Studies: Future Preparedness, Control of the Commons, Augmented Urban Gardening, Pollinators, Edible Crafts, Unmanned Resilience

Europe / Australia / the Arctic, 2009-2013

Integrating cultural tradition, current developments in art and science, and new technologies and knowledge pools, The Resilients deal with potential futures. The project represents an initiative to build an infrastructure by linking transnationally partners that share common values. It is conceived as a pilot project for long-term collaboration – the formation of a future guild of Resilients.

The initiative is atemporal, living firmly in the present while straddling both past and future. It borrows from a more frugal pre-industrial culture, while embracing the newest systems, materials and technologies, and remaining rooted in the diversity of European cultural heritage. To foster a resilient post-industrial culture we turn to pre-industrial and early industrial traditions, including arts and crafts, science and philosophy, gardening and cooking, pilgrimage and veneration practices. The project scavenges amongst resilient practices of the past, to infuse them with contemporary ethical, ecological and cultural insights.

How can art contribute to forming positive models of resilience for the new reality affected by economic, social, and environmental risks? How can we help people tackle the unpredictability and change in the contemporary world? How can we form viable trans-generational connections between creative people, thereby increasing resilience of everyone involved?

To answer these questions, The Resilients collect models of cultural resilience on field trips, speculate on future cultures in case studies and public experiments. To increase the critical mass of cultural operators working with resilience, the project engages in training novice Resilients through apprenticeships, workshops, and residencies. The general public is acquainted with the project through public events and publications and invited to join the project’s partners at regular gatherings.

The project is a result of the cooperation between Projekt Atol, FoAM, nadine, Performing Pictures, Time’s Up, Textile Futures Research Centre at Central Saint Martin’s College