Future Now Symposium 2022 Programme

aesthetica symposium

// Idea generation // cultural debate // NEW CONNECTIONS Cover

5-6 May, York | LIVE STREAMED

WELCOME We’re living through complex times, and it’s art that can help us to make sense of the world we inhabit. For the past two years it’s been our tonic, offering not only hope, but insight, into how we can build a better society collectively.

Future Now is a conference for critical and cultural debate. This two-day event brings together key institutions, galleries, publications and artists for discussions surrounding the most pressing questions from the creative industries.

Each year, we invite leading speakers from the art world to discuss today’s important issues from The Human Impact of Art and The Democratisation of Photography to Curating During a Time of Change. Through imaginative debates, panel discussions, portfolio reviews and cultural engagement, Future Now is a platform for idea generation, and a key event in the UK arts calendar.

The 2022 edition dissects who, and what, is being represented in galleries today, amidst our changing relationship with nature and technology, and the role of activism in the information age. Key topics for this year include How to Fund Your Practice; Who Controls History?; and The Power of Discomfort: Art That Shatters Stereotypes, as well as The Personal is Political: Photography and Advocacy; and Can Art Really Help? Empathy and the Climate Crisis.

Featured speakers include Sutapa Biswas, Jason Bruges, Daisy Ginsberg, Baff Akoto, Larry Achiampong, Poulomi Basu, Hannah Starkey and Jamie Hawkesworth, as well as representatives from Hayward Gallery, the Barbican, British Council, Verisart, Jerwood Visual Arts and New Contemporaries.

Future Now also offers a range of industry-led portfolio reviews, offering attendees the chance to discuss their work with thought leaders from the contemporary art sector. Organisations who will be sharing their advice over the course of the two days include Creative Review, Spectrum Photographic, Open Eye Gallery, The Whitworth, The Hepworth, and British Journal of Photography.

Cherie Federico, Director, Aesthetica

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: THURSDAY 5 MAY All sessions available on the live stream

09:00 WELCOME ADDRESS 09:30 - 09:45

10:00

SESSION 1 10:00 - 11:00 WHAT IS A “BETTER” WORLD?

11:00 12:00

SESSION 2 11:15-12:15 THE POWER OF DISCOMFORT: ART THAT SHATTERS STEREOTYPES

13:00

LUNCH AT YORK THEATRE ROYAL 12:15-13:30

14:00

SESSION 3 13:45-14:45 WHO IS THE 21ST CENTURY CURATOR?

15:00

SESSION 4 15:00-16:00 THE PERSONAL IS POLITICAL: PHOTOGRAPHY AND ADVOCACY

16:00 17:00 18:00

SESSION 5 16:15-17:15 WHO CONTROLS HISTORY? SESSION 6 17:30-18:30 SOCIAL DOCUMENTARY: PEOPLE, PLACES, PHOTOGRAPHS 15 MINUTES WITH AESTHETICA ART PRIZE FINALISTS 18:30-18:45

19:00 20:00

FILM SCREENING 19:00-20:00 SARAH MAPLE

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: FRIDAY 6 MAY All sessions available on the live stream

09:00 WELCOME ADDRESS 09:30 - 09:45

10:00

SESSION 7 10:00 - 11:00 CREATE YOUR OWN PLATFORM: NFTS AND THE FUTURE OF BLOCKCHAIN

11:00 12:00

SESSION 8 11:15-12:15 HOW TO FUND YOUR PRACTICE

13:00

LUNCH AT YORK THEATRE ROYAL 12:15-13:30

14:00

SESSION 9 13:45-14:45 WHAT IS EXPERIENTIAL ART?

15:00

SESSION 10 15:00-16:00 CAN ART REALLY HELP? EMPATHY AND THE CLIMATE CRISIS

16:00 17:00 18:00

SESSION 11 16:15-17:15 INTERROGATING EXPANDED REALITIES SESSION 12 17:30-18:30 CONSTRUCTING THE MOMENT: A MASTERCLASS IN PHOTOGRAPHY 15 MINUTES WITH AESTHETICA ART PRIZE FINALISTS 18:30-18:45

19:00 20:00

DRINKS RECEPTION 19:00-20:00 1331, GRAPE LANE

TICKETS & THIS YEAR’S FORMAT The Aesthetica Future Now Symposium takes place at Yorkshire Museum. Tickets are available for one-day, two-day or live stream passes. All tickets come with one portfolio review included. Additional reviews can be added for £25 each. For more information about the tickets, please read more below.

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Attend a full day of in-person talks in York Complimentary lunch Film Screening 1 x Portfolio Review included Valid 5 May 2022

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Attend a full day of in-person talks in York Complimentary lunch Drinks Reception 1 x Portfolio Review included Valid 6 May 2022

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Attend two full days of talks in York Complimentary lunch Film Screening and Drinks Reception 1 x Portfolio Review included Valid 5 and 6 May 2022

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Access to live streamed talks, as they happen at Yorkshire Museum Watch on a variety of devices Be inspired by the best in contemporary art, from the comfort of your home Valid for 5 and 6 May 2022

Additional Portfolio Review | £25 1-1 in-person sessions suitable for all artists across a variety of genres Discuss your portfolio with experts Receive essential guidance First review free with 1 or 2-day pass

USEFUL INFORMATION LIVE SESSIONS • Your pass will include access to all sessions on either 5 or 6 May, or both 5 and 6 May, depending on your ticket type. You do not need to register for any of the sessions, other than Portfolio Reviews.

