From November 25–27, 2022, Driving the Human realized a three-day festival marking the culmination of three years of collaboration, research and experimentation, connecting disciplines between sciences and the arts. 

Driving the Human: Seven Prototypes for Eco-social Renewal
Hosted by Forecast

November 25-27, 2022
silent green
Gerichtstraße 35, 13347 Berlin, Germany 

Hosted by Forecast at silent green in Berlin, the festival featured at its heart seven tangible prototypes that responded to our current planetary moment, enabling new ways of envisioning and inhabiting the world.

The Seven Prototypes for Eco-social Renewal propose new ways to engage with each other and with what surrounds us, at the surface of the planet and beyond. They explore ways in which AI could mitigate instead of accelerating climate change; immerse us in new forms of making community through ancestral agricultural knowledge; employ fiction as an imagination tool for new forms of multispecies conviviality; or create embodied connections as a tool to understand and change human impact in endangered territories. Together, these seven prototypes reinforce perspectives in which collaboration and interdependency become essential, determining factors for life and survival on our planet.

FULL PROGRAM  | LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

 

 

Installations, conversations, tours, performances
The Driving the Human festival brought to the forefront the seven prototypes and the extended network that has emerged out of three years of collaboration. Each prototype manifested in physical form as a fully experienceable installation, free and open to visit during the full festival duration. Around the installations, tours, exchanges and performances led by invited experts, project authors and partner representatives offered opportunities for conversations and shared moments of commonality. From Brigitte Baptiste to Tatiana Bilbao, and from Corine Pelluchon to Suzanne Pierre. Explore the extensive participant list here.

 

The Driving the Human Center
The Driving the Human Center acted as the beating heart of the festival. Here, visitors could hang out and enjoy the lounge space, listen to conversations between participants and experts, depart for tours and deep dives, use the bar and peruse the Driving the Human library. At the silkscreen station, visitors could bring their old tote bags for a refresh; and at the pin button station, they could create new questions to respond to the festival’s many dimensions. Dive into the many dimensions of the program here

 

Workshop program
The festival proposed a varied program of workshops for different audiences, led by Driving the Human project authors, by project partners, and by local initiatives in Berlin. From a fermentation station to learning how to comunicate scientific topics on TikTok, and from programming with sensors to an exploration of human-microbial interactions, the workshops offered new ways of engaging with the different themes of the festival. Explore the workshop program here.

 

form x Driving the Human
The form Design Podcast teamed up with Driving the Human! For this year’s festival that took place in Berlin, the form editors-in-chief, Nina Sieverding and Anton Rahlwes, set up a Speakers’ Corner. In this cozy environment, the two talked with participants and design experts about new concepts of designable togetherness. Find the form x Driving the Human podcast episodes here.

 

Concert: Marina Herlop and Low Khey
On Saturday evening, visitors could experience the vibrant, polymorphous music of Marina Herlop. The Catalonian, conservatory trained composer, vocalist, and pianist channeled her environment in truly posthuman form, following her third album Pripyat (2020). The opening act of the evening was Low Khey, an unidentified human machine juggling between epic choirs, cutting-edge trap and pre-apocalyptic soundscapes, in a rich and complex ensemble. 

 

LINA Fellows
Three LINA fellows—Tevi Allan Mensah, Jonathan Steiger, and Studio Inscape – were contributing guests at the festival. Representing an emerging generation of architects that center sustainable, circular and clean practices, they reflected on the intersections between their work and the seven prototypes on display, via workshops, individual explorations, and a conversation.

 

Team

Forecast
Artistic Director
Freo Majer

Head of Projects and Team
Agata Lorkowska

Driving the Human
Project Coordinator
Nikola Joetze

Program Coordinator
Vera Sacchetti

Communication and Press
Inês Revés

German Press Relations
Kathrin Luz

Production Assistant
Sarah Lipszyc

Project Assistant
Rabea Kaczor

Assistant to the Artistic Director
Melissa Marx

Working Student (Social Media)
Aisha Altenhofen

Trainee
Christina Braun

Intern
Justus Lietzke

Driving the Human Visual Identity and Website
Studio Yukiko

silent green Artistic Director
Bettina Ellerkamp and Jörg Heitmann

We thank
Louise Hoffmeister, RichardKönig, and Linda Winkler, the production and communication department, technical team, and all staff at silentgreen.

Seven Prototypes for Eco-social Renewal
Seven Prototypes
Akwasi Bediako Afrane, Anne-Sofie Belling, Bea Delgado Corrales, Lena Geerts Danau, Mang Dian, Hyeseon Jeong, Romy Kaiser, Paula Nerlich, Eliana Otta, Andra Pop-Jurj, Xiaoyu Iris Qu (曲晓宇), Vincent Rumahloine, Seongmin Yuk

Experts
Kim Albrecht, Brigitte Baptiste, Tatiana Bilbao, Washington Fajardo, Jan-Micha Gamer, Alexander Hicks, Kabelo Malatsie, Hemal Naik, Corine Pelluchon, Suzanne Pierre, Margit Rosen, Yuri Tuma

Moderators and activators
Song Tae Chong, Daniel Cremer, Ariana Dongus, Anton Rahlwes, Vera Sacchetti, Nina Sieverding, Antje Stahl, Chloe Stead

LINA Platform Fellows
Tevi Allan Mensah, Jonathan Steiger, Eileen Stornebrink, Willie Vogel

Concert
Marina Herlop, Low Khey

Local Initiatives
Floating Kidsuni, Kulturlabor Trial&Error e.V., Kunst-Stoffe – Zentralstelle für wiederverwendbare Materialien e.V., Ort-Schafft-Material, Soydivision, Reste der Reste

Spatial Design
Studio Judith Seng and Constructlab (Alexander Römer)

Stage Manager
Ndona Kasukamako, Esther Madubuko, Hana Petersen

Hospitality
Sophie Charleson

Artist Support
Marc Abadie, Vedat Dayan

Video Documentation
Stephan Talneau

Photography
Camille Blake

Technical Coordination
Production Office Ingenieurbüro für Entertainment

Technical service provider
AMBION GmbH Lighting

Design
Henning Schletter

Copyediting
Joanna Durier, BarbaraHauß, Julia Thorson

Exhibition Support
kujawa raumdesign

Festival Support Team
Clara Böckers, Maximilian Hornisch, Kim Kampe, Lara Mühlinghaus, Donna Schons, Valerie Stötzer, Sergen Yener

Supported by
PRIMOZA, Die Seedball-Manufaktur, FVG Folien-Vertriebs GmbH

Thanks to
Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, MARS | Küche & Bar, Georgia Goody-Miceli, Patrick Liwitzki, Hili Perlson

Cooperation Driving the Human has been initiated by Forecast, and further developed in continuous conversations between Freo Majer with Jan Boelen (Atelier LUMA), Martina Schraudner (Fraunhofer Center for Responsible Research and Innovation (CeRRI)), and the curatorial team of ZKM.

acatech
Sandra Fendl, Doerthe Winter-Berke, Hannah Lecheler

Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe / Bio Design Lab
Julia Ihls, Anthea Oestreicher, Hajo Eickbusch, Jehad Othman

ZKM
Peter Weibel, Sarah Donderer, Daria Parkhomenko, Philipp Ziegler

ZKM – Scientist in Residence Program
Kim Albrecht, Maya Indira Ganesh, Xandra van der Eyck, Iris Long