A fully online festival examines ways of living and connecting on a damaged earth
October 28–November 1, 2020
What can we do against the climate crisis? How do we create structural change that serves the many instead of the few? With a rich programme of films, games, performances, panels, talks and exhibitions, the IMPAKT Festival 2020 Zero Footprint questions the paradigms of sustainability and the extractive nature of our current system. From October 28 till November 1, you can experience the festival programme within the virtual Planet IMPAKT.
No, you cannot go on with your daily routine. Global heating is happening, not in the future, but right now. It is also happening much faster than we thought. Many people around the world are already paying dearly. This year, the IMPAKT Festival 2020 Zero Footprint presents critical art and design with the potential to create change. The works are inspired by the alternative worlds found in science fiction, perspective changes offered by indigenous knowledge and the stories from people that are experiencing climate change first-hand.
We are delighted to present many critical thinkers and artists, including:
Game Over: a philosophical watch party with Franco "Bifo" Berardi. A unique performance-lecture that examines the relationship between technology, progress thinking and the climate crisis in a poetic and philosophical way. The lecture is based on the essay “Game Over,” written by Berardi for e-flux journal.
Douglas Rushkoff was named one of the “world’s ten most influential intellectuals” by MIT. For the IMPAKT Festival we stage several public dialogues between him and our festival guests: investigative journalist Sonia Shah, about the relationship between migration and the climate crisis; and anthropologist, climate activist and landscape architect Julia Watson to speak about her new book Lo-TEK: Design by Radical Indigenism.
As part of the film programme we present Rory Pilgrim’s film The Undercurrent, winner of the Dutch art award Prix de Rome 2019. The film reflects on the importance of relationships, self-care, identity, home and kinship in the face of a massive ecological disaster. In addition, we show The Otolith Group's film INFINITY minus Infinity and many more inspiring films.
The games programme invites you to reconnect to the world around you in a playful way. Explore the fragile beauty of a virtual forest, invent a game of disobedience or bullshit your way through a right-wing populist party to promote the denial of climate change.
The artists in the festival exhibition Dreaming in Everywhen look at nature as a source of spirituality and wonder. You can see the works by Monira Al Qadiri, Jasper Griepink, Jakob Kudsk Steensen, Himali Singh Soin, Erik Bünger and Maarten Vanden Eynde both in our virtual exhibition online, and physically at the IMPAKT Centre in Utrecht.
You can visit the entire IMPAKT Festival online on Planet IMPAKT: our online festival experience. Dive into the Zero Footprint future scenarios and wander through the different festival spaces. Take part in the live programme, ask burning questions to the speakers, visit our virtual exhibition, and don’t miss the chance to play one of the climate games in the game room. At the virtual bar you can take a break and chat with other visitors and the IMPAKT team. In-between programmes, IMPAKT TV will guide you through the festival with poetry, memes, extra reports and interviews with artists and special guests.
The IMPAKT Festival 2020 Zero Footprint questions the paradigms of sustainability and the extractive nature of our current system. With films, games, performances, panels, talks and an exhibition, our approach focuses on solidarity, playfulness and experimentation. Check impakt.nl for the entire programme.
About IMPAKT
IMPAKT is a media arts organization based in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and founded in 1988. With a yearly programme of events, we present critical and creative views on contemporary media culture and arts, in an interdisciplinary context. Our aim is to identify emerging paradigms in transglobal culture, by focusing on the relationship between society, media, technology and arts.
Note to the editors:
For press enquiries and image material in high resolution, please contact Michelle Franke: pr [at] impakt.nl or T +31 (0)6-46141109.
