Part 2 – Morning: Imagining What’s Possible

The day opened with welcoming words from Markus Reymann and the event curators, Francesca Bria and José Luis de Vicente.

Next, Kim Stanley Robinson, a central figure in climate fiction (his best-known work is the Mars Trilogy), joined by videoconference. He reflected on the European Green Deal:

The project of the Green Deal is a utopia — and that’s exactly why it matters.

He defended imagination as a political tool and argued that the ecological transition cannot happen without narratives that expand the horizon of possibility.

One of the most interesting moments of the morning came with the intervention of John Schellnhuber, founder of the Potsdam Institute. He explained that although we often think we live in a world of advanced technology, we are in fact still relying on 19th-century technologies: combustion engines and other systems he referred to as “middle-tech”. In contrast, he noted, high-tech like artificial intelligence or quantum computing are only just beginning to emerge, while we still have no clear answer for how we will feed ten billion people. We all, he added, still depend on what is probably the most important invention in the planet’s history: photosynthesis, a biological process we don’t even consider a technology. His proposal was clear: we need to combine that no-tech with the advances of high-tech in order to move beyond the middle-tech that continue to destroy the planet.

Giulia Foscari, founder of UNLESS, followed with a striking presentation of the project Voice of the Commons, a dissemination initiative focused on the global commons: Antarctica, the ocean, the atmosphere and outer space, and their essential role in maintaining the stability of the planetary ecosystem.

At the beginning of her presentation, she shared what led her to start this research:

I realised that my ignorance about Antarctica was inversely proportional to its relevance within the global ecosystem. Antarctica, one of the four commons, hosts 90% of the planet’s ice, it covers 10% of the landmass, and if all of that ice were to melt, sea levels would rise by 60 meters.

After that presentation, I began exploring more of her work, starting with the open-access book Antarctic Resolution. I also listened to the podcast (Apple / Spotify) recorded at the Biennale pavilion, which she described as a planetary embassy. It’s a carefully developed project I want to continue learning from and help disseminate (sign the petition). We’ll likely write more about it soon.

The session continued with artistic presentations focused on the sea as a central theme. Bjørnstjerne Christiansen, co-founder of the collective SUPERFLEX, proposed:

If we want to have a real transformation of our perspective -both individually and collectively— we really need to dive deep and try to understand what is in the ocean so that we can become the ocean again.

Next was Marco Barotti, who develops installations in natural environments. He presented his work Coral Sonic Resilience, which explores how the soundscapes of healthy coral reefs can support the recovery of damaged ones. Barotti introduces the piece in this video summary.

Then Laura Hagemann Arellano, a representative of the European Commission, spoke to contextualize the role of the New European Bauhaus in the current European strategy. She spoke about the launch of the NEB Facility, the Lighthouse Projects, and the upcoming NEB Festival, which Munkun attended in 2024.

The next block, dedicated to experiences from the NEB’s first wave, was one of the most valuable segments of the morning.

• Markus Reymann presented Bauhaus of the Seas Sails, one of the six lighthouse projects of the NEB. In the afternoon I had the opportunity to interview Markus, so I’ll be dedicating a full article to this project.
• The IAAC team from Barcelona presented TOVA, a 3D-printed house made from local earth, designed for contexts of water and energy scarcity.
• From Ireland, the Ripple project, winner of one of the awards at the NEB Festival, showed how participatory design can help create climate-resilient green spaces in cities.

Also participating:

• Vittorio Loreto, who spoke about augmented creativity for solving problems in city design. He cited this scientific article he co-authored: Towards Better Proximity Cities
• Veronika Liebl from Ars Electronica, who spoke about the S+T+ARTS initiative and the 2025 edition of the ARS ELECTRONICA festival.

Near the end of the morning, José Luis de Vicente, co-curator of the event, returned to the idea that the green transition —and, by extension, the digital transition— will not be solely a political or technological process. “It must become a cultural movement,” he said. In his closing remarks, the idea that resonated most with me was:

The great European cultural infrastructure is the perfect interface between the communities that produce knowledge and the citizens.

It was an intense morning, full of proposals, questions and imaginaries. The afternoon would follow the same path, with even more radical voices, conversations on AI, geopolitics and institutional innovation. We’ll explore all that in the next post.