CALL FOR PAPER Winter Symposium 2016
Future Shocks?
Study Circle 8 Comparative Futurologies
Winter Symposium: 26-28 February 2016, Copenhagen University Amager
Invitation
We invite scholars, students, academics and artists from all fields to take part in our study circle, a
migratory non-hierarchical group of international researchers. Our circle is developed within the
Nordic and Baltic framework of Nordic Summer University. Since its inception, the primary aim has
been to provide a forum for experimentation and cross-disciplinary collaboration welcoming
members both from within and outside of universities and other institutions. The 2015-2018 cycle is
called: Comparative Futurologies, which aim to publish in an anthology/on-line journals or other
channels.
Theme: Future Shocks?
In this first seminar of the study circle on Comparative Futurologies, we would like to discuss how we
approach the future, thereby setting the framework for the work ahead.
How will the future hit us? What do the sciences say? And what testimony do we get from past and
present cultural representations?
In his seminal work Future Shock from 1970, Alvin Toffler envisages the immense problems for
humanity that lurk unseen in the shadow of the future. He realises the necessity of coming to an
understanding of technological and ecological traits and trends, entailing momentous changes that
humanity sooner or later will have to adapt to. Today futurists talk about some of the same but
mostly newer problems existing or appearing in the horizon. Is the paradigm still tofflerian – about
shock and adaption – or are we well beyond that? Technological development is happening at
exponential rates, forcing changes of equal grandeur upon society. Climate change may likewise
build up exponentially. Tomorrow looks less and less like today and yesterday. What else structures
the arrival of more or less shocking futures? What is demanded of us to understand the future, let
alone to survive it? How can we keep up with the rates of complex changes – existentially, politically,
as local and global societies?
Apart from theoretical or historical approaches to such questions, one option could be to look to the
realm of fiction. We are fast approaching the year of Blade Runner – 2019. And we have already
passed the futures of other iconic science fiction movies such as Metropolis and 2001: A Space
Odyssey. What can still be learned from the future of yesterday – the day when the future shock first
appeared? How will the fiction of our present help shape future futures – or help us deal with the
scope of the issues most present in our current collective imaginations, from worldwide urbanisation
over artificial intelligence to climate change?
Comparative Futurologies is a study circle that investigates and discusses different
perspectives on the future. The perspectives include understandings of scientific futures,
cultural imaginations of futures, and artistic productions of future. We believe that
comparing these different perspectives will unearth original, cross-disciplinary approaches to
future thinking. We rely on participants coming from multiple scholarly backgrounds such as
cultural studies, natural sciences, engineering, biotech etc. in addition to artistic productions
of future. We have a facebook-group named ‘Comparative Futurologies’.
Format of the presentation
We strongly encourage you to craft a format that suits your presentation, however some suggested
formats are: e.g. 5 minutes presentation and 25 minutes discussion; 15 minutes presentation and 15
minutes discussion or 30 minutes presentation and ten minutes discussion. Maximum duration of
presentation + discussion: 40 min.
To submit a proposal please send via email to the coordinators
Lars Ylander: ylander@ofir.dk
Claus Krogholm: clauskrogholm@mail.dk
1. A written proposal (350 words) with a title and descriptive subtitle. This text should include
your presentation proposal, its format its duration, facilities you need (I.e. technical
equipment)
2. A short bio (200 words)
If you would like to attend the symposium without presenting, please email a short bio.
The deadline to submit proposals is November 15, 2015. The preliminary program will be
announced on December 15, 2015 on www.nordic.university where you can also find more
information about NSU and sign up for the newsletter. We receive abstracts after that date, but
priority in the programme is given to those who have met the deadline.
Registration and fee
Students: 260 DKK / 35€
Those associated with institutions: 370 DKK / 50€
This cost includes lunches and dinners. The registration fee must be paid via bank transfer in
advance of the conference.
Participants should apply to their institutions, Art Councils, local foundations or sponsors to have
their travel cost and accommodation covered. For those not affiliated with an institution, it is
possible after the symposium to apply to NSU for some travel funding.
Arrival: 26 February 2016
Departure: 28 February 2016
The Nordic Summer University (NSU) is a Nordic network for research and interdisciplinary studies.
NSU is a nomadic, academic institution, which organises workshop-seminars across disciplinary and
national borders. Since it was established in 1950, Nordic Summer University has organised forums
for cultural and intellectual debate in the Nordic and Baltic region, involving students, academics,
politicians, and intellectuals from this region and beyond.
Decisions about the content and the organisational form of the NSU lay with its participants. The
backbone of the activities in the NSU consists of its thematic study circles. In the study circles
researchers, students and professionals from different backgrounds collaborate in scholarly
investigations distributed regularly in summer and winter symposia during a three-year period.
For more information www.nordic.university