Tomorrow Never Knows: 'The Future' Symposium
Sat 22 June 2013
Tomorrow Never Knows
To accompany our current exhibition, Tomorrow Never Knows by Ed Atkins and Naheed Raza, this day-long conference considers the wider topic of ‘the future’ and how our contemporary conception of it might differ from other stand-out moments in the not-too-distant past.
Music writers and cultural commentators Simon Reynolds and Paul Morley are joined by artists and critics Olia Lialina, James Bridle and Sarah Lowndes for a day of discussion and screenings.
There is an expression – one that has rapidly lapsed into cliché - that ‘the future is not what it used to be’. Indeed, many of the cultural phenomena that are increasingly touted as the waves or the faces of tomorrow often seem to have a well-worn, familiar ring – as exemplified by the recent pre-eminence of ‘retro’, and a corresponding nostalgia for ‘futures lost’. While all this may indicate that popular culture may be experiencing a terminal phase, going through the long-drawn-out encores of its own ‘end of history’, there are also contrasting signs that futurity itself might be staging a bit of a comeback; maybe coming round again as a predictable, or overdue, cultural reflex, but maybe also as a symptom of a tangible change in the air. If this were to be the case, what are the cultural and technological forces that are giving it shape, and what are the creative impulses that might give it new impetus?
10.00am Registration, tea and coffee
10.30am Introduction: Steven Bode - Director of Film and Video Umbrella
11.15am Simon Reynolds
12 noon Paul Morley response
12.20pm Questions from the audience
12.45pm Lunch
2.00pm Introduction to afternoon session: Francis McKee - Director of CCA
2.15pm Olia Lialina
2.45pm Questions from the audience
3.00pm James Bridle
3.45pm Questions from the audience
4.00pm Response to the day by Sarah Lowndes
4.20pm Panel discussion and questions from the audience
5.00pm Finish
Lunch and refreshments are included in the ticket price.
