Artists and Ateliers in times of Exponential Change
Épica Foundation La Fura dels Baus
Artists and Ateliers in times of Exponential Change – What a multidisciplinary concept of art production could contribute today to a fair digital society?
Our world has been undergoing a spectacular evolutionary change. From the moment science and technology were aligned, the appearance of new advances became exponential, and these have become the new evolutionary driver, giving rise to a new era full of possibilities, as remote as if we were talking to a contemporary of Leonardo Da Vinci about a mobile phone or a tunnel boring machine. This piece analyses how art can continue under these circumstances to be able to anticipate these advances to society.
The Arts in crisis
The exponential advance of science and technology in recent years has become the driver of most of the major economic, social and even geopolitical changes at a global level.
Changes so far-reaching that they are modifying, and will increasingly modify, pillars such as social relations and our privacy, the labour market and our children’s education, health and its ethical implications. Changes so overwhelming for society that, far from being understood and accepted, they are being imposed before we are aware of them.
Art, which has always been one of the main means of expression of human beings, through which they express their ideas and feelings and the way they relate to the world, is being relegated to exclusively aesthetic expressions in this complex and rapid context, obviating its necessary contribution to understanding and critical capacity in society.
Is a new space for co-creation possible?
At the Fundación Épica la Fura dels Baus, we propose the concept of Anticipatory Arts as a new space for co-creation, knowledge transfer and mutual learning between art, science, technology and society.
A space of encounter and hybridisation where art becomes the driving force and catalyst of horizontal multidisciplinary processes. A space to create false but plausible realities, based on scientific-technological evidence, to be perceived as „real“ by society, and to be able to experience situations that may arrive in a nearer future than we imagine.
A space of real connection with society that allows, through knowledge, to maintain and amplify the critical thinking necessary for society to face the abrupt and accelerated changes that are about to come.
And at the same time, to help science and technology to anticipate the impact, the risks, but also the opportunities, that these advances will have in this new renaissance, where present and future are ever closer, and which will alter human relations in the next 500 years.
Picture Header: Copyright by By Fundación Épica La Fura dels Baus
Anticipatory Arts by Fundación Épica la Fura dels Baus
A selection of video documentations of a new concept of the arts in exponentially changing worlds:
European Performing Science Night 2021 (GA 101036143) – Performance: https://youtu.be/AMGq9Zg_S9U
Complex Systems 2019: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQQ04W3CTIRYHr-R6f7NpuZ2av8ry91zB
About the institiution – the concept of an artist atelier as a Renaissance Laboratory:
Teaser Epica 2021: https://youtu.be/–0t8Stnhyw
More info at: https://lafura.com/en/
Pep Gatell
Artistic Director of La Fura dels Baus since 1980 and President of the Épica Foundation La Fura dels Baus
Pep Gatell (Barcelona, 1958) created over 250 different staging, integrating all kinds of technology such as synthesisers, CD-rom, web pages, dynamics between user-show 3D stereoscopic images, mobile phones App, etc., in the company’s shows. Always seeking to integrate new experiences for spectators, Gatell has had contacts with different multidisciplinary entities and research centers. Since 2012 he collaborates with the R&D team at Mugaritz, the third best restaurant in the world, with which he has directed the documentary Campo a través (Berlinale, 2016). Among his most recent and well-known works, in 2014, he premiered M.U.R.S., developing a new mobile platform for interaction with the audience, he co-directed the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games for Young People in the city of Nanjin and was responsible for the artistic direction of the opening of La Valetta, European cultural city of 2018. Since 2017, Gatell has focused its efforts on the Epica Foundation aiming to position the CCIs as relevant agents in the R+D+i processes necessary to face the global challenges of the 21st century.
Picture: © Fundación Epica La Fura dels Baus La Fura dels Baus
Fco. Javier Iglesias Gracia
General Manager of the Épica Foundation La Fura dels Baus & CEO, CFO, and co-founder of IGLOR Soluciones Audiovisuales Avanzadas S.L
Fco. Javier Iglesias Gracia’s (Barcelona, 1982) expertise as telecommunication engineering researcher began in 2004 with his staging in the IIS group of the Fraunhofer Institute. Iglesias has worked in recognized institutions as i2CAT Foundation or ESADE Business School where he even reached the Spanish secretariat of the ISO Sub-Group JTC1 SC6 dedicated to Future Networks. Iglesias has also dedicated half of his career to foster innovation ecosystems, especially those dedicated to merge science and technology with CCIs. He has been engaged in several national and international projects merging tech and art as, among others, Catalan „Anella Cultural“, the European “Creative Ring”, the „Anillo Latino Americano“, „GREC Innovación“ or „M.U.R.S.” by La Fura del Baus, led the city level innovation ecosystem in Barcelona through the Barcelona Lab project (2011-2015) on behalf of the Direction of Creativity and Innovation of the Institute of Culture, and the business mentoring and support for the Catalan Hub of the CREATIFI European Funded project, for boosting CCI with new technologies.
Picture: © Fundación Epica La Fura dels Baus La Fura dels Baus
