Speculative fabu-what?
Jitske Kramer discussed the power of stories to provide direction in our wandering towards an unknown future in the Spatial Lab college of March 11 2025. Artist Martine van Lubeek also uses this idea in her artworks and as a lecturer at ArtEZ. She calls this concept “Speculative Fabulism.” She creates stories (fabulism) based on ideas of possible futures. Futures that have not yet been proven or that are different from how things are now. As a Spatial Lab, we are curious: how can this concept help us further? For example, when thinking about the environmental vision. What will Gelderland look like after 2100, how will people live then? Think about themes like mobility, water, nature, and food production.
Art for social issues
And how does art land in society? How do you ensure influence and effects? The IJsselbiennale is a biannual international art route along the IJssel. Through art, answers are sought for climate change. Director Mieke Conijn will explain during the Spatial Lab college on October 7, 2025, how her exhibition contributes to this spatial issue. And how the IJsselbiennale encourages collaborations between organizations such as water boards, Staatsbosbeheer, municipalities, and artists.
Expo Emerging Exit
From October 3 to November 2, 2025, the exhibition ‘Emerging Exits will be on display in the Diogenes bunker. This is one of the largest bunkers in the Netherlands. In this exhibition, artists make the threats currently at play palpable, such as climate change, war, and technological acceleration. In the dark building, cut off from daylight and reach, new ideas about threat, control, and how to envision the future emerge. The artworks address art, ecology (how everything in nature is connected), and technology. Sissel Marie Ton will take us through how she does this during the college: a sensory journey from threat to imagination.
Join us on an excursion
Dont miss this! On October 24, 2025, we will organize an excursion from Spatial Lab to the exhibition Emerging Exits. There we will discuss how you can apply ideas about the future in your own work. You can only register for this excursion during the college on October 7.
Register for Spatial Lab college
Click below to register for the Spatial Lab college. October 7 from 15:30 to 17:00 in the House of the Province in Arnhem.Spatial Lab and art
In the Spatial Lab, we actively seek connections with the creative sector. For imagination and original ideas. How can art contribute to our spatial policy? How can artists broaden and open our perspective towards other viewpoints? With courage and an open mind, we will engage in the experiment. Even if it is sometimes uncertain and perhaps uncomfortable. Last year, we collaborated with 2 art collectives. Read more about this in our online magazine Expedition beautiful Gelderland.
