FUTUR 21 – art industry culture

With a joint festival of media and arts, the Regional Associations of the Rhineland and Westphalia-Lippe present former sites of industrial work in a new light. At the same time, experts involved in science, art and cultural institutions will be discussing questions about the future of industrial culture at the "Industrial Culture for Future" conference #IC4Future. Topics will include – always from the IC perspective – the major issues of the 21st century: sustainability and global warming, the influence of digitalisation and the limits of growth and consumption.


The conference approaches the topic of "Future" from an interdisciplinary bird's perspective. What are the key questions on the way to a diverse, sustainable, and digital society and in what way can a reframed industrial culture help to create answers and find solutions? Can industrial heritage sites and museums be more than places of memory, focusing on the past? In what way can they provide a space to discuss topics of the future? Which common narratives need to be critically questioned, revised, and refined? How can a reframing of industrial culture be made visible and accessible for the public?

On Thursday and Friday, inspiring panels will explore challenges and visions of the future that will provide stimuli for a reimagined industrial culture. In addition to the presentation and mediation in museums in the light of digitalisation, participants will also discuss the question of what role art can play in a new approach to industrial culture. FUTUR 21 itself provides some answers: A total of 32 digital artworks, including installations, projections on buildings and interactive games, will be on display at the media art festival. They draw on the history of the 16 industrial museums operated by the two regional associations LWL and LVR and deal with topics such as power generation, resources and artificial intelligence.

The two-day conference starts Thursday, 4th November 2021, at 9 a.m. as a hybrid event at Zollern Colliery LWL Industrial Museum in Dortmund.

Futur21 conference