Abstract
“HOW DO WE WANT TO LIVE IN THE FUTURE?” With almost eight billion people and counting, we have become a serious heavyweight. Not the forests, not the oceans, not the atmos- phere, it is us people responsible for the future of our planet.
In the so-called Anthropocene, human civ- ilisation is considered to have the dominating geophysical influence on our planet, including the responsibility for its future. Having pushed the planetary envelope, we are now confronted with critical issues such as climate change, resource efficiency, biodi- versity and CO2 emissions.
This year, our graduates have put themselves in the big picture of human civilisation in showcasing eight hands-on experiments. Through new dialogues with animals, speculative scenarios, unstable matter and identity-seeking artworks, we are not offering easy answers but an invitation to join us in some exciting thought experiments.
Fiffy the robot is this year’s special guest for a bit of human self- reflection. Robotisation and artificial intelligence might support us, or save us, more than we think in our search for alternative solutions, and so
we are sharing our first surprising steps in ways of working with our university’s latest employee.