The Blue Marble image is a landmark in the genealogy of cosmological ordering, the historical and philosophical evolution of how humans have structured and understood the cosmos and their place within it. The authority of modern Science is one more iteration of defining where we are in the order of things.
We propose that the titular photo wasn’t only taken, but rather made. It is the offspring of a specific techno-historical context. The question is how to reclaim our agency in the making of alternative planetary imaginaries, beyond the Blue Marble.
How do imaginaries influence the creation of value systems, economy and technology? How can we use them to align intention and action to rehearse alternatives? We invite theorists and practitioners to join us in this exploration by reconsidering their worldviews and resulting practices through the images produced.
We offer a space to think with a diverse group of peers, through images and references, challenging our understanding of the reality we take for granted. We are looking for a small group of participants willing to invest in our common exploration with their practices, approaches and interests. The summer program includes a series of talks and workshops that will provide theoretical resources and (historical) visual inputs as a common ground for in(ter)disciplinary conversations.
We will capture the outcomes of these discussions through collages, assemblages of text and images, evocative visualisations that will short-circuit into unexpected prompts for different perspectives on the topics discussed. Each participant will have the opportunity to apply the methodology, topics or references to their interests, develop a personal project within the framework of the summer camp (or beyond), and make use of the expertise, guidance, and resources.
The summer camp will take place in Bolsena, in central Italy, on the eastern shore of Lake Bolsena, the largest volcanic lake in Europe. The summer camp will immerse participants in the historical landscape and cosmologies of this city, founded in 265 BC by the Etruscans.
We will stay in the convent Santa Maria del Giglio, which is currently home of Punti di Vista, a cultural association that is aiming at “stimulating the knowledge and the encounter of cultures, traditions and religions, in the conviction that no opinion, no vision of the world, can be able to give description and explanation of reality”.
Ahead of the Summer Camp, a series of online gatherings will propose a shared acknowledgement of philosophical and historical takes regarding the topic of “Planetary Imaginaries.” In response to this framework, the weeks between the last gathering and the beginning of the camp will allow time for the participants to share with us texts and/or images they would like to add to the database. These will be included in the onsite workshops of the camp. It is an opportunity for the participants to orient the conversation toward their research. The camp can be seen as an occasion to mobilise the minds gathered there to challenge and develop personal projects.
Please read the full open call at this link for all the details, the theoretical framework, reference and practicalities.
Guests
During the summer camp, we will invite several guests to spend time at the convent with us to share their perspectives on planetary imaginary theory. Over the course of the week, they will give lectures, host workshops, and offer participants the opportunity to engage in informal and individual conversations about their practices and projects.
Guest contributors will be announced soon on Baltan and Chimerical Intelligence’s Lab channels
1️⃣ Miha Turšič works at Waag as the Space Lab lead, as well as a concept and project developer. He focuses on international collaboration and initiates projects that explore themes such as art-science, space art and culture, planetarity, biotechnology, digital fabrication, and open-source hardware. As part of the European S+T+ARTS collaboration, Miha works at the intersection of science, technology, and the arts, specializing in research and methodology of collaborative innovation. He also serves as the initiator and coordinator of the More-than-Planet European project.
Miha studied Industrial Design at the University of Ljubljana. He is the co-founder of Asobi Design Studio and KSEVT, the Cultural Centre of European Space Technologies. In collaboration with space and cultural organisations, KSEVT has produced cultural programmes on the International Space Station, introduced space architecture to the Venice Biennale, and publicly presented the Voyager instruments for the first time. Miha is also the founder and a member of the Postgravityart group, which created the first-ever theatre production in zero gravity and is working on the 50-year performance project Noordung 1995-2045.
2️⃣ Corrado Melluso (Palermo, 1984) is an editor and publisher. Former editor in chief of Baldini & Castoldi, he has been among the founders of the Vicolo Canney Literary Agency and of the imprint Not - NERO on Theory, in which he contributed to publish in Italy authors like Mark Fisher, Donna Haraway, Silvia Federici and McKenzie Wark.
In 2023 he founded Timeo, a new independent publishing label devoted to translating in Italian the most contemporary tendencies of philosophical and poetical international writing, and to spread them over the mainstream political discourse, presenting those instances as a necessary tool to image new possible utopias. Among Timeo's authors: Franco Bifo Berardi, Timothy Morton, Jane Bennett, Lauren Berlant, Boris Groys, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Edoardo Camurri and Nicolás Jaar.
His publishing interests are focused on the prophetic meaning of technologies and on the evolution of contemporary social mindscape and its reflection on the political, philosophical and artistic imagery.
3️⃣ Laura Tripaldi is a postdoctoral researcher at NYU Shanghai, working within the Center for AI and Culture and the Department of Interactive Media Arts. With a background in materials science, she now works at the intersection of science, philosophy, and art.
Her research focuses on the materiality of emerging technologies, with a growing emphasis on material and technological histories across China and Europe. Her book Parallel Minds: Discovering the Intelligence of Materials (Urbanomic, 2022) explores nonhuman cognition through the lens of chemistry and materials science. Translated into multiple languages and enthusiastically received by scholars and practitioners across disciplines, the book has been presented at institutions including Columbia GSAPP, the Venice Architecture Biennale, and MALBA.
Tripaldi is also a writer, an educator, and a magazine editor at NERO Editions, where she curates editorial projects on theory, art, and digital cultures.
