Navigating Uncertainty
We are living through a time defined by shifting ground: ecological limits are being breached, political and social systems are in flux, and technologies are evolving too fast for us to meaningfully grasp their implications. The idea of a stable, predictable world no longer holds true.
Uncertainty is often described as a lack of clarity, or an absence of information, but it is more than that. It is a structural feature of the systems we have built and the crises we now face. From climate change and algorithmic governance to geopolitical instability and the emergence of quantum technologies, we find ourselves confronting forms of uncertainty that are not simply technical, but existential. These are not problems to be solved with more data or better models, they require a deeper cultural and political reckoning. This exhibition brings together artistic and research-based practices that question the systems we live within and offer new frameworks for understanding, feeling, and navigating the unknown.
Climate Uncertainty
The impacts of climate change are undeniable, yet the complexity of the ecological systems involved often makes it difficult to fully predict where, when, and how these impacts will unfold. In this section, the projects engage with the entangled realities of environmental degradation, extractivism, and loss of biodiversity, while also highlighting alternative modes of understanding and acting within ecological systems.
Techno-Social Uncertainty
As the result of the unprecedented development of digital technologies, not just our tools are changing, but the structures of our society as well, yet these systems are often black boxes. This section looks at how artists and researchers show the impact of their output, make their workings visible, and imagine better futures. Some reveal the power structures behind tech, while others rethink how it could serve the public and the planet. In this view, uncertainty becomes a prompt to question and reshape how we build and use technology, underlining the need for digital sovereignty, fair infrastructure, and critical digital literacy.
Fundamental Uncertainty
As quantum technologies move from theoretical physics into applied computing, they present a new layer of uncertainty—one that questions the very frameworks through which we understand reality. These technologies hold radical potential, yet for most people they remain difficult to grasp. The projects explore how culture can interpret, mediate, and expand our understanding of quantum science; they engage not only on the cognitive, but also on the emotional level. In doing so, they contribute to a broader public imagination around quantum futures—one that is open, inclusive, and critically informed.
Uncertainty is not a problem to be solved, rather a condition to be understood. It shapes the way we relate to our environment, to technology, and to each other. The works in this exhibition do not offer fixed solutions. Instead, they act as tools—ways to see more clearly, to feel more deeply, and to imagine more expansively.
This is also the core of the STARTS initiative: fostering collaboration between science, technology, and the arts to rethink innovation in the service of a more just and sustainable future. The exhibition features the selection of the STARTS Prize and STARTS Prize Africa winners, funded by the Horizon Europe Programme of the European Union and DG CNECT in the framework of the STARTS Ec(h)o and STARTS Afropean Intelligence projects.
Masha Zolotova (RU) / Co-Curator STARTS Prize Exhibition
