BEYOND Festival 2018 – Future Design
Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence and Post-Capitalism
Wed, October 03 – Sun, October 07, 2018
As an international festival for films and audiovisual installations, the 7th BEYOND Festival has set itself the goal of shaping the future and this year is therefore dedicated to the theme of »Future Design«.
In three event formats – symposium, art and film – the festival stages a triad of science, art and technology and brings together leading visionaries and artists. The festival is flanked by the panels »Virtual Reality«, »Artificial Intelligence« and »Post-Capitalism«, which take place at the ZKM | Karlsruhe. Parallel to this, students of the Karlsruhe State University of Design and international guests will present an art exhibition entitled »Sapiens«. At the same time, the Filmpalast at the ZKM will show a selected range of short films as well as a retrospective of science fiction films that deal with artificial intelligence on a fictional level.
The festival forms the interface between film and future technologies and offers visitors the opportunity to interact with VR installations and to experience a wide variety of artists. Speakers and visitors will be encouraged to develop freely and the »Future Designer« will be awakened in each individual.
»Future Design« should not only help to identify and understand the dangers and possibilities of these technologies and trends and to use them creatively and emancipatively, but should also encourage the creation of desirable futures.
Program
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October 3, 2018
State University of DesignFestival and exhibition opening »Sapiens«
Students of the State University of Design Karlsruhe, together with international guests, will present an art exhibition entitled »Sapiens«, at which works on the subject of being human in a digitalized world will be shown – from bionic robots to stem cell computers that make music to art by and with artificial intelligence.
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October 4–6, 2018
Film Palace at the ZKM»Future Design« Movies
Visitors and filmmakers can expect a wide-ranging program: films of all genres, lengths and formats, ranging from independent and art house films to Block Buster. Not only the science fiction genre, but also documentaries and productions of all kinds dealing with the future. In addition, VR stations will be set up in the Filmpalast at the ZKM.
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October 4–6, 2018
ZKM | Karlsruhe»Future Design« Symposium
This year's symposium »Future Design« is dedicated to the unique and radical triad of science, art and technology. The topics of virtual reality, artificial and artistic intelligence and post-capitalism will be discussed in order to open up spaces for what is currently still unimaginable.
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October 6, 2018
ZKM | Karlsruhe»BEYOND GALA« and award ceremony
At the end of the BEYOND Festival, a gala including awards ceremony will take place again this year at the ZKM | Karlsruhe. The »Best Leading Thought Award« honors thoughts, theories or concepts that are necessary to initiate a change and redesign of the future. Further categories: »Best Film Award« and »Best Art Award«.
Program Symposium at ZKM | Karlsruhe
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October 4, 2018
10 am–6 pmSymposium »Virtual Reality«
The fact that virtual reality – through the loss of reference points – can create previously unfamiliar strong illusions is seen as one of the main reasons why VR brings with it completely new risks and opportunities. Immersing into a virtual reality can cause behavioural changes that persist even when the subject has already left the VR environment. The development of meaningful and specific research projects, contents, application possibilities and an ethical discussion, however, lag far behind the technical possibilities.
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October 5, 2018
10 am–6 pmSymposium »Artificial and Artistic Intelligence«
It is foreseeable that the interaction between humans, artificial intelligence and robots will radically change our future working and living environments – but the most important questions about this interaction still need to be asked. Science predicts that their creation can be either the best or the worst thing that has ever happened to humanity. We still have a strategic advantage: we can take the first step and balance artificial intelligence with artistic intelligence.
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October 6, 2018
10 am–6 pmSymposium »Post-Capitalism and the Synergetic Code«
It is the limits of our imagination that prevent us from thinking about technologies and societies that are able to dissolve the antagonism to nature. Instead of extrapolating probabilities from past data only, FUTURE DESIGNERS start from desirable visions of the future and calculate backwards from this point towards the present. They develop new narratives for the future that go beyond the imitation of life as we know it.