Driving the Human

Seven prototypes for eco–social renewal

Duration: 2020–2023

The scientific–artistic cooperation develops and produces tangible prototypes for a sustainable coexistence. »Driving the Human« addresses future needs in the face of complex and often threatening scenarios. Instead of moralizing the discourse, it makes activating suggestions. How do we promote a social change that can reconcile the use of meaningful new technologies with a standard of living achieved today?

As a catalyst for experimentation, the research project unites science, technology and the arts in a three–year development process. Together with international experts, the participants develop sustainable concepts and implement them as prototypical designs in the sense of practically verifiable proposals for action.

To this end, the four lead organizations – acatech, Forecast, ZKM and HfG – can draw on the knowledge and skills of a top–class network that will methodically deepen the individual development steps and enrich them with relevant expertise and technology. The initiative links scientific approaches with those from the arts and uses this as a profoundly transdisciplinary approach for effective communication.

The prototypes produced can take different forms, such as walk–in room installations, design objects, architectural mock–ups, interactive games, video works and performances, but they have one thing in common: as they develop, they are presented to the public, put up for discussion in different contexts and questioned by experts as to their suitability.

The research project examines the social effects of phenomena such as global warming, energy cycles and technology–driven disruptions and condenses the results into instructive designs. »Driving the Human« conveys possibilities for action in the form of physically experiencable prototypes and motivates the individual to identify with these and to apply the knowledge gained to their own actions.

To the exhibition

2020-2023

- 2020 – Constitution phase
- Which are the most urgent, which the most promising fields of action? Where do we currently see relevant innovations and where do we expect them in the future? How can we bring together technological innovations and social innovation? Which questions and tasks do we want to focus on when realizing specific prototypes? Based on these questions and a comprehensive evaluation of the conference, a multidisciplinary jury determines seven fields.
- 2021 – Open Call and project presentations
- 10.02.2021 - 09.04.2021
  »Driving the Human« invites designers, artists, scientists, initiatives, and agents from any other field of expertise, from anywhere in the world, to join us in shaping sustainable and collective futures that combine science, technology, and the arts in a transdisciplinary and collaborative approach.
  Over 1000 applications from 99 countries reached the Open Call! The 21 selected concepts present a diverse understanding of our times and propose prescient visions for sustainable cohabitation. They explore the connections between technology and nature, artificial intelligence, circular economy, new modes of knowledge exchange and production, indigenous knowledge, and more-than-human perspectives from the bacterial to the interplanetary.
  To the selected concepts
- 2021 - Focus on content and methodology
- Festival in Berlin in fall 2021, hosted by Forecast
  The concepts will be evaluated and classified according to their theoretical and practical implications. The evaluation of the results will lead to the selection of the seven most promising concepts, which will be produced over the course of a year.
  Conference in December 2021 in Munich, hosted by acatech
  The seven selected projects will be presented for discussion.
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  At the ZKM, four Scientists-in-Residence will work on the selected topics and present their research results to the public and make them digitally available.
- 2022 – Elaboration and production
- Festival at the end of 2022 in Berlin, hosted by Forecast.
  »Driving the Human« presents the seven shaped results to the public: for example, in the form of design objects, spatial installations, interactive games, video works and performances.
- 2023 – Evaluation
- Presentation in 2023 at the ZKM | Karlsruhe
  The seven prototypes created will be available after evaluation and can be presented individually or as a whole for discussion at conferences, festivals and in other formats. The ZKM will be the first cultural institution to present the developed prototypes.