• We also have a live stream ticket option, where viewers can watch the live sessions as they take place in Yorkshire Museum. This ticket option includes access to all streamed events across the two days.

• There will be no interactivity on the live stream.

• All live activity will take place between 5-6 May 2022.

PORTFOLIO REVIEW SESSIONS Portfolio Review Sessions are for practitioners working across all forms and genres, including drawing and painting, photography and digital art, sculpture, design and three-dimensional art, video, installation and performance.

Here, artists have the opportunity to speak with experts who can provide essential advice and guidance on their practice and career progression opportunities. Booking Essential via our website. Sessions last 20 minutes.

LANYARD RETURN SCHEME We recognise our responsibility to reduce our wider carbon footprint. As part of our return scheme, please hand in your lanyard at the end of the day so that we can recycle and reuse materials at future events.

ACCESSIBILITY The Future Now Symposium is committed to providing a safe and all-inclusive environment for all attendees. Please find more information below.

• Yorkshire Museum: In 2022, Future Now will take place in person, 5-6 May, at Yorkshire Museum, in the city centre. The museum is located on three floors, and there is a lift situated by the main staircase. The Future Now Symposium will take place on the ground floor, in the main auditorium, which is fully accessible to wheelchair users. Toilets are on the lower floor, which is fully accessible.

• York Theatre Royal: The Portfolio Reviews and refreshments will both be held in York Theatre Royal, on the Upper Foyer. There are wide automatic doors on entrance to the foyer of the theatre. There is lift access to the Upper Foyer.

• Carers, Personal Assistants & Interpreters: Complimentary passes are available to all Carers, Personal Assistants and Sign-Language Interpreters, but must be booked in advance. A proof of DLA or a valid CEA card is required. For more information, please contact the team.

For all accessibility enquiries and adjustments, please contact the team: art-prize@aestheticamagazine.com

SESSIONS & EVENTS | THURSDAY 5 MAY 09:30-09:45 WELCOME ADDRESS Art has the power to transform and change the world. This has been a time of profound change. Over the last few years, we’ve had to quickly adapt and change to situations that were beyond our control. Through these turbulent times, we can, and have, taken comfort in artwork that helps us to make sense of the world, and to find our place within it. Art is a way to convene, and to collectively discover new modes of thinking. Creative engagement is so easy to take for granted. We are forever indebted to each other for idea generation. There is no better experience but to have a conversation that takes you in a new direction. In this brief welcome address opening the event, Cherie Federico, Director of Aesthetica, offers an overview of the talks to come, and the importance of inspiration – an idea at the core of the Future Now Symposium.

CHERIE FEDERICO Cherie is the Editor of Aesthetica Magazine and the Director of the BAFTA-Qualifying Aesthetica Short Film Festival (ASFF). She is also the founder of the Aesthetica Art Prize and the Future Now Symposium. Originally from New York, Cherie moved to the UK in 2002 to study for her Masters degree and founded Aesthetica, which she has developed into an international brand distributed in 915 stores in the UK and exported to 20 countries. Cherie is a champion of new creative talent across the arts, from film and literature to art, design and photography.

Fares Micue, Burning Energy (2019).

Resurrecting the Sublime, 2019 Christina Agapakis of Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc., Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg & Sissel Tolaas, with support from IFF Inc.

SESSIONS & EVENTS | THURSDAY 5 MAY

10:00-11:00 SESSION 1: WHAT IS A “BETTER” WORLD? Habitat loss, pesticides, invasive species and carbon burning are causing a terrifying decline in pollinator populations around the world. Plants are vital to the survival of life on Earth, both for humanity, and for the some 8.7 million species that exist on the planet. Dr Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg has spent over 10 years examining our fraught relationship with nature and technology, combining the fields of artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, conservation, and biodiversity as she investigates the impulse to “better” the world and what this looks like. For her most recent commission – realised with the Eden Project – she devised a unique algorithmic tool that allows for the most empathetic planting design, produced from a pollinator’s perspective, rather than our own, creating living artworks that respond to a changing world.

ALEXANDRA DAISY GINSBERG Daisy Ginsberg (b. 1982) won the World Technology Award for design in 2011, the London Design Medal for Emerging Talent in 2012, and the Dezeen Changemaker Award 2019. Her work has twice been nominated for Designs of the Year (2011, 2015).

She has exhibited internationally, at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; the National Museum of China; the Centre Pompidou, Paris; and the Royal Academy, London. She has spoken at TEDGlobal, PopTech, Design Indaba, and the New Yorker Tech Fest.

SESSIONS & EVENTS | THURSDAY 5 MAY SUTAPA BISWAS Sutapa Biswas’ (b. 1962) recent solo exhibitions include satellite shows at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, and at Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge. She was the Yale Center for British Art Fellow 2019-2020, Yale University; the Andrew W. Mellon Fellow (2008); and is a Deutsche Bank European Photography Award nominee. She has lectured for the likes of Stanford University, New York University, University of British Columbia, Ruskin School of Art, Oxford University, Princeton University and the University of Cambridge.

