Which technologies do we need – and how do we use them?
Every day we use technologies that have a major impact on our lives. Yet they often don’t emerge with the goal of serving societal interests or taking ecological interconnections into account. Instead, their development is frequently shaped by the interests of a few corporations. As users, we accept terms of service, generate data, and train systems — without any say or participation in shaping their direction. In doing so, these technologies shape our perception of time; they structure our work, our everyday lives, and our being-in-the-world. With the festival UN_CTRL, ZKM | Karlsruhe wants to explore how these technologies shape communities and how they can serve them — in the spirit of a solidarity-based coexistence. The festival focuses on a participatory and open program featuring workshops, keynote talks, discussion panels, and performances for exploring and testing together.
What defines technologies?
Technologies are embedded in a societal cosmos. Their usefulness depends on what we understand by community, progress, and knowledge — and the concept of technology itself is situated and context-dependent. We want to think of the concept of technology more broadly than just within the digital realm, thereby inviting an expansion of our toolbox. There is no single technological solution to global problems; what’s needed is a diversity and plurality of technologies and tools that follow the interests of specific communities and fields of research. In doing so, we broaden our view beyond the human: What would technologies look like that are conceived not only for us humans, but together with other living beings — forests, rivers, fungal networks, animals? We ask which knowledge systems — collective, local, indigenous — are rendered invisible by dominant technology platforms, and how art and research can make them visible.
Technologies for communal interests?
Artists, researchers, and community organizations around the world are developing models that enable transparency, accountability, and fair access to technological tools. In exchange with them, we examine the communal and creative use and repurposing of technologies and resources. How can the economy, production, and cultural practices surrounding technologies be shaped to be open source, sovereign, and accessible — beyond capitalist structures and the pressure of productivity? Using concrete projects, we present solidarity-based economies, sensory self-determination, and post-extractivist land use.
Find the latest information on the program and registration here.
