With Sedekah Benih, Trons ‚R‘ Us and Virtual Sanctuary for Fertilizing Mourning
August 12 to September 24, 2023

The exhibition Driving the Human – Seven Prototypes for Eco-Social Renewal runs from June 17 to November 26, 2023, at ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe. Presented in three parts, the exhibition shows the seven prototypes for sustainable coexistence that were developed within the framework of Driving the Human. 

From June to November, the seven prototypes will be presented in three parts: Non-Human Perspectives: Sharing, Shaping, Sensing Habitats (June 17–July 30, 2023); Sharing Knowledge on Common Ground (August 12– September 24, 2023); and Speculative Ecosytems and Interspecies Collaborations (October 7–November 26, 2023).

Driving the Human exhibition, second part
Activation Day program
Saturday, August 12, 2023 

On each of the first Saturdays of the three sections, the ZKM | Karlsruhe offers a comprehensive accompanying program that invites visitors to engage with the topics.

In this part of the exhibition, it’s explored how already existing resources can be used for change.

Sedekah Benih by Vincent Rumahloine and Mang Dian uses the chilli plant as a breeding ground for interdisciplinary exchange in society; Akwasi Bediako Afrane’s Trons ‚R‘ Us explores the relationship between humans, technology and the environment; and Virtual Sanctuary for Fertilizing Mourning by Eliana Otta shares knowledge from and about deceased indigenous environmental activists and offers a platform for collective mourning.

2 – 4 pm
Public workshop with the artist Akwasi Bediako Afrane 
Basic Skills of Technologies for the Future: Soldering 
in the Tool_Lab

2 – 4 pm
Public workshop with Sedekah Benih (Vincent Rumahloine and Reksi Muhamed Sidik)
Karinding – In Tune with Earth
in Atrium 1+2 and on the ZKM_Streuobstwiese
Meeting point at the information desk

4 – 5:30 pm
Introduction and talk about the project Virtual Sanctuary for Fertilizing Mourning 
with the artist Eliana Otta, the scientist José-Carlos Mariátegui and Alistair Hudson (ZKM)
in the Tool_Lab

5:30 – 6 pm
Guided tours and talks through the exhibition with the artists
Meeting point Tool_Lab

Exhibition text:

Over a process of three years of collaboration, research and experimentation, seven prototypes for eco-social renewal have emerged in an exchange between artists and scientists, which can now be presented for discussion in different contexts. 

Addressing the symbiosis of human and more-than-human beings in the 21st century changes our conception of what life means. In dealing with global warming, energy cycles and technological upheaval, as well as collective decision-making and novel processes of value and commodity exchange, interdisciplinary collaboration between art, science and technology is increasingly important. »Driving the Human« explores the interrelationships between humans, more-than-human beings, and the environment in terms of how all living things can survive through collaboration. 

The seven prototypes showcase viable concepts for the future that can be used to enable new ways of imagining life in the world. They suggest new ways we can interact with each other and what surrounds us, exploring how AI might mitigate rather than accelerate climate change; immerse us in new forms of community building through ancestral agricultural knowledge; use fiction as an imaginative tool for new forms of cross-species community; or create embodied connections as a means of understanding and transforming human impacts in vulnerable areas. Together, the prototypes reinforce perspectives in which collaboration and interdependence become essential, critical factors for life and survival on our planet.

Together with a comprehensive accompanying program, the prototypes invite people to explore together, to engage, and to find new ways of perceiving and accessing the world.

*****

The exhibition Driving the Human: Seven Prototypes for Eco-social Renewal will be on view in three parts:

June 17 to July 30, 2023
Non-Human Perspectives: Sharing, Shaping, Sensing Habitats
With Human Bacteria Interfaces and Monsters and Ghosts of the Far North

August 12 to September 24, 2023
Sharing Knowledge on Common Ground
With Sedekah Benih, TRONS’R’US and Virtual Sanctuary for Fertilizing Mourning

October 7 to November 26, 2023
Speculative Ecosystems and Interspecies Collaborations
With Do AIs Dream of Climate Chaos and The Backpack of Wings