Over the last couple of months a large transparent dome that functions as a greenhouse has appeared on Krøyers Plads, Christianshavn. Inside you will find a two-storey house with open windows and doors in the midst of an embracing garden with wine and peach trees and humble bees.

Is this how we will live in the future? Can we find some of the answers to the future resource scarcity and climate change here? How can the outburst of creative and temporary life in-between bring quality into the permanent site? What can we learn?

NCC, Tejlgaard and Jepsen and House of Futures co-creatively tests one of Buckminster Fuller’s most provocative and inspiring ideas and visions – and we welcome you in the Dome of Visions on the dome’s last day in Copenhagen. Download the invitation to Futures’ Day 3 May or see program below. Registration is not necessary.

The future is now – come and see!

Program Futures’ Day, 3 May 2013, 15:00-17:00

“We are called to be architects of our future, not its victims”. Buckminster Fuller believed in us, in humanity’s ability to create the future we want. All over the world people have been inspired by his thoughts and creations and by his work and ideas on creating a sustainable planet that are as influential as ever. Our time might not look as Buckminster once imagined, but he surely created a parade for others to join. The future is always different from the past, and that’s why we need pioneers. On this Futures’ Day we are celebrating Fuller for his visions and the people that have the courage to stand up for something that they really believe in – even when others label them as crazy, misfits, outsiders, rebels.

15:00-16:00
Buckminster Fuller – a visionary madman and futurist
Gitte Larsen, Director House of Futures

The rise of a Sensuous Society
Gry Wore Hallberg, Partner House of Futures and artistic director and curator, Dome of Visons

More from less – and how to do it in a new building paradigm
Benny Jepsen, Tejlgaard and Jepsen, Architect of the Dome

The necessary generousity in business and the hard outcome
Martin Manthorpe, Director NCC and funder of the Dome of Visions

16:00-17:00
DJ Goddiepal and the Dome sound, future mingling and refreshments

17:00
Closing Ritual for the Dome begins

19:00-
Friend’s of the Dome – closing party
For all Dome-people and friends of the future now – join in!

The city is filled with temporary spaces – Construction sites, abandoned places and areas where life between the buildings is not yet vibrating. At the same time it is one of the biggest challenges to optimize the use of energy in new and in existing buildings and to minimize use of materials.
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The Dome of Visions project faces both of these challenges by using large construction sites as the setting for a temporary construction, in this case a dome, establishing a meeting space for debate, experiments and art, in an area that would have been merely a field of bricks and machines. The Dome of Visions architectonical construction in itself challenges what sustainability is and awakens the desire for new ways of creating and being together.

Bogen er ikke bare beskrivende og perspektiverende, men har også en “how-to” guide til, hvordan man gør i praksis. De to amerikanere sætter i høj grad deres lid til det lokale frem for top-down tilgangen til politik:

Large institutions and centralized governments, with top-down, expert-driven thinking, are no longer society’s drivers. In fact, they are often responsible for tearing communities apart. New decision-making techniques now pair with cutting-edge communication tools to make local communities—and the citizens who live there—uniquely suited to meet today’s challenges.

Set med danske øjne er det interessant, at Samsø, med dens efterhånden verdenskendte energi- og miljøprojekt, har fundet vej ind i søgelyset som en lærerig case, under overskriften “Samsø – The Island That Listened”:

Samsø was able to take advantage of progressive Danish energy policies, grants, and utility partnerships. However, enginereering and money can only get a project so far. A significant part of Samsø’s extraordinary success was due to community visioning, listening, and collaboration. While one island’s alternative engergy mix might not be applicable everywhere, the lessons from Samsø’s social change work are eye-opening and largely transferable.

Globalisering med lokale øjne – eller omvendt.

Søren Hermansen fra Samsø Energiakademi, der er hovedkraften bag øens såvel energimæssige som lokaldemokratiske udvikling, deltog i øvrigt også i vores In100Y-projekt.

Og ja, stod det til os, skulle de også have bragt det andet scenarie, “Man-made world”. En af de vigtige ideer med at arbejde med scenarier er netop, at der er flere end et – flere mulige billeder af fremtiden, der kan skabe et udfalds- eller variationsrum, der stimulerer til åbenhed over for fremtidens muligheder.

