S+T+ARTS Talk: Art & Tech for Urban Resilience

This program is organised by BOZAR and French Tech Grande Provence, in the framework of the S+T+ARTS Programme (Science + Technology + the Arts).

The concept the ultra-technological and connected „smart city“ has given way, in the light of climate change and health crisis, to that of the resilient and sustainable city.

This urban ideal implies a transformation of the existing ecosystem and of our habits so that a more resilient society can emerge with enhanced accessibility, social inclusion, and citizen wellbeing. What place should be given to the dialogue between art, science and technology in this transition process? How can artists help to create new collective imaginaries and participatory systems, spaces for reflection and criticism for the future of our cities? How can urban planners and policy makers be inspired by these scenarios and reflections on urban citizenship in the light of digital innovation?

The talk is connected to both STARTS exhibitions in Brussels (at BOZAR) and Romainville (at Fiminco Fondation) and to the Ars Electronica Festival 2020.

Programme

17:30 CET // Inspirational keynote by Francesca Bria
S+T+ARTS FOR CITIES: Building smart cities from the ground up with citizens

Marie Albert – Head of European Projects – French Tech Grande Provence
Paul Dujardin – CEO and Artistic Director BOZAR

Francesca Bria – Advisor on digital strategy, technology and information policy, President of the Italian National Innovation Fund, Honorary Professor in the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose at UCL London, and Senior Advisor and Ambassador to the United Nation (UN-Habitat) on digital cities and digital rights.

18:00 CET // Panel Discussion: Art & tech for urban resilience

How can the dialogue between art, science and technology renew our vision of cities and contribute to sustainable innovation in urban environments?

Moderator:

• Anastasios Tellios, Associate Professor at School of Architecture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH)

Speakers:

• Mar Santamaria Varas and Pablo Martinez Diez – STARTS Project Ciutat Vella’s Land-use Plan
  The work by the collective 300 000 km/s brings about big data, KDD and citizen participation to ensure a coexistence between economic activity and citizens’ quality of life.
  Architects, urban planners and engineers provide design, data analysis and consulting services for cities. This way, they apply technology to architecture, city and territory. In the Ciutat Vella’s Land-use Plan project, the citizens are at the heart of the city’s future planning, by developing a democratic and grass-roots system of public consultation.
• Joachim Pflieger – General Manager at Fiminco Fondation (hosting a STARTS exhibition in September 2020)
  The Fondation Fiminco is a new contemporary art space focused on international cross-disciplinary visual art. It is dedicated to supporting multidisciplinary contemporary international creation through a program of exhibitions, performances, events, and workshops. The location of the Fondation Fiminco in Romainville and more largely in Seine-Saint-Denis is at the heart of the Fondation’s dynamics in order to build ties between creation and territory.
• Prof. Vittorio Loreto – Director at Sony CSL Paris
  Sony CSL Paris has created a unique experience enabling users to collectively conceive sustainable solutions for cities. By playing with a city of Lego, the public can explore different urban scenarios in terms of employment, education, and quality of life. Everyone can give form to their ideas by creating new parts of the city and modify previous constructions. The emerging city is watched by video cameras which, like satellites, enable us to visualise the characteristics of the city, like the number of inhabitants, the consumption of energy, or pollution rates.
• Stéphanie Lepczynski, Political counsellor for scientific research in the cabinet of the Brussels Capital Region’s Secretary of State for Economic Transition and Scientific Research

19:00 // Talk: Mobility – moving to new imaginaries

Fiminco Fondation, a new contemporary art space based in Romainville (east of Paris), and Sony CSL, the Computer Science Lab of Sony Group in Paris will present their S+T+ARTS Residency collaboration project. A 5 months residence program between an artist and the Sony CSL research team, taking place in 2021 at Fiminco Foundation, to explore the topic of mobility through artistic practices. The presentation will include details on the ongoing call for artists and be followed by a Q&A session with the audience.

Moderator:

• Marie Albert – Head of European projects, French Tech Grande Provence

Speakers:

• Joachim Pflieger – General Manager at Fiminco Fondation (hosting a STARTS exhibition in September 2020)
• Prof. Vittorio Loreto – Director at Sony CSL Paris