HYPERTOPIA Panel: Digital Field Trip with Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg and Josef Settele

In the framework of the discussion, the relationship between human beings, nature and technology is examined.

How can we bring together the arts and sciences to explore alternative sustainable futures? What global challenges and scientific findings need to be addressed to help us overcome this systemic crisis? And finally: How can speculative design and imagination be employed as a tool to drive socio-ecological transformation?
During the first part of the program, STATE Studio’s current exhibition Hypertopia will be introduced. The exhibition presents thought experiments that counter the ecological, geological and socio-political challenges of our time with a new collective optimism; which will also be investigated during this Digital Field Trip. Departing from the artwork “Designing for the Sixth Extinction” by Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg we invite you to dive deeper into the past and possible futures of synthetic biology.
Following the introduction, our guest Prof Dr Josef Settele, research scientist for biodiversity and conservation at the Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research in Leipzig, will elaborate on the topic of biodiversity from a scientific and political perspective. Settele is Co-Chair of the Global Assessment of IPBES (Intergovernmental Platform of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services), contributed to the last report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and has a leading role in the World Biodiversity Council.
Dr Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg will share her view on the relationship between biodiversity, synthetic biology and the Anthropocene during a 30-minute talk. The artist and designer creates speculative fictions around non-human entities and encourages new thought patterns for a biosynthetic future. Her work won the World Technology Award for design in 2011, the London Design Medal for Emerging Talent in 2012, and the Dezeen Changemaker Award 2019. She is shortlisted for this year’s Falling Walls Art Prize.
At the end of the program, we invite participants to join us in a playful interaction in the form of a virtual thought experiment exploring synthetic biology’s future role and potentials. A new breeding ground for a network of ideas that entangle dreams, hopes and fears will be developed by the participants.
This Digital Field Trip is the first collaboration between Science Notes Magazin and STATE Studio as part of the Berlin Science Week and in the context of Hypertopia. The event will be moderated by Thomas Susanka (Science Notes Magazin) and Christian Rauch (STATE Studio).

PUBLIC PANEL DISCUSSION VIA LIVESTREAM.

This is a digital event. Shortly before the event starts, the stream will be made available on this site. Add the event to your schedule and receive a reminder.