing for a Change & To Dodeka / Exchange vs. Repetition: a call for balance through economy and art
Rose Marie Barrientos / independent researcher / The Artist as Economic Agent

12.50 
Theme: Economy as Magic
Tamar Shafrir / Het Nieuwe Instituut / Min(t)ing Wealth in a Dematerialising World
Conor McGarrigle / Dublin Institute of Technology / Détourning Data 
Matthew Wilson / independent artist / The Inner Sanctum in which the Infinite Expands
Camilla Boemio / AAC Platform, AICA International Association of Arts Critics, UNIPVM / The Intersectional Economy

14.15
Theme: Economy as Fiction
Meredith Degyansky / independent researcher / Informal Economies as Fictional Realities 
Cecilia Wee and Dani Admiss / Royal College of Art / The Cult of the Mind: Posthuman Chronicles 
Timothy Smith / Aalto University / Destruction, Impossibility, and Failure: Alternative Creative Economies in Art Education
Daniela de Paulis / ASCA, University of Amsterdam / Port City as Utopian City. 

15.40
Theme: Economy as a Game
Stephanie Polsky / Goldsmiths College & Vienna University of Technology / Dare to Lose 
Michael Brodsky / Loyola Marymount University / Twitter Wars: Fighting Hans Solo
Josef Bares / independent artist / Creating Through Consuming: Shopping-based Research 

Max Dovey / Institute of Network Cultures / Credit Worthy 


17.05
Theme: Economy as Fiction
Olga Kisseleva / independent artist / Panthéon-Sorbonne University Paris / POST OIL UTOPIA

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Day 2, Saturday, April 29
10.00 – 17.30
Moderator: Rasa Smite

10.00
Theme: Economy as Evolution
Raphael Kim / Queen Mary University / Rainbows And Pots of E.Coli: Speculations On Economic Micro-Evolution

10.35
Theme: Economy as a Game
Milos Trakilovic / independent artist / A Shot In The Arm 
Solvita Zarina / University of Latvia / Economy as a Game with Visual Design Guidelines 
Fran Ilich and Gabriela Ceja / Diego de la Vega Coffee Co-op / Sabotage Tlacatlaolli Variable

Jenifer Wightman / Cornell & The New School / Waste is a Serious Lack of Imagination

12.50
Theme: Economy as a Market
Tamar Shafrir / Het Nieuwe Instituut / The Chimera of Cost
Korsten and De Jong / ArtEZ / Give-and-take
Elisa Oreglia, Janaki Srinivasan and Krish Raghav / SOAS, University of London / Supply, Demand, Middlemen: Digital Technologies and Markets in the Global South 
Liene Jakobsone / Art Academy of Latvia / Speculative Supply For Fictional Demand

14.15
Theme: Economy as a Market, as Evolution
Stephanie Rothenberg / SUNY Buffallo / Trading Systems 
Mikko Dufva / VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd / Imagining Alternative Future Economies 
Pierangelo Dacrema and Brunella Bruno / Università degli Studi della Calabria & Bocconi University / The Death of Money

Helena Sederholm and Martti Raevaara / Aalto University / Space Between – Co-creation of Arts, Business and Technology 

15.40
Theme: Economy as Evolution
Pablo Velasco / University of Warwick / Blockchain Morphology: an historical perspective on the affaire between money and networks

Enrique Encinas / Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute / Illuminating Infrastructure
Matthew Wilson / independent artist / Mimetic Economies 

Anna Maria Tekampe / State University of Arts and Design Karlsruhe / The Information Economy As Part of the "Creatio Continua"

17.05
Theme: Economy as a Fiction
Nicholas McGuigan / The Accountability Institute / A Counting for the Language of Modern-Day Economic Fictions

The first publication of new Renewable Futures will be out 
and presented in the Economia conference!

We are delighted to announce that on the occasion of the Economia festival and 2nd Renewable Futures conference, we have published the new volume in Acoustic Space series, with which we begin also new series, focusing on exploring the transformative potential of art in the post-media age. The 1st Renewable Futures book includes papers from the 1st Renewable Futures Conference, and an overview of the Fields exhibition (Riga 2014), a large-scale post-media manifestation, jointly curated by Armin Medosch, Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits.

Authors and contributors: Domenico Quaranta, Martha Buskirk, Miško Šuvaković, Dieter Daniels, Andreas Broeckmann, Geoff Cox, Jacob Lund, Ieva Astahovska, Karla Brunet, Oksana Chepelyk, Edith Doove, Gabriela Galati, Julian Hanna, Lisa Jevbratt, Normunds Kozlovs, AnneMarie Maes, Conor McGarrigle, Armin Medosch, Jennifer no.e Parker, Daniela de Paulis, Helena Sederholm, Ilva Skulte, Rasa Smite, Raitis Smits, Vygandas “Vegas” Šimbelis, Isidora Todorović, Polona Tratnik and Fields Exhibition artists.

Published by RIXC in Riga, and first presented in Eindhoven, April 28, 2017.

Conference chairs: Rasa Smite, Olga Mink, and Wiepko Oosterhuis

Conference International Scientific Board:
Katja Kwastek, Misko Suvakovic, Jussi Parikka, Dieter Daniels, Douglas Kahn, Lev Manovich, Laura Beloff, Lily Diaz-Kommonen, Kristin Bergaust 

Conference Local Organizational Board:
Katja Kwastek, Daniëlle Arets, Annie Fletcher, Dan Diojdescu, Ingrid van der Wacht, Alain Heureux, CeesJan Mol

Contacts:

Baltan Laboratories | Kastanjelaan 500, 5616 LZ Eindhoven, The Netherlands
http://baltanlaboratories.org
info@baltanlaboratories.org | + 31 40 2946848 | + 31 40 2946847
Facebook | Twitter

RIXC Center for New Media Culture in Riga
http://rixc.org | rixc@rixc.org | +371 67228478

Support and partners:

Renewable Futures is a European collaboration project led by RIXC Center for New Media Culture RIXC (LV) and involves six partners: Baltan Laboratories (NL), Ars Longa (FR), Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences (NO), Media Lab of Aalto University (FI), Hangar (ES) and Liepaja University (LV). 

Renewable Futures conference and Economia festival is supported by EU Programme Creative Europe, NordPlus, State Cultural Capital Foundation of Latvia, Ministry of Culture of Republic of Latvia, BRABANT C, creative industries of fund NL, DIT DUS, Van abbe museum, Mondriaan fonds, BROET BASEMENT, venturespring, yellow online, institute of network cultures, NAT LAB.

http://renewablefutures.net