artXscience: Tech Destinations

Dobrivoje Lale Erić

The future is not a deadline, it’s a choice
Historia est vitae magistra

In the time of multiple global and local crises, when most of human rights and legal agreements are under threat, severely endangered or even denied, one must constantly question the role of technologies and the ways how belonging systems are utilised and implemented in the tech-dominant world. The objective must remain to deploy technologies in a socially pertinent, open and understandable manner, having citizens not as sole users and data providers but as creators, contributors and critical evaluators of their impact, purpose, and relevance. Having said that, it isn’t about elites or expert groups as the society at large should be equipped with means and tools for a profound assessment and understanding of intricate, underlying processes of these systems. It is necessary, therefore, to secure wide participation of diverse generations, cultures and backgrounds. Though urgent, this task isn’t a sprint-like run but more of a marathon, with a distant, blurry and alterable finish line. Since for everchanging, advancing and hidden technologies, we need to invent corresponding mindset, capable of preserving humans’ virtues and becoming a forerunner in a digital age.

According to American political scientist Ian Bremmer, the history itself gives a ray of hope. Each former technological shift, even a revolution – a mechanical printing press, railway, electronic media – heavily shaken political systems and societies at large, causing their inevitable transformations and transitions. The processes were concluded with establishing new norms and institutions, capable of creating a stability within new realities. Therefore, the ultimate question is shall we adapt ourselves another time and avoid the erasure from the history by ai.

Nevertheless, the access to technology is always complex, challenging, expensive and limited. And in this particular case, it considers so diverse realms and concepts of human existence: virtual relations, personalised emotionability and care, tech loneliness, technofeudalism, digitised services… If we want to single out just one critical aspect of the current dominance, let’s just stress that the majority of online traffic in 2024 was made by autonomous systems like bots, agents, etc. In other words, the system built by humans just a few decades ago was already taken by artificial entities. First, we take Manhattan…

The 10th edition of the CPN’s art+science festival, with its central exhibition Tech Destinations, is presented in October 2025 at the Silosi Cultural Center in Belgrade. The programme of the festival explores how different technologies have shaped, and continue to shape, human experience, social relations, memories and values. The decennial edition focuses on ways in which we see and remember – fluidity of time and memory, intergenerational collaboration and dialogue, and reflections on who we are/were, and what do we truly need in a technologically navigated and controlled world. What we miss – guidance, trust, values, goals? And what is the role of arts in this context?

The selection of artistic, interdisciplinary and research projects showcases a variety of practices across the globe which are trying to investigate and experiment with often hermetic content and knowledge. Not only with the purpose of being exhibited, these projects equally aim at further explorations and analysis, inviting visitors’ own contributions and desired destinations.

(1) Citat nepoznatog autora sa interneta
(2) Latinska izreka

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