Forecast Event Programme Details

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Individual Event Info

Friday 5th March

Panel: What will our view of nature bring to the future?

13:00-14:00 GMT, Fri 5th March

This discussion will explore the relationships that humans have with nature – a relationship that many see as broken and at the root of some of our greatest problems.

What changes in how we see the natural world could lead to a brighter future?

Rather than seeing ourselves as separate from nature, might we see ourselves as a part of it – changing how we see non-human animals and our relationship to the natural world?

Can we move forward positively from the COVID-19 pandemic and act to reduce future risks?

What can we learn from the indigenous communities that have lived in harmony with nature rather than tried to conquer it?

Featuring:

Danielle Celermajer, author of Summertime: Reflections on a Vanishing Future

Iain McGilchrist, psychiatrist and author of The Master and his Emissary

Usman Haque, artist-architect and creative director at Umbrellium.

Milka Chepkorir, advocate for indigenous land rights from the Sengwer community.

Hosted by: Jessica Sweidan, founder of Synchronicity Earth and Patron of Nature for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature

Nave Gaia: A dialogue with Ailton Krenak & Antonio Nobre

15:30-17:00 GMT, Thurs 5th March

‘Nave Gaia’ speaks to the collective ship we sail in called life, and how we navigate our time here on Earth.

This is a dialogue between two brilliant thinkers and ardent admirers of each other’s work; one rooted in the Indigenous sciences and cosmologies of the Krenak People of the Brazilian Rio Doce, Minas Gerais, the other rooted in Western sciences.

Ailton Krenak is a charismatic leader who has worked tirelessly for Indigenous Rights to become part of the country’s official constitution bringing together 180 different indigenous tribes in Brazil. In 1987, he captured media and public attention by painting his face black whilst delivering a speech in the National Congress, as a gesture of mourning for the backwards steps being taken on indigenous rights. He has authored a number of books and in 2016, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, where he teaches about culture, history and traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples.

Antonio Donato Nobre is a scientist who worked at the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and the National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA) studying the soil, hydrology and biochemistry of the Amazon, to learn more about its complex, interlocking systems. In his TED Talk, he presented his understandings of the interactions between the forest and the atmosphere, and how the transpiration from the forest creates an invisible flying river, carrying 20 billion tons of water into the atmosphere, every single day.

The event will start with guarani chants from Carlos Papa (Guarani)and Cristina Takua (Maxacali) and has time allocated for audience questions.

Please note: This dialogue will be in Portuguese. English speakers will need to register here and participate in the Zoom forum to receive the English translation. Portuguese speakers can either join the zoom or watch the live stream on YouTube here.

This event is held in collaboration with our partner Flourishing Diversity and with «Selvagem – Cycle of Studies about Life» with a view to highlighting the global need to start listening to Indigenous representatives and their sophisticated approaches to living in harmony with the rest of life.

In association with Flourishing Diversity and «Selvagem – Cycle of Studies about Life

Panel: Who chooses our future and how?

17:30-18:30 GMT, Fri 5th March

Our futures rest on the decisions that are being made today – decisions that are rarely made by those most affected by them. This discussion explores the best way to arrive at a better future.

What is a fair way to change the world?

Where do the lessons from the pandemic begin and end?

From indigenous peoples and vulnerable nations to women and youth around the world, what can the historically unheard bring that is new and vital?

How must democracies adapt to deal with the urgency of climate change and the long-term solutions we need?

Featuring:

Cornelia Parker, visual artist, best known for her sculpture and installation art.

Rose M. Mutiso, East Africaenergy expert and CEO of the Mawazo Institute

Jonathon Porritt, Founder Director of Forum for the Future and author of Hope in Hell

Daze Aghaji, Climate justice activist and student of History and Politics at Goldsmiths.

Hosted by: Isabel Hilton, writer, broadcaster and founder of China Dialogue, the world’s first fully bilingual website devoted to environment and climate change.

Artists Performance: Dark Interludes

18:30-18:45 GMT, Fri 5th March

A new performance by Michelle St Anne and Julie Vulcan with The Living Room Theatre

Grief expands and contracts temporalities.

The breath in deliberately occupies space

The pause elongates the moment

The release amplifies a remembering

All to be repeated in a ritual of remembering, and remembering, and…

To be enveloped by the extraordinary senses that are opened by grief is to be present to the shared space of loss and lamentation that exists across time and species. By recognising the patterns of our own pain, beauty, and suffering we might begin to understand how we as humans might break the cycle of the forever unjust.

