Multiple (hi)stories, multiple futures

Social, ecological and economic crises force us to think about a radically different way of living. Can unheard stories help us with that? Stories that link generations, geographical areas or ancient knowledge and technology. And can activism as a form of love take us beyond doom and gloom?

Ecopolis brings stories that depict an inclusive and sustainable future for this new world, with artists, thinkers and doers breaking open our frameworks.

An organisation of Avansa, Library Kortrijk, Durf2030, arts centre BUDA, Masereelfonds Kortrijk, Oikos & City of Kortrijk

PROGRAM

Saturday 1 October | 20:15 | Budascoop

What can we learn from 3,000 years of human history to tackle the urgencies of the 21st century – from climate change, water scarcity to the threat posed by AI or synthetic biology? And how do we now write a future that is at once shared and multi-voiced?

British-Australian cultural historian and public philosopher Roman Krznaric co-founded – and teaches – at the School of Life in London. Krznaric previously taught at several prominent British universities, was a gardener and worked in Central America in the field of human rights. He is also founder of the world’s first Empathy Museum and author of The Good Ancestor, about what future we want to leave behind. More info.

Frank Keizer (1987) is a poet, critic, writer and editor based in Brussels. He is the author of two chapbooks and two volumes of poetry, Onder normale omstandigheden (Under Normal Circumstances, nominated for the Poetry Debut Prize Aan Zee) in 2016 and Lief slecht ding (Sweet Bad Thing) in 2019. He co-founded the online poetry magazine Samplekanon and is an editor for nY, a Flemish literary magazine. He co-hosts Links Richten (Aim Left), a podcast for leftwing literary criticism. Currently, he is working on a novel and a book of criticism. He has read his work at many festivals from all over the world.His most recent book is De introductie van het plot (The introduction of the plot), published in 2022.More info.

A conversation – moderated by Dirk Vandenberghe, journalist and podcast creator for Trends, NRC, De Lage Landen and De Standaard, among others, and creator of SIEN magazine.

In English.

Sunday 2 October

What does the future of work look like? And does it look different to how we work now? What visions help us to answer this? Can researchers, writers and artists sharpen our imagination and offer new possibilities of collaboration?

14u-16u30: Multiple Stories Work! | Location: Broelkaai 6

• Herman Loos: The sociologist Herman Loos worked as a Deliveroo courier for a year, organising part of his time to the rhythm of the bell on his smartphone announcing a new delivery. What does it mean to be self-employed without autonomy? What do two hours of cycling, seven orders and thirty kilometres with glowing Indian sauce on your back bring? (14u-15u)
• Tash Aw: wrote with Vreemdelingen op de kade (Aliens on the Quay) an interesting portrait of modern Asia based on the migration history of his own family. Aw tells of the pain of migration waves and the great silence that accompanies them in Asian families. His story leads from hopeless immigrants to successful rulers from remote villages to nightclubs in mega-cities. It is a story that outlines how everything that could indicate failure is unmentionable and the sorrows of the past are so desperately passed on from generation to generation. It is Aw’s third novel; his two previous novels were both nominated for the prestigious Man Booker Prize.
  In English. (14u-15u)
• Workshop + collective speculations: Philippine Hoegen, Julia Reist and Miriam Hempel – i.c.w. Nicolas Y Galeazzi
  Departing from What is Work? (a series of collaborations and interviews in which we exchanged with many voices – with different ‘jobs’ and divers administrative statuses and capabilities – about ‘work’ and what we desire from it): Together with participants of this workshop, we will map views on, and experiences in, work and we’ll speculate on how we want to work (together) in the future. (14hrs-16.30hrs) (14u-16u30)
• Futurology of Collaboration – Diederik Peeters en Anna Czapski: a collective of artists and researchers hack, remix and prototype new methods of open-source futurology about (working together) the future. (14u-16u30)
• sofasession Work affection: Life is more than work, yet we spend a considerable amount of our lives at work. In conversation, we will look for more G’s in the workplace and explore how to maximise affection, happiness, zest and equality when we are at work. (15u-16u30)
• Nada Gambier presents stories about night work that she collected in three walks along places where people work at night in the Kortrijk region, from the emergency department to night shops and larger companies.
  In English. (15u-16u30)

16.30-18.00: Time to Talk …( about work?)
In a living library you will find someone who makes himself available for a one-to-one conversation. Stories of newcomers for business leaders, and vice versa, stories of ‘young’ Belgians for ‘old’ Belgians, and vice versa, knowledge about and from elsewhere and then … about work and crafts – and everything else.

(in cooperation with Refu Interim, Antigone & Unie Der Zorgelozen)

18:00: Final performance – Sébastien Hendrickx: performance Moddertong (Budascoop):Narrative theatre in Flemish, interspersed with other languages. It relates loosely to the concept triangle of ‘mother’, ‘language’ and ‘earth’. A storyteller sits with the audience around a pile of stuff. The light will change; some things will move; footnotes will run from the text. By what routes can we escape from the homeland to Mother Earth? Do we have to teach ourselves new languages there? What should we unlearn? What could everyday life be like in the near future? Moddertong tries to connect words and things, audience and speaker, people and the ground they are on.