ALLIE BISWAS Allie Biswas is a writer and editor based in London. She is co-editor of The Soul of a Nation Reader: Writings by and about Black American artists, 1960-1980 with Mark Godfrey, an urgent anthology featuring over 200 voices, paired with the exhibition at Tate.

She has published various written works on renowned artists including Wolfgang Tillmans, Julie Mehretu, Adam Pendleton, Rashid Johnson, Arcmanoro Niles, Lubna Chowdhary and Theaster Gates. Biswas’ recent projects include producing a catalogue about the US Embassy’s art collection in London and an essay on Matthew Krishanu.

Film still from Lumen (2021) © Sutapa Biswas. Cinematography: Martin Testar.

11:15 - 12:15 SESSION 2: THE POWER OF DISCOMFORT: ART THAT SHATTERS STEREOTYPES Sutapa Biswas has had an extensive career, from being a vital contributor to the British Black Arts Movement in the 1980s to contributing to wider conversations about identity, dislocation and belonging in the 21st century. Her works, spanning painting, drawing, film, digital video, performance and photography, employ “beauty” to visually disrupt, challenge and provoke the viewer, whilst engaging with questions of identity, race and gender in relation to time, space and history. She is interested in the ways in which larger historical narratives collide with personal stories, explored in her most recent work, Lumen. In conversation with Allie Biswas, she discusses interdisciplinarity whilst acknowledging the Eurocentric limitations of the contemporary art world.

SESSIONS & EVENTS | THURSDAY 5 MAY

13:45 - 14:45 SESSION 3: WHO IS THE 21ST CENTURY CURATOR? According to a 2021 survey by ArtFund, more than half of curators feel able to “take risks” in the content or subject matter of exhibitions, with 22% stating that they are encouraged to do so. But, what constitutes “taking risks”? What kinds of exhibitions are being planned over the next 12 months, and what world are we responding to in the process? What responsibility do curators have, and how do the larger decisions of the institution affect culture at large?

In this session, a panel of representatives from Hayward Gallery, London; The Art House, Wakefield; and Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, discuss the realities of their role – balancing exhibition planning, collections management, research, fundraising and professional development. What does the work of a 21st century curator look like? Chaired by curator and researcher Thomas Dukes.

THOMAS DUKES CURATOR AND RESEARCHER

YUNG MA CURATOR HAYWARD GALLERY, LONDON

MARIAMA ATTAH CURATOR OPEN EYE GALLERY, LIVERPOOL

DAMON JACKSON-WALDOCK PROGRAMME DIRECTOR THE ART HOUSE, WAKEFIELD

SESSIONS & EVENTS | THURSDAY 5 MAY POUL0MI BASU

Courtesy Maria Lax.

Poulomi Basu’s first photobook Centralia was published by Dewi Lewis in 2020. The book and exhibition won the 2020 Rencontres d’Arles Discovery Award Jury Prize, and was shortlisted for the 2021 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize. Basu is a Sundance Fellow, a National Geographic Explorer and a Magnum Foundation Social Justice Fellow. Her work has been published in FT Magazine, The Guardian, The Washington Post, VICE, BBC and The New York Times, and has won awards with the likes of National Geographic and Rencontres d’Arles.

Photograph by Laura Hensser for iheartwomen.co.uk

BINDI VORA Bindi Vora is British-Indian artist working with expanded photography, as well as a visiting lecturer and Curator at Autograph: a London-based non-profit arts charity that explores issues of identity, representation, human rights and social justice through photography. Since joining Autograph she has curated Poulomi Basu: Fireflies (2022), co-curated Care I Contagion I Community ­– Self & Other (2021-2022); Lola Flash: [sur]passing and Maxine Walker: Untitled (both 2019). She currently serves on the Curatorial Advisory Board for Amber-Side Gallery, Newcastle.

From the book Centralia © Poulomi Basu.

15:00 - 16:00 SESSION 4: THE PERSONAL IS POLITICAL Through a multi-disciplinary practice that combines photography, moving image, sound and installation, world-renowned transmedia artist, photographer and activist Poulomi Basu will be in conversation with Autograph’s curator Bindi Vora. Together they will discuss how activism, protest and resistance underpins Basu’s wider work, examining the intersections of race, class and gender and the experience of systemic violence. Basu has become widely known for her influential photographic projects Blood Speaks, Centralia, To Conquer Her Land, and her most recent work Fireflies, which forms part of her solo exhibition at Autograph, London. As we reflect on the arc of her work, this conversation will touch upon some of the enduring legacies of women’s collective trauma.

Wayfinder (2022), 4K Feature Length Film WIth Stereo Sound. Commissioned By Turner Contemporary With MK Gallery & BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art. Supported through National Lottery Project Grants through Arts Council England. Courtesy of The Artist & Copperfield London.

SESSIONS & EVENTS | THURSDAY 5 MAY

16:15 - 17:15 SESSION 5: WHO CONTROLS HISTORY? Larry Achiampong employs aural and visual archives, live performance and sound to explore class, heritage and memory, as well as cross-cultural and post-digital identities. He splices personal and collective archives to reveal socio-political contradictions throughout history, questioning modes of agency in the age of mass-migration and technologisation. His ongoing project, Relic Traveller, is a speculative piece that considers our shifting climate: the rise of nationalism, capitalism and globalisation. The piece is infused with speculative narratives, imagining a world where the global west has devolved, and the African Union ascends into prosperity, harmony, independence and responsibility. Achiampong will discuss the intersection between pop culture and postcolonialism, whilst questioning who, or what, shapes history.

