What might the city look like at the end of the 21st century? In his first keynote presentation,’Futures Past: the art of imagining cities’ Nick explored how cities look, feel and operate has long been (and is still) a topic of interest and inspiration for many artists, designers, architects etc. Through their artistic work and practice, they imagine, depict and perform what the city of tomorrow might look like. Many of these visions of future cities offer a challenging perspective on social, political, economic and ecological issues. They illustrate how a city can become uncontrollable or how it will remain a centre for innovation and freedom.
In his second keynote presentation, ‘City Visions: futures of the here and now?’, Nick examined how the organization of urban public space and the urban fabric is already developing more and more towards a field of artistic collaboration between artists, designers, (landscape) architects, policymakers, technologists and urban planners. New and alternative forms of urban living are imposing new demands on cities. How can the future city be built and managed, taking these demands into account? How will it function socially, economically and politically?
The Festival of Art and The Future City was organised by Brussels Arts Platform in collaboration with Beursschouwburg, RITCS School of Arts and Doctoral School of Human Sciences – VUB.
Nick Dunn