Future Fragments 2025: Conference on Art, AI, and the Future

On 5–6 September 2025, in Groningen, the Netherlands, at the conclusion of the Noorderlicht Biennale: Machine Entanglements, the international conference Future Fragments: Collective Minds, Shared Worlds will take place. The programme includes discussions, lectures, and film screenings exploring how technology is transforming culture, everyday life, and our visions of the future. The initiative is supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.

International Conference “Future Fragments: Collective Minds, Shared Worlds”

“The future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed.” This observation by William Gibson inspired the conference Future Fragments: Collective Minds, Shared Worlds. The two-day programme will mark the finale of the Noorderlicht Biennale, which since July has been exploring the theme of Machine Entanglements. It has invited visitors to consider the complex relationships between technology, ecology, and cultural heritage, raising questions about the impact of technological progress on the environment, society, and collective memory.  

On the weekend of 5–6 September 2025, at the Niemeyerfabriek in Groningen, speakers will focus on the relationships at the intersection of technology, nature, non-human intelligence, and collective agency. The research context will be provided by works of selected Polish and international artists. The first day of the conference will feature a carefully curated collection of films. These works explore the entanglements of technology with nature, human and non-human intelligence, and collective agency. On the second day, an international panel discussion with invited guests will create a space for critical reflection, knowledge exchange, and interdisciplinary dialogue.

Event programme: films, panels, and curator’s tours

Friday, 5 September 2025 – speculations, hallucinations, and meditations through the lens of film

• 4:00–6:00 p.m. – Film programme: 

  • Noviki: Dream of the Machine – a speculative film in which AI hallucinations unfold like a dreamlike garden of shifting identities and new species;

  • Ewelina Węgiel: Escarpment – an experimental work exploring regeneration, resistance, and deep-rooted local practices;

  • Agnieszka Polska: The Book of Flowers – a short science-fiction film presenting an alternative history of human-plant ecology, in which flower species and humans have coexisted in close symbiosis for millennia;

  • Kuba Mikurda: Solaris Mon Amour – a poetic found-footage documentary reinterpreting Lem’s Solaris as a meditation on love, memory, and the unknown.

Saturday, 6 September 2025 – an interdisciplinary conversation about the future

• 2:00–3:00 p.m. – Curator’s tour in English  

  • Hosted by: Roosje Klap 

•  3:00–5:00 p.m. – International panel discussion – a space for shared reflection, knowledge exchange, and interdisciplinary dialogue.

  • Participants: Roosje Klap, Patricia Reed, Niels Schrader, Noviki

  • Moderators: Kuba Depczyński and Krzysztof Pijarski

Future Fragments: Collective Minds, Shared Worlds – Practical Information

• Location: Niemeyerfabriek, Paterswoldeweg 43, Groningen, Netherlands

• Dates: 5–6 September 2025

• Artists: Ewelina Węgiel, Agnieszka Polska, Kuba Mikurda, Roosje Klap, Patricia Reed, Niels Schrader, Noviki, Kuba Depczyński, Krzysztof Pijarski

• Admission: A ticket to the Machine Entanglements exhibition at Niemeyerfabriek also entitles holders to participate in the film programme and symposium

• More information: Noorderlicht Biennale: Machine Entanglements

• Support: Adam Mickiewicz Institute