LARRY ACHIAMPONG

Courtesy Emile Holba.

Larry Achiampong (b. 1984) is a British-Ghanian artist and Jarman Award nominee. In 2019, he received the Paul Hamlyn Artist award, and in 2020, he was awarded a Stanley Picker fellowship. He has been a tutor on the Photography MA programme at Royal College of Art since 2016. He has exhibited both nationally and internationally with Tate Britain / Modern, London; The Institute for Creative Arts, Cape Town; The British Film Institute, London; Prospect New Orleans; the Diaspora Pavilion – 57th Venice Biennale; and Somerset House, London.

Courtesy Shonay Shote.

Nephertiti Oboshie Schandorf Nephertiti Oboshie Schandorf is a British-Ghanain producer of site-responsive performance, audio and moving image in non-gallery contexts. Schandorf has worked on the development and delivery of exhibitions and programmes with organisations including the Whitworth and Manchester Galleries, commissions for Art on the Underground, the Singapore Biennale, Somerset House, and the 2020 Stanley Picker Fellowship, amongst others. She has recently been appointed as the Artistic Director of Peckham Platform, a creative and educational charity founded in South London.

SESSIONS & EVENTS | THURSDAY 5 MAY 17:30 - 18:30 SESSION 6: SOCIAL DOCUMENTARY: PEOPLE, PLACES, PHOTOGRAPHS Between the years of 2007 and 2020, a tumultuous period in British history which included the credit crunch, riots, Brexit and the accelerated Black Lives Matter movement, Jamie Hawkesworth set out to photograph the UK, based on the sole desire to travel and see what he came across. Despite the early noughties placing national identity under intense debate, the images were never intended as a comment on Britain or on “Britishness”, but to simply document the world, without social or geographical hierarchy. The result was The British Isles, a photobook published with MACK, which combines portraits with observational shots, landscapes and incidental details. Hawkesworth discusses the changing role of the photographer with editor and journalist Diane Smyth.

Photo Credit: Ezra Petronio.

JAMIE HAWKESWORTH Based in London, Hawkesworth (b. 1987) grew up in Ipswich, Suffolk. He completed his BA at the University of Central Lancashire, gaining a first class degree in Photography, after switching from a Forensic Science course. Hawkesworth has exhibited at Huis Marseille, Amsterdam; Somerset House, London; The Hepworth, Wakefield; and Red Hook Labs, New York. He has been commissioned by British Vogue, and been acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. He has published four photo-books with the likes of MACK and Dashwood.

Jamie Hawkesworth. Image from The British Isles (MACK, 2021). Courtesy of the artist and MACK.

Steve Messam, Spiked (2021). Textile. 600cm x 1000cm x 900cm.

SESSIONS & EVENTS | THURSDAY 5 MAY

18:30-18:45 15 MINUTES WITH AESTHETICA ART PRIZE FINALISTS

Guen Murroni, Still from Nice To Meet You All (2021). Single channel moving image, 11 min, 47 sec.

Join us for PechaKucha-inspired presentations, with three finalists from the Aesthetica Art Prize taking to the stage to share their practice for five minutes each. First up is Guen Murroni, whose work, as a member of a direct-action group, fighting cuts to domestic violence services, has played a major role in her creative practice. Murroni is adamant about a holistic approach to activism and healing, creating a space for stories of survivors and seeking justice where we can make the personal political. Second is Terrence Musekiwa, who comes from a long line of sculptors. The shaping of stone, at the heart of Musekiwa’s work, is inherited from his father, Kennedy Musekiwa. Last is Steve Messam, an environmental artist whose temporary, eye-catching installations exploit colour, scale and narratives, creating an interruption in the familiar.

SESSIONS & EVENTS | THURSDAY 5 MAY 19:00-20:00 FILM SCREENING: SARAH MAPLE

Sarah Maple, Still from Sarah Maple’s Nazi Sexy Shark Show (2020). Moving Image, 64 min, 50 sec.

Sarah Maple is known for her bold, witty and occasionally controversial practice. She works in a wide variety of media (including painting, photography, sculpture, collage and video) that challenge notions of identity, religion, feminism and freedom of expression. Humour is a key element to her work, which she often employs alongside her guerrilla-style performances, as a vehicle for the narrative. Her recent practice has focused on the complex relationship artists have with the art world. Sarah Maple’s Nazi Sexy Shark Show is a semi-autobiographical “art-com” piece, which presents a heightened reality that draws influence from Curb Your Enthusiasm as well as seminal artists such as Cindy Sherman. This piece has been shortlisted for the Aesthetica Art Prize 2022, and can be seen here ahead of the exhibition at York Art Gallery, opening 24 June.

Sarah Maple, Still from Sarah Maple’s Nazi Sexy Shark Show (2020). Moving Image, 64 min, 50 sec.

Laura Perrucci & Matteo De Santis, Bubble Game (2018).

SESSIONS & EVENTS | FRIDAY 6 MAY

09:30-09:45 WELCOME ADDRESS Today we go on a new journey through the lens of contemporary culture.

