Introduction

Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow! Our most radical imagination is under siege: Terrassa Solarpunk is an audacious and experimental laboratory, which aims to stimulate the speculation applied to the Terrassa context, generating multiple futures that are fair, local, inclusive and eco-sustainable. We will use the thematic approach of the Solarpunk, a new eco science fiction sub-genre and the methodologies offered by the field of future studies as tools for research and creation. The laboratory aims to offer a methodological preparation for change, to critically investigate the present and understand its tendencies: the weak signals of which manifolds possible futures.
On the other hand, Solarpunk artistic discourse will be understood and evaluated, new aesthetics will be built in relation to the creative practices and personal concerns of the participants.
Also an introduction to fictional design will be made: more speculative than a prototype, it represents a “narrative object” that can be used in a performative way, to reflect and narrate projected experiences into the future. Finally, the participants will be asked to create not a unique and utopian vision, but an archipelago of different futures, a landscape to expand the ability to imagine near future in autonomy, without getting caught up in preconstructed stories that indicate the future as unique and already defined.

Premise: what is the Solarpunk?

The Solarpunk can be understood as a movement of fictional speculation that tries to awaken and deepen the ecological sensitivity of the individual to, through it, expand into society, collaborating in the creation of a greater cultural and social awareness about problems that are certainly real: unbridled consumerism and the uncontrolled exploitation of the planet’s natural resources.

At a conceptual level, certain literary works have already appeared, basically framed in science fiction, as well as a multitude of illustrations and drawings, reflecting a solarpunk world where respect for the world and nature is possible. This current supports the evolution and technological progress, although focusing on the use of renewable and non-polluting energies and, above all, on the idea of “Do it yourself” or “Do it yourself”, that is, of recycling and reusing everything what the current consumer world would consider obsolete, disposable and useless.

In its premise, the Solarpunk renounces the nihilism of Cyberpunk, pursuing the reconstruction of an ecology and ecosystems practically devastated by the inappropriate use of natural resources. A somewhat idealized futuristic world, although that does not mean that it is not possible. Beyond that, it tries to introduce man into a world more in tune with that of nature itself, trying to achieve a certain symbiosis between man and the natural world.

Statement: A Solar Vision for Terrassa

The project includes questions and aspects related to the creative thinking that runs around the work of art, both for the purpose of elucidation and conceptual construction, and for the purposes of analysis, reflection and debate. A solar vision for Lisbon covers different genres, such as science fiction, fantasy, magic realism and at the same time all united in the same attempt to inject a good dose of imagination and innovation into our artistic practice and to deal with new ways of understanding ourselves, the world that surrounds us and all the possibilities and worlds that could be.

The proposal wants to emphasize the individual ability and the responsibility of each one for a positive social and ecological change. The approach of the proposal is contextualized from the multiplicity of discourses that occur today, from the review and reinterpretation of modern, postmodern and / or contemporary artistic discourses, through gender discourses, ecological and environmental criticism , local and global, anthropological, ethnological and / or philosophical; etc., which have a place in the various artistic manifestations (visual, audiovisual, digital, performative, etc.).

Aims

• To build, understand and value the artistic discourse on Solarpunk in relation to the artistic practice of each participant. Establish means to compare and relate personal artistic practice with the creative context.

• To create speculative fictions about Lisbon that trigger the imagination of the participants and their desire for change.

• To generate critical visions about the near future of the city of Terrassa taking into account the current issues that is facing like mass tourism, gentrification, pollution and social, genre and racial inequality.

Workplan

The methodology used and the proposed interdisciplinary approach help participants to learn lateral thinking and to expose reasons for their criticism. To do this, the lab will provide the theoretical bases of foundation, contextualization and argumentation for the development of the creative process that accompanies the production of the work in its different stages and aspects.
As well as, provide the participants with the tools and resources necessary to contextualize and explain their own artistic practice, from the signs, the intuition, the search for artistic and conceptual referents, on which the construction of artistic discourse is based and, for so much, the genesis of the personal project.
The reflection on the construction of the discourse will force the participants to enter interdisciplinary contexts fundamentally artistic, literary, philosophical, social, scientific. Likewise, the acquired comprehension and poured into works in which he exposes his reflections will increase his possibilities of developing a creative and original thought about the bibliographical resources and the artistic expositions

Phases

1) Organization, preproduction of the workshop and communication.
2) Construction of artistic discourse: selected readings and text analysis.
3) Collective research on Solarpunk aesthetics
4) Group creation of a solar vision for Lisbon.
5) Documentation of the results and exhibition proposal.

Duration of the project

The LAB is developed over two months and will include a preproduction phase, two theoretical sessions of introduction and construction of the Solarpunk artistic discourse and three sessions of practical workshops, where group proposals will be developed. Finally, the project will be concluded with a public presentation of the results. The documentation of the processes will be open and accessible.

Resources

In order to successfully develop the present project proposal (collective workshop), it will be necessary to:
– A space for the development of the workshop.
– Paper prototyping material.
– Use of Mac/Pc Computers, beamer, printer, scanner and Canon Camera.
– Space or room for artistic creation.
– Space or room for the final presentation.