AMSTERDAM, MONDAY 21 FEBRUARY — From 10 to 13 March, Natural Intelligence will take place at A Lab in Amsterdam; an international meeting place focussing on an ecologically-based future Internet. In the fight against accelerating global warming, the nature of the Internet and our own online behavior can have a major impact. Because of the ever-increasing energy demand to run our digital services, it’s necessary to develop sustainable internet-literacy and work on alternative digital infrastructures. Fortunately, there are many opportunities and initiatives that are active in this growing field. Arts organisation FIBER connects a multitude of makers and thinkers to envision the future of the internet.
The immense possibilities of today's internet services, data centres, artificial intelligence and rendered computer graphics have been made possible by a large supply of cheap energy sources: fossil fuels. The promises of yet another generation of artificial intelligence and the rise of the metaverse and NFT’s are unthinkable without the endless extraction and flow of fossil energy. Many are already talking about 'data warming' as one of the strongly growing drivers of global warming.
Natural Intelligence, the third part of FIBER’s ongoing Reassemble Lab, brings together those who are proposing alternative internet infrastructures based on earthly dynamics, low-carbon solutions, collaborative infrastructures and ecological ethics. The lab consists of a public programme with lectures, and a three-day lab in which a selected group of makers and thinkers will work together on various topics.
The full programme gives voice to various directions, philosophies and thoughts on the future that have emerged in recent years. The choice for our location is not a coincidence; A Lab was the former Shell Grootlab, from which the global fossil fuel superpower operated for a long time.
One component of this four-day programme for artists, designers, creative coders, technologists, researchers, energy experts and policy makers is the establishment of a solar server on the roof of Amsterdam Noord’s creative melting pot A Lab.
With the launch of this cell, Amsterdam becomes part of the global network of the project ‘Solar Protocol’ (Tega Brain, Benedetta Piantelli and Alex Nathanson). Under the motto ‘Towards a Natural Intelligence’, the team experiments with an international platform of solar energy distribution to prototype and design a potential new, sustainable generation of internet services. Already participating sites are in Australia, Chile, Kenya and the US.
The project will kick off with an hybrid public programme on Thursday 10/3, A Future of Internets, with i.a. Michelle Thorne (Sustainable Internet Lead at the Mozilla Foundation), Marloes de Valk (software artist and PhD researcher at the London South Bank University), Shayna Robinson (Senior Program Officer for the Internet Society Foundation’s Research and Innovation Programs), Tega Brain, Alex Nathanson and Benedetta Piantelli (Solar Protocol team), Kim van Sparrentak (member of the European Parliament for GroenLinks) and Aymeric Mansoux (media researcher and Reader at the WdKA). The evening takes place at A Lab in Amsterdam Noord in collaboration with MozFest, and can also be attended online.
The Lab programme takes place at A Lab in Amsterdam Noord, where participants get acquainted with the themes and with each other in hands-on workshops, prototyping sessions, talks and discussions. The Lab Programme contains talks and workshops by Tega Brain, Alex Nathanson and Benedetta Piantella (the Solar Protocol team), Lisette van Beek, Cristina Napoleone, Abdo Hassan, Michelle Thorne, Mick Jongeling, Farah Ghazal, Aymeric Mansoux, Roel Roscam Abbing, Kris De Decker and more to be announced.
The lab will explore questions such as: What role can design, creative coding and artistic research play to envision and prototype a fundamentally different way of adapting our technological demands to natural cycles? What does it mean to learn from, adapt to, and work with natural intelligence, and how to imagine, articulate, practice and connect initiatives towards fossil-free futures?
The lab is developed in partnership with A Lab (location) and MozFest and others to be confirmed. Lab curators are media researcher and curator Katía Truijen and FIBER’s artistic director Jarl Schulp. Abdo Hassan and Mick Jongeling co-develop the programme and join the lab as mentors.
Reassemble is FIBER’s multi-year lab programme that will connect the festival editions. The lab strives to contribute to our understanding of great planetary challenges by supporting artistic makers and inquisitive thinkers in prototyping new (collaborative) works and ways of knowing. This takes place in partnership with research institutions and other cultural organisations. More: reassemble.world
Marketing & communications FIBER: lauren@fiber-space.nl
Public programme: https://www.fiber-space.nl/event-a-future-of-internets/
Lab programme: https://www.fiber-space.nl/project/natural-intelligence/
About FIBER
FIBER is an Amsterdam based interdisciplinary organisation, that presents new developments in audiovisual art, digital culture and the experimental and deeper corners of electronic music. The team works year round with a vibrant network of artists, designers, researchers and developers, who aspire to introduce mind bending experiences to a broad audience. Special attention goes out to the support of up and coming talents across numerous creative disciplines.
Next to small-scale events and exhibitions, the team organises the recurring FIBER Festival in Amsterdam, which brings together a diverse crowd of new talent, established artists and curious visitors. FIBER aims to explore hybrid forms of art, the power of media- and network technology, and encourages an exchange of views between the makers and their audience.
Contact details
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- Hannah van den Elzen
- Marketing & Communication Lead at FIBER
- hannah@fiber-space.nl
- 0655685124
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- Jarl Schulp
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Artistic Director
press@fiber-space.nl
jarl@fiber-space.nl
+31 (0)6 41 23 56 24