“Man-made world” kom ikke med i den trykte udgave, men det findes på Utne Readers hjemmeside, her, som en “online only”-artikel. 

Hvordan laver man scenarier for en hundredeårig tidshorisont? Vi valgte at tage udgangspunkt i hvilken livs- natur- og verdensopfattelse, hvilket mindset, der ville være dominerende. Sammen med de mange deltagere i processen fik vi indkredset to væsensforskellige mindsets, som begge potentielt kan være motivations- og drivkræfter i den transformation, der er nødvendig for at løse bæredygtighedsudfordringen. Bliver det Man-made, eller bliver det Power of Nature?

Orkanen Sandy hærger USAs atlanterhavskyst. Hvis den hærgede Europa, ville den se ud som på billedet (hentet fra BBCs hjemmeside). Stort set hele Vesteuropa ville være i skudlinien på en og samme gang. Så galt gik det ikke denne gang, men hvad med fremtiden?

I vores In100Y-projekt var de menneskeskabte klimaforandringer helt centrale, og en af de ting, der blev nævnt, var, at den globale opvarmning skaber en stigende hyppighed af ekstreme vejrfænomener. Den mest autoritative kilde på klimaområdet, IPCC, udgav i dette forår en rapport om netop ekstreme vejrfænomener. IPCC er ofte blevet udskældt af klimaskeptikere for at overdrive klimatruslen. Og rapporten peger også på, at der med stor sandsynlighed vil være flere ekstreme vejrsituationer i fremtiden som følge af den globale opvarmning. Det gælder f.eks. flere og længere tørkeperioder og flere ekstremregn-episoder. Men læser man denne rapport, er det mest gennemgående træk en betoning af, hvor stor usikkerhed, der er, fordi ekstreme vejrfænomener pr. definition er sjældne og uregelmæssigt forekommende. Derfor er der endnu alt for få observationer til at vurdere, om vi ser en systematisk stigende hyppighed, eller blot en tilfældig variation.

Alligevel vover rapporten nogle hundredårs-vurderinger af, hvordan frekvensen af ekstremvejr vil udvikle sig som følge af den globale opvarmning. Det vurderes som sandsynligt, at orkaner vil blive voldsommere i styrke. Til gengæld vurderes det, at de bliver mindre hyppige. Det sidste blev jeg personligt lidt overrasket over.

I en opsummeringstabel hedder det om eksemplet “Increased losses from hurricanes in the USA and the Caribbean”:

“Observed [siden 1950]: Low confidence in any observed long-term (i.e., 40 years or more) increases in tropical cyclone activity, after accounting for past changes in observing capabilities.

Projected [frem mod 2100]: Likely that the global frequency of tropical cyclones will either decrease or remain essentially unchanged. Likely increase in average tropical cyclone maximum wind speed, although increases may not occur in all ocean basins.

Heavy rainfalls associated with tropical cyclones are likely to increase. Projected sea level rise is expected to further compound tropical cyclone surge impacts. ”

Hvad skal man så mene om det? At der er al mulig grund til at modvirke den globale opvarmning og dens konsekvenser. Tørke, ekstremregn og vandstandsstigninger er meget sandsynlige. Men lige netop Sandy er ikke nødvendigvis  noget udtryk for den globale opvarmning – ifølge IPCC-rapporten altså.

Ode to the 5th Culture – The Alchemy of In100Y from House of Futures on Vimeo.

Virtual tour of exhibition YEAR 2112 from House of Futures on Vimeo.

download as pdf.

As articulated by Bret Easton Ellis in an online article last year, we are experiencing the end of ‘Empire’ and witnessing the appearance of Post-Empire. In his article, Easton Ellis holds an interview with American actor Charlie Sheen, as an example of this new way of being in the world. The journalist interviewing Sheen, with her perfect appearance and puritan set of values, becomes the example of ‘Empire’, while Sheen opposite her– open about his drug abuse and imperfect living, symbolizes a more transparent and honest way of being.

This example may seem random, but it activated a reflection process in me and sharpened my gaze. Later I started to recognize symptoms of Post-Empire everywhere, in graphical design, music videos, political strategies, media strategies, sounds, social behavior and virtual activity. It is a culture and a set of aesthetics, where the frame is no longer an invisible frame of authority. The frame has become visible, the imperfections are in your face and all the nuances of decay are upheld as just as beautiful as the perfections.