Performers: Imogen Cranna, Michelle St Anne, Julie Vulcan

Double Bass: Maximillian Alduca, Marie-Louise Bethune, Dave Ellis, Jacques Emery, Will Hansen

Camera and Editing: Samuel James

Vocals: Amanda Stewart

Panel: On Thin Ice by the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies

19:00-20:00 GMT, Fri 5th March

Join us and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, to explore ice as a metaphor for our planet’s uncertain and fragile future. Featuring:

Jen Rose Smith, dAXunhyuu (Eyak, Alaska Native) geographer and Assistant Professor of Geography and American Indian Studies, Dept. of Geography, UW-Madison.

Carrie Hanson, choreographer, director, and performer. Founding Artistic Director, The Seldoms; UW-Madison Interdisciplinary Artist-in-Residence (Fall 2019)

Stephen Hilyard, artist and Professor of Digital Arts, Dept of Art, UW-Madison.

Panel: How is AI Shaping How You Think About the Future?

20:30-21:30 GMT, Fri 5th March

How is AI shaping how we see the future?

This discussion will look at our relationship with Artificial Intelligence and advanced technologies – they pose serious risks, but can they be harnessed for the benefit of people and the planet?

How can AI extend human creativity?

Do we need to protect human creativity from it?

There is lots of buzz and hype, but are algorithms really changing how we behave, how we vote, and how we think?

Crucially, how do we ensure that new technologies have human goals at the centre?

The panel:

Kasia Molga, a Designer, Coder and Artists working on the intersection of art, design, technology and science.

Matt Locke, founder and director of Storythings, a digital strategy and content agency. He previously led the Innovation team and BBC News Media and the multiplatform team at Channel 4.

Joanna Kavenna, novelist and author of Zed, a satirical novel about life under a global tech corporation that knows exactly what we think, what we want, and what we do

John Macintyre, expert in Artificial Intelligence and Neural Networks, and the editor of the journal AI and Ethics.

Hosted by David Malone, independent documentary filmmaker.

Forecast: Watch-back Weekend Pass

21:00 GMT, Fri 5th March – 23:00, Sunday 7th March

A weekend pass to watch back recordings and digital content from across the Forecast event series

We’ve created a watch-back pass so you don’t have to miss out on any of the events in the Forecast series. We’ll be recording all of our panel discussions and partner events, which you’ll be able to watch any time you want over the weekend.

We’ll be sending out links to all of the content on Friday evening which you can watch up until 11pm on Sunday night.

Wednesday 3rd March (Past events)

Forecast Launch and in conversation with Fei Jun

13:00-14:00 GMT, Wed 3rd March

The Forecast programme launch with a conversation with acclaimed Chinese artist Fei Jun and a world tour of his digital artwork. Featuring:

Alice Sharp, Artistic Director and founder of Invisible Dust

Fei Jun, Beijing-based artist behind Forecasting: Interesting Worlds

Lucy Wood, Invisible Dust Arts-Science Producer

Eleanor Church, Filmmaker and one of 13 co-creators Forecasting: Interesting Worlds.

Laura Tenenbaum, Former NASA communicator and one of the 13 co-creators of Forecasting: Interesting Worlds

Panel: What is shaping how you think about the planet’s future? –

18:00-19:00 GMT, Wed 3rd March

A panel discussion and Q&A around Forecast’s central question about how we’re thinking about the future of the planet. Featuring:

Joan Jonas, visual artist and pioneer of video and performance art

Emily Shuckburgh, climate scientist and director of Cambridge Zero

Eliane Ubalijoro, Executive Director of Sustainability in the Digital Age and sustainable international development expert

Lily Cole, model, activist and author of Who Cares Wins

Hosted by: Shahidha Bari, presenter of BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking and Professor of Fashion Cultures and Histories at London College of Fashion.

Artist Performance: Ahilapalapa Rands

19:15-19:30 GMT, Wed 3rd March

A new performance by New Zealand artist Ahilapalapa Rands.

Ahilapalapa Rands (Hawaiian, Fijian, Sāmoan, Cook Island, Pākehā), an artist whose multidisciplinary style focuses on disrupting commonplace narratives and worldviews.

Artist in conversation: Tania Kovats

19:30-20:15 GMT, Wed 3rd March

Join artist Tania Kovats in conversation with Invisible Dust’s founder and artistic director Alice Sharp as she discusses how her artistic practice related to thinking about the future and Forecast’s themes.