We take a look at the very modes of creative expression, and the ways these are developing in the 21st century. New technologies are appearing at an increasing rate alongside experiential and immersive art, and expanded realities. The rate of progress is exponential, and the definition of what it means to be an artist is changing just as rapidly. This is a new frontier for visual culture – a meeting point of ideas. Beyond this, though, artists can speak to the globe through an acceleration of networks. In this short welcome address, Cherie Federico, Director of Aesthetica, will foreground the day’s talks, whilst asking: how can we use technology to ensure a better represented and ultimately more connected society? Whose stories are we telling, how, when and why?

CHERIE FEDERICO Cherie is the Editor of Aesthetica Magazine and the Director of the BAFTA-Qualifying Aesthetica Short Film Festival (ASFF). She is also the founder of the Aesthetica Art Prize and the Future Now Symposium. Originally from New York, Cherie moved to the UK in 2002 to study for her Masters degree and founded Aesthetica, which she has developed into an international brand distributed in 915 stores in the UK and exported to 20 countries. Cherie is a champion of new creative talent across the arts, from film and literature to art, design and photography.

SESSIONS & EVENTS | FRIDAY 6 MAY 10:00 - 11:00 SESSION 7: CREATE YOUR OWN PLATFORM: NFTS AND THE FUTURE OF BLOCKCHAIN Over the last couple of years, Non-Fungible Token exhibitions have skyrocketed. Avatars are now set to sell for millions at Christie’s, with the most expensive NFT artwork valued at over 90 million dollars, just under a quarter of the price of a Leonardo Da Vinci. In 2021, Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square, sold his first tweet for over $2.9 million. But what are these nonfungible platforms, and how can they be used by emerging artists to set their own price point, reach collectors and create a digital income? Robert Norton is the CEO and co-founder of Verisart, an award-winning NFT minting and certification platform helping artists do business. He joins us at Future Now to discuss the business of blockchain and how to create your own platform.

Courtesy of Verisart.

ROBERT NORTON Robert Norton (b. 1972) has worked at the intersection of art and technology since 2009. As CEO of Saatchi Online, Norton was responsible for restructuring and relaunching the service, giving unrepresented artists a platform to sell their work directly to international audiences. Norton was also previously CEO and co-founder of Sedition Art – a groundbreaking online platform made for collecting digital art. He has been featured in The Times, The Wall Street Journal, WIRED, GQ and ArtNews, amongst others.

SESSIONS & EVENTS | FRIDAY 6 MAY

HARRIET COOPER HEAD OF PROGRAMME JERWOOD VISUAL ARTS

SOPHIE BOWNES PROGRAMME COORDINATOR NEW CONTEMPORARIES

DENISE FAHMY RELATIONSHIP MANAGER, VISUAL ARTS ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND

SKINDER HUNDAL DIRECTOR OF ARTS BRITISH COUNCIL

11:15 - 12:15 SESSION 8: HOW TO FUND YOUR PRACTICE The global pandemic has led to a severe economic downturn. The annual consumer price inflation has risen to 5.5% in the last 12 months. But what does this mean for funding bodies and their planned grant schemes? What opportunities are there for artists in 2022? How can you transform your practice and continue to make work in the “new normal” – work that is financially viable, environmentally sustainable and creatively innovative? What are the current priorities for funding bodies, arts organisations, galleries and museums? A panel of experts from Jerwood Visual Arts, New Contemporaries, Arts Council England and the British Council speak about furthering your career post-pandemic, the opportunities that are currently available, and making your work stand out, whether you’re looking for representation, funding or residencies.

SESSIONS & EVENTS | FRIDAY 6 MAY 13:45 - 14:45 SESSION 9: WHAT IS EXPERIENTIAL ART? “Experiential Art” is increasingly appearing in public spaces. From architecturalscale interventions to dynamic installations, these artworks offer new modes of storytelling across wide-ranging settings such as hotels, universities, hospitals, parks and museums. Jason Bruges Studio has become a pioneer in this field, paving the way for a new genre. Through robotics, generative algorithms and spatial recognition, the Studio explores time-based pieces and luminous environments that alter our perception of contemporary landscapes. Bruges joins us to discuss his momentous practice, and the value in expanding the world of interdisciplinarity and interactivity to reconnect us to ourselves, and to our environments, whilst sharing the creative development behind Variegation Index, shortlisted for the Aesthetica Art Prize 2022.

Photo Credit: Jim Stephenson.

JASON BRUGES Jason Bruges Studio is a dynamic, multidisciplinary art and design practice based in London. Established in 2002, the Studio is internationally renowned as a pioneer of the hybrid space between art, architecture and technology. Bruges’ commissioners include the V&A, The Shard, Tate Modern, the Natural History Museum, Intel, Nexus, O2, Channel 4, Veuve Clicquot, Coca-Cola and Hankook Tire. His work has been commissioned for the likes of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, Hull UK City of Culture 2017 and Illuminating York Light Festival.

Jason Bruges Studio, Variegation Index (2019). Mixed-media, custom-control software and custom electronics, 460 cm x 970 cm.

Previous work by Marshmallow Laser Feast; Observations On Being, Coventry City of Culture 2021. Installation image of We Live in an Ocean of Air. Photo by David Levene.