The ‘mistake’ is no longer an error, but is upheld as beauty, it’s the poetics of failure. 

The ‘mistake’ is no longer an error, but is upheld as beauty, it’s the poetics of failure. Celebrity culture as we have known it, and the drama culture it has bred, will crumble, as it feeds on a constructed image of perfection, a perfection which has no place in Post-Empire. Upholding perfection as a standard in social relations, for politicians, for visual expression, is weak in its lack of acceptance of the imperfect. As we are experienc-ing the collapse of power-structures and symbols all around us, we are at a place on a collective level, where the strength in embracing imperfection is being recognized on an unconscious and conscious level. If ‘Empire’ belongs to the echoes of The Enlightenment, then Post-Empire belongs to a true acknow-ledgement of the grittiness of life.

Many are thriving on the aesthetics of imperfection.The artists that experience a boost of attention these days are people who work with imperfection, honesty and transparency as a way of being and as an expression, fulfilling peoples longing for ‘the authentic’. The viral videos by Lana del Ray, the cut-n-paste ‘anti-design’ graphics by Seapunks, the videos and visual profile of artist such as M.I.A. and Ocean View, it all comes together as a new set of aesthetics, where the frame of perfection has been exploded and made visible.

This trend may already have peeked against itself though, and a counter wave may be coming, where polished images will once again surface. I believe in the beauty of the decay and the trashiness, and that it will evolve into the future, becoming a flavour of years to come.

Lana del Ray: “Video Games”. A music-video claimed to be made by the artist herself. A trashy cut image collage of new and old YouTube videos. Here a sequence with a drunk Hollywood personality, in itself an example of the cracking façade of perfection.

M.I.A: “XXXO”. An example of another visual collage effect which creates a homemade aura and where bad taste becomes good taste. A symptom of the internet and computer generations, and their D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself) approach to editing programs, which were once only for a small group of trained professionals.

A smoking Charlie Sheen on American TV. The YouTube clip experienced an enormous viral activity.

LOL Boys: “Changes”. Seapunk/Antidesign aesthetics. Seapunk is a subgenre of electronic dance music, fashion trend and design style created online by a group of social media enthusiasts. In this example it is clear how the framing of the image isn’t held back, but in itself becomes a visual style. The same was seen in the visuals M.I.A. uses for her live performances.

download as pdf.

Western society has been based on economical imperatives such as optimization and rationality, which leaves no space for more sensuous, inspired and gentle modes of being. These values could very well form an emerging paradigm that I call the ‘Sensuous Society’.

Relatively new terms such as work-life balance, corporate social responsibility and triple bottom lines point towards the need for adjustments. Even before the financial crack this was recognized by many agents in the corporate world, but there is a risk that companies clinging to old values will not be able to adapt.

In the sensuous society the general mode of being is defined by the aesthetic dimension, that has exactly the sensuous experience at is core (according to Baumgarten and the aesthetic philosophy following him). That means that the current economic rationality that dominates all spheres of societies today will be replaced. So, it is a very radical idea.

The basic principles of societies have changed several times. As Joseph Campbell points out, one can tell which dimension has dominated at a give time by looking at the tallest building in the city. Up until the Middle Ages – The church (and the basic premises of the religious dimension: to transcend, a relation to a god/the gods, spirituality…), and now (since the industrialization) – The financial centers and the basic premises of the economic dimension: I think most would agree that we are still living in the economic dimension and it determines our fundamental mode of being in the world. But a new time, allowing for a more sensuous mode of being in the world, seem to approach. Once it’s there you must be ready for it!

The notion of a sensuous society furthermore reshapes the role of art and artistic practice. The exclusive autonomous art system is also a result of the dominance of the economic dimension. Within this autonomous zone the art genius is a celebrated figure, which is conceived as someone with a very special (transcending) intelligence.

In a sensuous society however, I believe that this will be a more common intelligence, as for example Joseph Beuys points at – Simply, because we all have this creative potential within us, and if our outset and mode of being in the world is the sensuous, this potential will be released. Of course, there will be some, who are better at navigating in the sensuous society, those with special artistic talents.

We should pay a lot of respect to that craftsmanship and continuously refine it – But much more people than those crystallized as artists today have artistic talent that will be discharged and cultivated in a sensuous society, which it would never have been in the economic. Are you ready for the change?