The main focus of Kovats’ work is how art mediates and communicates our experience of what we call nature, which Kovats views as a set of interconnected processes and systems. Kovats works across various platforms including sculptural works, drawings, writing, temporary and permanent works in the public realm.

Increasingly her work addresses environmental and socio political implications of her subject, with water being her central focus, the seas and oceans, river systems, maritime culture, coral bleaching, water pollution, flooding, tides, and the beauty of the horizon line.

VR Experience: Hito Steyerl’s ‘Leonardo’s Submarine’

20:00 GMT onwards , Wed 3rd March

A VR experience of an underwater world created by visual artist Hito Steyerl

Created by: Hito Steyerl

With thanks to the Andrew Kreps Gallery and the Esther Schipper Gallery.

Thursday 4th March (Past events)

Discussion: Building Sustainable Futures at 32° East | Ugandan Arts Trust

12:00-13:00 GMT, Thurs 4th March

A look at the Ugandan Arts Trust’s journey to creating Kampala’s first purpose-built arts centre based upon sustainability and community. Featuring:

Teesa Bahana, director of the 32° East | Ugandan Arts Trust

James Hampton, Founding Director of New Makers Bureau

Hosted by: Bianca Manu, a Ghanaian British curator, producer, and writer invested in public and performance art and photography

Panel: How can we use the past to understand the future?

13:00-14:00 GMT, Thurs 4th March

A panel discussion and Q&A around the question of how we use the past to shape the future of the planet. Featuring:

Jeremy Deller, conceptual artist who won the Turner Prize in 2004.

Miranda Lowe, Principal Curator and museum scientist at the Natural History Museum.

Pat McCabe (Weyakpa Najin Win, Woman Stands Shining)indigenous leader and activist.

Anne Johnson, epidemiologist and public health expert.

Hosted by Jes Fernie, independent curator and writer.

Artist in conversation: Ryan Gander

17:00-17:45 GMT, Thurs 4th March

Join artist Ryan Gander in conversation with curator Jeanine Griffin for a conversation about how his practice relates to thinking about the future. Featuring:

Ryan Gander, an artist whose works materialise in many different forms – from sculpture to film, writing, graphic design, installation, performance and more.

Jeanine Griffin, Associate Curator at Invisible Dust

Panel: How can we adapt to uncertainty as the climate changes?

18:00-19:00 GMT, Thurs 4th March

A panel discussion and interactive Q&A around how we can adapt in the face of climate uncertainty. Featuring:

Adam Chodzko, an artist who explores our conscious and unconscious behaviours.

Kevin Anderson, climate scientist

Margaret Heffernan, CEO and author of Uncharted: How to Map the Future Together

Hosted by: Bianca Manu, independent curator and writer.

Artist Performance: Adam Chodzko’s ‘Woven Time: A girdle of fig leaves’

19:15-19:30 GMT, Thurs 4th March

“Woven Time: A girdle of fig leaves” is a video in the form of a dream premonition. In dialogue with a particularly lovely patch of mud visual artist Adam Chodzko speculates about what art might need to become next and what new ways it might be used, in order to make a path of hope into the future?

Upcycling his previous artworks in order to sustain their energy and using image, sound and spoken word Chodzko wonders what we might build between us and the more than human in order to see with greater clarity?

Our perceptions of our world, whether in relation to the climate emergency, social justice or individual identity are often blocked with obstacles we like to construct, dragged from our unconscious minds. What then, are the benefits and hindrances of feeling and being awkward? How might the networked collective imaginations of nearly 8 billion people become accessible to us all as a single infinite dream containing all the knowledge we will ever need?

Featuring:

Adam Chodzko, an artist who explores our conscious and unconscious behaviours.

Film and Artist Q&A: Voices by Alexandrov Klum

19:30-20:30 GMT, Thurs 4th March

A short film raising awareness for indigenous peoples of the world, including a Q&A with the creators – artist duo Alexandrov Klum. Featuring:

Alexandrov Klum, artist duo made up of Mattias and Iris Alexandrov Klum, who creates art projects connected to environmental issues, with storytelling deriving from philosophy, science and mythology.

Katy Molloy, Director of Flourishing Diversity

In association with Flourishing Diversity

About Forecast

Forecast is a new programme by Invisible Dust that brings together artists, scientists, thinkers and change-makers from around the world to consider what shapes how we think about the planet’s future.

Alice Sharp is Artistic Director and Founder of Invisible Dust

Edward McGovern is Forecast’s programme manager

Lydia Entwistle is Forecast’s digital producer