SESSIONS & EVENTS | FRIDAY 6 MAY

15:00 - 16:00 SESSION 10: CAN ART REALLY HELP? EMPATHY AND THE CLIMATE CRISIS It is generally accepted that we are living in a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene. We are rapidly heading towards shifting degrees of warming, each with their own devastating effects at each threshold. But can art truly help? Beyond instilling empathy in the viewer, how effective is art in spreading the message beyond the gallery floor? Our Time on Earth, on show at Barbican, London, harnesses the power of global creativity, presenting radical visions and possibilities for the future of all species. Curator Luke Kemp discusses the key tenets of the exhibition, examining the ways in which interactive experience and immersive installations can not only connect us to the natural world, but give audiences the feeling of empowerment to make positive, tangible change.

LUKE KEMP Luke Kemp is Co-Head of Barbican International Enterprises (BIE) at Barbican, London.

BIE have developed some of the most challenging and successful exhibitions in Barbican Centre’s history, that launch in the UK and then tour internationally. Through immersive exhibitions, BIE aims to reframe visitors’ understanding of familiar subjects and explore some of the most exciting and topics in the world today. Recent productions include Digital Revolution; Into the Unknown A Journey through Science Fiction; Mangasia; AI: More than Human; and Virtual Realms.

SESSIONS & EVENTS | FRIDAY 6 MAY 16:15-17:15 SESSION 11: INTERROGATING EXPANDED REALITIES Baff Akoto embraces the fluidity of visual grammar, notions of plurality, (self) perceptions and societal implications of human bodily movement (disability, ritual and dance, for example). Most recently, Akoto’s practice has focused on the artistic and conceptual potential of Virtual and Augmented Reality technologies to interrogate how the digital revolution might avoid the same prejudices, exclusions and inequalities which arose from the industrial and colonial eras. Augmented Reality, in particular, allows the artist to embrace the convergence of built, natural and digital environments, interrogating the philosophies that structure them. Akoto is in conversation with Skinder Hundal, British Council, considering how technology can provide new perspectives on transnational experiences, as well as post- and neo-colonial identities.

Photo Credit: Jim Stephenson.

BAFF AKOTO Baff Akoto is shortlisted for the 2022 Aesthetica Art Prize for his work LEAVE THE EDGES. He is part of the 2022 cohorts for both The London Open triennial at Whitechapel Gallery and the 13th Bamako Biennial of African Photography. In 2021 he was a resident of the Guest Projects Digital programme delivered by the Yinka Shonibare Foundation. Akoto’s work has been exhibited by the Tribeca Film Institute; ICA, London; and the BFI in their Experimenta strand for “works that revolutionise and reshape our vision of the cinematic moving image.”

Baff Akoto, Still from Leave the Edges (2020). Single channel moving image, 39 min, 0 sec.

Hannah Starkey, Untitled, May 1997 (1997, detail). Framed c-type print. 122 x 152 cm. Edition of 3 + 1 AP (special AP).

SESSIONS & EVENTS | FRIDAY 6 MAY

17:30 - 18:30 SESSION 12: CONSTRUCTING THE MOMENT: A MASTERCLASS IN PHOTOGRAPHY Since the late-1990s, Hannah Starkey has been dedicated to photographing women, exploring the ways they are, and have been depicted, taking cues from visual culture. Known for cinematic mise-en-scènes, which appear as supposedly “fleeting” moments, Starkey constructs portraits of women across a range of generations, often situated in everyday urban contexts. Here, Starkey explores shifting visual languages, and the rise of photography as the world’s most influential medium. She will discuss how images have become connected to women’s experiences across the globe, and the role the camera can play in capturing psychological truths. Starkey will expand on photography as a medium of spontaneity and serendipity: capturing the right moment.

HANNAH STARKEY Hannah Starkey (b. 1971) has had numerous solo exhibitions across the world, at Forum für Fotografie, Cologne; Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; and Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast. Her work is included in Tate Modern, London; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York; Turner Contemporary, Margate; Huis Marseille, Amsterdam; Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt; the V&A, London, and Castello di Rivoli, Turin, amongst others. She has received coverage in The Guardian, The Telegraph and The New York Times, amongst others.

SESSIONS & EVENTS | FRIDAY 6 MAY

18:30-18:45 15 MINUTES WITH AESTHETICA ART PRIZE FINALISTS

Bart Price, still from Good Vibes Only (2021). Single channel moving image, 2 min, 37 sec.

Join us for PechaKucha-inspired presentations, with three finalists from the Aesthetica Art Prize taking to the stage to share their practice for five minutes each. First up is Omar Torres, whose photographs are built around human emotions, and the tireless search to find balance. Through the exertion of total control, Torres represents situations of resistance and tolerance pushed to breaking point. Second is Bart Price, a filmmaker interested in the idea of Gesamtkunstwerk – or “total work of art.” Price generates AI scripts, created using neural network language models, as the basis to make video series which explore themes of posthumanism, late capitalism and hyperreality. Last is Yukako Tanaka, whose research fuses art, science and philosophy. Tanaka reflects on posthuman / transhuman realities as a hybrid generation of experiences.

Omar Torres, Reflection on Weight (2019). Photography inkjet print, 112cm x150cm x 5cm.

