Driving the Human exhibition at ZKM

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).

Exhibition text:
Over a process of three years of collaboration, research and experimentation, seven prototypes for ecosocial 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