4️⃣ Freddy Paul Grunert is a philosopher and strategic curator who addresses the political and environmental necessity to make the arts and sciences converse.
His vision led him to engage with multiple cultural and interdisciplinary programs such as DATAMI: HumaniTies and Artificial Intelligence, together with the JRC European Commission, Bozar, Brussels; SoL: Symmetries of Light, with the Science Gallery, Melbourne; or Light: What is light? Light in Spirituality, in Scheurmann K. Gesprächsstoff Farbe, Dresden.
His practice manifests itself in various public formats, for instance by organising symposiums such as Origins of Futures: Edison, Venice; Fragments of Dark Matter Life, Beyond Einstein’s Dream, The Hidden Beauty Carried by Light in collaboration with ZKM; Future ways of Living, at Meet, Milan; or the Maxxi Temporary School: Techno-Utopia Or Degrowth and Acceleration?, Rome.
Beyond cultural institutions, he participates in multidisciplinary initiatives amongst which we can recall the SEJF Foundation, Venice; the Deep climate impact: Climate Walk-Climate Spinner Akademie der Künste, Berlin; or the PIC Potsdam, COP Rio de Janeiro, Kopenhagen.
He edited Free download: HumaniTies and Artificial Intelligence, published by Noema and commissioned by the European Commission.
5️⃣ Cristina Fiordimela is an architect and museographe. She holds a PhD in Interior Architecture and Exhibition Design and a Master in Scientific Museum Communicatio. She is a university and academic professor in Exhibition Design as well as a researcher at ICOM-International Council of Museums on accessibility and museum storage.
Her expertise escapes academic spaces in her involvement with projects such as SoL: Symmetries of Light at the Science Gallery, Melbourne; or Chambre (en) Commun with Culture et Démocratie, Bruxelles.
She participated in multiple publication amongst which: Museographies of Accumulation, Chambre d’Amour (2018), Ágalma; Image Construction Site (2024), Datami-European commission; Sticks and Stones (2023), David Chipperfields Museums, Il Giornale dell’Architettura; NowHere Active Residencies (2021), Sensibili alle Foglie; Paolo Gioli (2021), Family Album, Silvana editoriale; Maison au Soleil (2018), Francesco Lo Savio, MART edizioni.
Participating Organizations
Baltan Laboratories is a cultural indisciplinary lab based in Eindhoven. It was founded in 2008 to revive the creative, collaborative and exploratory spirit of the Philips Natlab (physics laboratory of Philips) in Eindhoven, by a group of local artists who missed a place for that type of exploration and experiment in the arts.
The Chimerical Intelligence Lab (CI-Lab) is a platform for distributed thinking. The Lab aims at conducting non-linear thought experiments that manifests itself in overlapping study, research and working groups. It acknowledges the entanglement of all layers of reality and hence, the necessity to reattribute agency to the symbols and artefacts involved in every thinking process.
EPISTEAM = EPI Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Math. EPISTEAM, is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization (SELF-ESTEAM Inc) that instills youth with confidence and educational preparation through STEAM for academic and professional success. It is aimed at helping underrepresented, at-risk and economically disadvantaged students break the poverty cycle through access to education, opportunities, support and mentorship. We believe diversity leads to innovation.
Fees and Timeline
The fee for the program is €950 for regulars, and 800€ for early birds. It includes registration and accommodation at the convent. Travel and food are not included. Selected participants shall send 40% of the payment within one week after their acceptance to confirm their participation. Submissions will be accepted until June 20th, 23:59 CET and selection will be announced on a rolling basis within five days of the deadline.
Regular fee (950 €), deadline June 20th, 23:59 CET
Early Bird fee (800 €), deadline June 5th, 23:59 CET
UPDATE | Deadline extended until the 30th of June!
Online Q&A Session: Monday, 2nd June at 17:30-19:00 CET.
If you want to join the Q&A Session, please register at this link.
If you cannot join the session, you can always contact us at
info@baltanlaboratories.org
2 Online gatherings to get to know the group and in preparation for the summer camp: one in the first half of July and the other one in the first half August, will be communicated later. The participation in the online gatherings is advised but not mandatory.
Who and How to Apply
Approximately 20 participants will be selected based on their motivation, as well as their profiles and practices. The selection will be based on experience and intent within the themes of the program. The group diversity and coherence will be attempted in this process. It is advisable to have a medium level of English, oral and written. Interested applicants must submit the following documentation via an email to info@baltanlaboratories.org.
— Motivation letter or a video which contains (max 2 A4 or a video of max 10 min):
Introduction of yourself and your practice (artistic, theoretical, scientific, pedagogical…).
How do you relate to the topics of the Summer Camp.
A research question that connects your work to the theme of the Summer Camp.
— Curriculum vitae (CV)
— Research or portfolio with a maximum of 5 projects.
Results of the selection: on a rolling basis, we will give you an answer as soon as possible after your submission, so you can plan your holiday period. If you submit just before the deadline, you will receive a reply within a week after the deadline.
The Summer Camp is part of EpisTeaM, a Horizon MSCA Staff Exchange European project that forms an interdisciplinary network of researchers, building innovative impact on knowledge construction. EpisTeaM aims to develop a team proposing an epistemology situated within a genealogy of thinking that understands epistemology and technology as a mode of technē (technical practices that influence the way knowledge is constructed), possessing an irreducible political and social dimension.
This project has received funding from the MSCA-SE programme EPISTEAM under grant agreement No. 101129655