SESSIONS & EVENTS | FRIDAY 6 MAY

19:00-20:00 DRINKS RECEPTION (1331, GRAPE LANE, YO1 7HU) Celebrate connections and inspirational ideas at the Aesthetica Future Now Symposium 2022 closing event. This drinks reception, taking place at 1331, Grape Lane, is a fantastic opportunity to unwind after a busy day of sessions, portfolio reviews and networking. Catch up with participants and delegates alike. Make new connections. Discuss key themes from the sessions you’ve attended. Immerse yourself in conversations about art. This casual social event is a great way to finish off your symposium experience. It’s a destination for meeting attendees over a complimentary drink, which will be served on a firstcome, first-served basis. All attendees are welcome, including delegates. We’re very much looking forward to seeing you there to round off the event!

SESSIONS & EVENTS | 5 - 6 MAY

PORTFOLIO REVIEWS, YORK THEATRE ROYAL HOSTED BY INDUSTRY EXPERTS (SEE FOLLOWING PAGES) These 1-1 sessions, hosted in the Upper Foyer of York Theatre Royal (a 5-minute walk from Yorkshire Museum) are for practitioners working across all genres, including painting, photography, digital media, sculpture, video and more. Our industry experts provide essential guidance on how to develop ideas and further artists’ careers, as well as providing insights on funding opportunities and exhibition. Each session lasts 20 minutes. This is your opportunity to get key advice on any number of topics: how to accelerate your practice through digital platforms, how to approach curators and galleries, or simply discussing a particular portion of your portfolio in real time. First review is free with your pass. Additional reviews can be booked for £25 per slot.

FUTURE NOW 2022 | PORTFOLIO REVIEWERS

MARIAMA ATTAH Mariama Attah is a photography curator, writer and lecturer with a particular interest in overlooked visual histories, and understanding how photography and visual culture can be used to amplify underrepresented voices.

Attah is a curator at Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool. She was previously Assistant Editor of Foam Magazine. Prior to this, she was Curator of Photoworks, and was Managing Editor of the magazine Photoworks Annual.

KLAIR BIRD Klair Bird is a co-owner of Spectrum Photographic, a fine art and photographic printing company based in Brighton. Starting her career in London Pro Labs in the 1990s, Bird returned to university as a mature student. After graduating from the University of Brighton, she started working at Spectrum in 2005, becoming a managing partner in 2016. She has worked on projects including the Sony World Photography Awards.

LOTTIE DAVIES Lottie Davies is an artist, writer and educator based in Cornwall and London. She has won recognition in numerous awards including the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Award, the Arte Laguna Prize, and the Young Masters Prize. Her collaboration on Dreams of Your Life with Hide & Seek/Film 4.0 was BAFTA-nominated. In recent years, Davies has developed her practice to employ moving image, audio, text and interactivity.

CHERIE FEDERICO Cherie Federico is the Editor of Aesthetica Magazine and the Director of the BAFTA-Qualifying Aesthetica Short Film Festival (ASFF), Aesthetica Art Prize and Future Now Symposium. Originally from New York, she moved to the UK in 2002 to study for her Masters degree and founded Aesthetica, which she has developed into an international brand distributed in 915 stores in the UK and exported to 20 countries worldwide.

FUTURE NOW 2022 | PORTFOLIO REVIEWERS

GRISELDA GOLDSBROUGH Griselda Goldsbrough, visual artist and writer, is committed to cultural and creative activity in community engagement projects within heritage, science, musuems, galleries and healthcare. She is Artist in Residence at Foss Park Hospital, York, Art and Design Development Manager, York Hospital and co-curator Aesthetica Art Prize. Goldsbrough has been involved in the Aesthetica Art Prize for several years, championing new talent.

LEANNE GREEN Leanne Green is a Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Whitworth Gallery, situated within The University of Manchester.

Her most recent exhibitions and curatorial credits include Suzanne Lacy, What Kind of City? (2022) Forensic Architecture, Cloud Studies (2021) and A Useful Pursuit of Shadows (2021). She has a PhD in Visual Culture and holds an MA in Art Gallery and Museum Studies from University of Leeds.

SKINDER HUNDAL Skinder Hundal recently joined as the Director of Arts at the British Council, the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities.

Hundal was previously Director at New Art Exchange, Nottingham, an award-winning contemporary arts space, representing diaspora and international contemporary art in the UK. He also lead on the Midlands’ historic Venice Biennale collateral pavilion.

DAMON JACKSON-WALDOCK Damon Jackson-Waldock is a curator, creative producer and arts programmer based in Yorkshire, and joined The Art House, Wakefield, as Programme Director in 2021.

Damon’s role is to support the wide range of creative talent regionally and internationally without barriers and steer exciting exhibitions and residences in The Art House’s galleries and within the community. Damon previously worked at YSP for 11 years.

FUTURE NOW 2022 | PORTFOLIO REVIEWERS

KIT MONKMAN Kit Monkman is a leading innovator in screen-based art and interactive media. He directed the visually experimental feature Macbeth and co-directed The Knife That Killed Me. He is also co-founder of KMA – an artistic collaboration that specialises in environmental installations – whose works have dramatically transformed public spaces across the world. Kit has worked with renowned artists including Prince and DV8.

ABI SHAPIRO Dr Abi Shapiro is curator, writer and researcher in post-war and contemporary art with an interest in practices that explore gender, sexuality, domesticity and the body.

She is Assistant Curator at The Hepworth Wakefield and Lecturer in the History of Art at the University of York. She was previously Research Curator of Post-War Art at Museums Sheffield, and Lecturer at City & Guilds London Art School and McGill University.

