Tickets to Explorations of Now in Orlången nature reserve, Huddinge/Stockholm, August 12-15 and 19-22. Admission is free, but a ticket is needed! Book here.
Read more on the project’s website.
Latest news about the project (In Swedish):
August, 6, 2021
June 11, 2021
May 26, 2021
August 31, 2020
June, 9, 2020
Together with the art collective Kultivator on Öland, Cullberg has initiated the project Explorations of Now, and invited the Institute for Future Studies to join. Art inviting science is not common, and the diversity of perspectives and audiences is the project’s strength. The initiators and participating parties are all active both in metropolitan areas and in rural areas, small independent actors and large government institutions, and we all operate in different parts of contemporary art and science.
“With Explorations of Now, we want to collectively formulate the questions we as ecosystems must ask ourselves now. We are in the middle of the present and want to bring together art, dance and research to find a new kind of conversation with the biosphere. Both all life around us and what we embody ourselves. If we can imagine a reciprocity where we create the future together, sustainability becomes a natural part of it, and the change we are facing will be possible”, says Malin Lindmark Vrijman, Kultivator.
Explorations of Now began with an exploratory part during the spring 2020, mainly through digital meetings and work in different directions due to the current corona virus pandemic.
“Many cultural projects were canceled during the spring due to the pandemic. To cancel this project has never been an option, the project itself is about resetting. Adapting to all possible situations and unforeseen events, in the short and long term, is in the nature of the project. The corona virus began to spread in earnest in Sweden the same week that our project started, but by then we did not know how it would affect us and the project. We still do not know. It has been a challenging time, but a time that has actually tested our own creativity and ability to imagine a different, alternative future. To think new and see what is possible when we put our heads together and take responsibility for each other”, says Stina Dahlström, managing director Cullberg.
During autumn 2020 Kultivator, Cullberg and the Institute for Future Studies each arranged a meeting place on Öland, in Botkyrka and in Stockholm. The purpose was to establish places where an audience interested in society, researchers, artists and those involved from various relevant fields can meet and collaborate.
“Based on artistic and scientific processes and based on existential issues, the idea is that the meeting places should explore how we release our collective imagination in order to achieve a sustainable future. We do not have all the answers now and maybe we will not get all the answers during the process. It will be something for the future to develop”, Stina Dahlström continues.
In the late summer of 2021, Explorations of Now will finally present a large joint finale in the Stockholm area.
“The finale is not the end but the beginning. We have hopefully landed in inspiring more people to join this movement going forward. We have found ways to collectively imagine a transition to a future which not only adapts to climate change but to a better world to live in for us humans and the biosphere. We will produce an inspiring manual that we hope will help in the work for a sustainable world”, concludes Stina Dahlström.
The UN’s global goals and Agenda 2030 form the basis for Explorations of Now and the project is funded by the Postcode Foundation, Cullberg and the Institute for Future Studies.
“The climate is the great fateful issue of our time and the time to act is now. Despite an increased awareness of the challenges we face, it is difficult for many of us to change habitual behaviors. The
Postcode Foundation is therefore proud to support this project, where researchers, businesses and artists together with the general public create new visions of how we could live together in a more sustainable future”, says Marie Dahllöf, Secretary General of the Swedish Postcode Foundation.
About the participating parties
Kultivator is an art collective based on Öland. The interdisciplinary activities include art projects and agriculture that meet social projects and environmental actions, as well as an international residency and exhibition program. In the residency activities, about 80 artists have participated over the years together with about 30 cows, chickens, ducks, sheep and horses. The art collective is led by Mathieu and Malin Vrijman, who in 2017 were awarded the Dynamo Scholarship by the Visual Artists’ Fund.
Cullberg is a national and international repertoire company, part of Riksteatern, the Swedish National Touring Theatre, based in Botkyrka outside Stockholm. Cullberg’s contemporary dance meets a large audience in Sweden and abroad. Together with leading choreographers and artistic teams from around the world, we explore ideas on how dance can be defined, produced and presented. The exploratory work is the basis for the company, which is constantly at the center of the international dance scene.
The Institute for Future Studies is a government research foundation where researchers from various social science disciplines conduct research on issues that are of great importance for how we shape our future society. The business is based on the 1960s insights that we humans in many ways affect not only our own lives but also future generations. All research conducted here must have a long-term perspective and clear relevance for our future. The subjects studied are changed regularly, which creates a dynamic research environment. Here, researchers from a number of different social science disciplines are mixed and collaborate, today including sociology, philosophy, political science, business administration and psychology.
The Postcode Foundation
The Postcode Foundation is a beneficiary of the Swedish Postcode Lottery and mediates time-limited support for projects that contribute to a positive change in society. The foundation supports non-profit organizations in Sweden and internationally that actively contribute to the fulfillment of the global goals and to create positive change through concrete efforts. The projects are about everything from human rights to environmental issues as well as about social change and education through sports and investments in culture. Since 2007, 1.5 billion has been allocated to over 600 projects.