OPENING KEYNOTE | From Festival as Lab to Cultivating Temporary Utopias
Monday, August 19, 2024
9:30 am_10:30 am
Société des arts technologiques [SAT]
85$
Day Pass price, excl. fees & taxes10 years ago Drew Hemment, Director of Festival Futures at the Edinburgh Futures Institute proposed to think of festivals as public lab environments for social and technological innovation. Cultivated during Hemment’s tenure as director of Edinburgh’s FutureEverything festival, envisioning festivals as labs is aimed at bringing together experts and citizens to collectively imagine and experience the future. Outside of the norm, festivals present extraordinary experiences that inspire new ways of living.
Embracing the extraordinary, the Summit envisions festivals as temporary utopias. In light of this provocation, Hemment, in this opening keynote, revisits Festivals as Lab in exploring if the concept is still applicable in light of the most recent developments surrounding our sociocultural infrastructures? How may we push the boundaries of festival as lab into more speculative territories? And where do we go from here?
Please note that this activity will take place partially in French. No prerequisites required.
The Future Festivals Summit is made possible by the support of the Government of Québec. MUTEK acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
