fig-2 22/50 Marjolijn Dijkman

About

A three century old ritual is reimagined by artist Marjolijn Dijkman in the form of a week long presentation of ideas and discussions called ‘LUNÄ Talks: Uncertainty Scenarios’. The LUNÄ Talks take place around a table, a reproduction of the original table which accommodated The Lunar Society of Birmingham, where pioneers of the Industrial Revolution debated Philosophy, Arts, Sciences and Commerce, every month on the night before full moon. Three centuries later, this table, becomes a platform to develop and expand the knowledge production of our times. The programme includes conversations about the notion of Time, recent developments in Neuroscience and explorations in Big Data, amongst others. The programme of invited speakers posits seeds of thought planted to flourish in a close future. To arrange a free booking to host a conversation or talk of your own, please contact info@fig2.co.uk.

LÜNA Talks: Uncertainty Scenarios

Time and Progress
MONDAY 1 June, 6 - 8 pm
With Stephen Boyd Davis (RCA), Marjolijn Dijkman (Artist) and Cathy Haynes (Artist and Curator).
**FREE ENTRY**

Concepts of Time: Future (Platform for Climate Affairs)
TUESDAY 2 June, 3 – 6 pm
With Ifor Duncan (Goldsmiths) and Tom Trevatt (Goldsmiths).
Head here for more info and to book your tickets: bit.ly/1d3dHJ6

Mining the Mind
WEDNESDAY 3 June, 2 - 6 pm
With Magda Osman (Dynamic Learning & Decision Making Laboratory), Maarten Speekenbrink (UCL) and Jamie Ward (University of Sussex).
Head here for more info and to book your tickets: bit.ly/1BtKMUo

Anticipating Behaviour
THURSDAY 4 June, 6 - 9 pm
With Ramon Amaro (Big Data and Society), Emily Penn (EXXpedition / Pangea Explorations) and Wendy Schultz (Infinite Futures).
Head here for more info and to book your tickets: bit.ly/1Fe2NH2

Changing Prospects
SATURDAY 6 June, 2 - 6 pm
With Caroline Edwards (Birkbeck University of London) and Mark Fisher (Goldsmiths), Ken Hollings (author) and Mary Margaret Rinebold (Writer).
Head here for more info and to book your tickets: bit.ly/1KCj54b

Existential Questions
SUNDAY 7 June, 2 - 6 pm
With Rebecca Bligh (Living in the Future), Owen Cotton-Barrat (Future of Humanity Institute) and Murray Shanahan (Imperial College London).
Head here for more info and to book your tickets: bit.ly/1Fe2FHx

ABOUT LUNÄ TALKS: UNCERTAINTY SCENARIOS

LUNÄ is based on the Lunar Society of Birmingham, which was formed from a group of amateur experimenters, tradesmen and artisans who met and made friends in the Midlands in the 1760s. The original Lunar men gathered together for lively dinner conversations, the journey back from their Birmingham meeting place lit by the full moon. Members included the flamboyant entrepreneur Matthew Boulton, the brilliantly perceptive engineer James Watt whose inventions harnessed the power of steam, the radical polymath Joseph Priestley who, among his wide-ranging achievements discovered oxygen, and the innovative potter and social reformer Josiah Wedgwood. Their debates brought together philosophy, arts, science and commerce, and as well as debating and discovering, the ‘Lunarticks’ also built canals and factories, launched balloons, named plants, gases and minerals, managed world-class businesses — and changed the face of England.

Three centuries later, Dijkman revisits this moment of historical significance. She produces the replica of the table where Lunar Men met, in order to provide a platform to develop and expand on the knowledge production of our times. At fig-2, she will specifically focus on the notion of the future investigating modes in which the idea of future is seeded in our society today. Titled ‘Uncertainty Scenarios’, the project draws its streamlines of thinking on social, scientific and artistic endeavours. 

‘Uncertainty Scenarios’, is an ongoing experimental research project initiated by Marjolijn Dijkman and Amélie Bouvier in 2015 part of the artist initiative Enough Room for Space founded by Marjolijn Dijkman and Maarten Vanden Eynde and based in Brussels that explores the ways in which people throughout history have tried to speculate, predict and anticipate the future, highlighting different attitudes involved. The project creates a common ground for a group of artists that all share interest in the concerns of the project and aims to establish a context for the development of new works. Together they reflect on possible consequences of current global socio-political or ecological issues and question our position as artists towards these. 

‘Uncertainty Scenarios’ tries to become an artistic tool to grasp the ‘futurity’ that is already, and increasingly, a part of our present. Collectively they research concepts such as, notions of speculation, methodologies of predicting the future, alongside strategic thinking and scenario planning, risk and crisis management, voodoo rituals, divination, spiritual forecasts and science fiction. The collective questions the impact of these current streams of engagement with the world around us.