STEVE SHERIDAN Steve Sheridan (she/they) is the Digital and Engagement Manager at Jerwood Arts, the leading independent funder dedicated to supporting UK artists, curators and producers to develop and thrive. This year Jerwood Arts is presenting Jerwood Art Fund Makers Open at Jerwood Space, London and on tour across the UK; Jerwood/FVU Awards at Jerwood Space in London and Leeds Art Gallery; and Jerwood Photoworks Awards.

KATE SIMPSON Kate Simpson is Associate Editor of Aesthetica Magazine, having joined the team in 2016. She works across digital and print, commissioning, writing and editing for extensive global readerships. Beyond the magazine, Simpson also works across a variety of Aesthetica’s annual events and awards, including the renowned Art Prize, Creative Writing Award, Future Now Symposium and BAFTA-Qualifying Short Film Festival.

FUTURE NOW 2022 | PORTFOLIO REVIEWERS

HANNAH STARKEY Hannah Starkey has had numerous solo exhibitions across the world. Her work has been included in Tate Modern, London; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York; Turner Contemporary, Margate; Huis Marseille, Amsterdam; Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt; the V&A, London, and Castello di Rivoli, Turin, amongst others. She has received extensive coverage in The Guardian, The Telegraph and The New York Times, amongst others.

ELEANOR SUTHERLAND Eleanor Sutherland writes and edits daily features for Aesthetica’s website. She has interviewed major artists, as well as curators and editors from key arts organisations and publishers. She loves discovering new artists, sharing their work with readers each week.

In 2021, she was on a judging panel for Dulwich Picture Gallery. Sutherland studied History of Art and English at the University of York, and is passionate about web design.

SAFFRON WARD Saffron writes and edits content across Aesthetica’s digital platforms. She works closely with artists, gallerists and publishers from across the globe to highlight key news stories, exhibitions and industry events. She also coordinates Aesthetica’s Instagram Takeovers: a platform for international artists to share their work. Saffron has been Writer-in-Residence at Leeds Arts University, and contributed to various magazines.

MARIGOLD WARNER Marigold Warner is a writer and editor based in London. She currently works for British Journal of Photography as the online editor, writing, editing and commissioning daily stories for the online journal. She is also a regular contributor to the print magazine.

Her work has also been published in Elephant, The Face, Huck, Gal-dem, Disegno, and Architects Journal, as well as collaborative column for BJP and The Modern House.

FUTURE NOW 2022 | PORTFOLIO REVIEWERS ELIZA WILLIAMS Eliza Williams is Editor at Creative Review magazine, and a writer, critic and broadcaster on advertising and design. She also hosts the Creative Review Podcast. Williams has published two books via Laurence King, entitled This Is Advertising and How 30 Great Ads Were Made, and has contributed texts to several books published by Phaidon, including The 21st Century Art Book and The Phaidon Archive of Graphic Design.

lANYARD rETURN sCHEME Don’t forget to recycle your lanyard with a member of the Aesthetica Team at the end of Future Now. This is part of our wider commitment to making events both enjoyable and sustainable.

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At Norwich University of the Arts, we champion the curious. Inspire the imaginative. Embrace the unconventional.

Helping the thinkers, makers and doers of tomorrow find their creative identity today.

Friday 15 July

www.nua.ac.uk/opendays

Brooke Savino, BA Fine Art

Join us at our next Open Day

Cutting edge contemporary, comes to Sadler’s Wells this May 3-4 May

24 – 25 May

Jan Martens

La Veronal L-E-V

31 May – 1 June

A.I.M

by Kyle Abraham

27 – 28 May

Sheffield DocFest is the UK’s leading documentary festival and one of the world’s most influential markets for documentary projects.

We champion and present the breadth of documentary form – film, television, immersive and art – in the vibrant city of Sheffield each June.

Festival Passes on sale now until 7 June – £310 +VAT Programme announced May 2022. #SheffDocFest @sheffdocfest sheffdocfest.com info@sheffdocfest.com

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*Offer applies 5th to 6th May 2022. Food & Beverage offer must be taken in Tower’s Restaurant only, room service not included.

GRADUATE EXHIBITION 8 – 18 JUNE

HARROW CAMPUS | HA1 3TP

Illustration & Visual Communication BA

Graphic Communication Design BA

Contemporary Media Practice BA

PRIVATE VIEW 8 JUNE 6 –8PM degree-shows.westminster.ac.uk/

A partnership exhibition between York Museums Trust, Sheffield Museums and the National Portrait Gallery.

Official Paint Partner

Book tickets now at yorkartgallery.org.uk Angelica Garnett by Sir Matthew Smith, circa 1957 © the Estate of Sir Matthew Bracy Smith.

12 MAR 2022 –8 JAN 2023

SCULPTURE 1958–2018

Yorkshire Sculpture Park West Bretton, Wakefield, WF4 4LG. 1 mile from M1 J38 Plan your visit ysp.org.uk Robert Indiana, TWO, 1960–62, cast 1991. Photo: Courtesy of Walla Walla Foundry, Washington; Artwork: ©2022 Morgan Art Foundation Ltd./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/DACS, London The exhibition is supported by Morgan Art Foundation Ltd. and Henry Moore Foundation

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