Arts & Culture

In an election campaign, the EFA24 arts and culture programme “Inhabit the Future” invites you to choose the world we want to live in.

What if we expand what we believe is possible?

The Moment of Truth is the end of an era. The Moment of Truth is a time for new beginnings. And the Moment of Truth is now.

This year’s arts and culture programme invites EFA24 participants to vote on an optimistic, long-term vision of the future, reclaiming their power of imagination and taking a first step towards a better tomorrow. Because the precondition of change is to have a vision and social imagination is a muscle that needs to be trained. Join the collective imagination process and cast your vote!

Can you imagine humankind’s best future scenario?

Over the course of the two weeks of the EFA24 event, an immersive artistic intervention comes to life in the form of an election campaign. Two utopian ideas are presented via familiar rituals and symbols: posters throughout Alpbach, a polling booth, political rallies, slogans, manifestos, discussions and performances, culminating in election night with the counting of votes and the proclamation of a winner.

“The important thing is to learn to hope.” (Ernst Bloch)

Philosopher and former Alpbach regular Ernst Bloch coined the idea of Concrete Utopia, in which he addresses the creative force of a positive story. Bloch encourages us to find a truth worth living for, opening up our minds to a future worth living in.

From its beginnings, the European Forum Alpbach has always desired to bring together the arts and sciences. Alpbach is the place where ideas for a pluralistic society come to life: through conversation as well as artistic expression in all its forms. This included “Artopia”, a free state founded by artists in 1979. This time around, we look to the future – and how we can shape it through our actions today.

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EFA23 art installation by Rivane Neuenschwander / Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz (Erworben mit Mitteln der Stiftung Freunde des Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein)

INHABIT THE FUTURE

By looking beyond the short-term legislative period and focusing on future generations, the "Inhabit the Future" campaign is purposefully radical in itself. Unlike most elections in this historic election year, everybody is called to vote, regardless of their nationality or residence status. EFA24 brings together about 100 nationalities to agree on their collective utopia.

During the EFA event, students of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts work with the utopian positions and present them in a performative piece.

The Happening "Inhabit the Future Election Night" will take place on 27 August, 7.30 p.m. at CCA Loggia!

Graphic Art

The poster campaign across Alpbach village will be designed and produced by two teams as part of a project jointly developed by the EFA and the Vienna Design Week:

The scenography of the poll site in Alpbach (Schulhäusl) will be fashioned by architectural designers Kathrina Duller and Nikolaus Podlaha.

DIVES 2022

Concerts and Performance

Two concerts at extraordinary locations provide the EFA participants with a special experience:

HIGH HOPES still 01

Short Films

An international short film selected by VIENNA SHORTS will be presented prior to each of the four main stage debates at the EFA24 event, providing a thought-provoking impulse. The artistic contributions will kick off the conversations and present a new approach to the topics under discussion!

  • Afterlives (Michael Heindl, AT 2022) will be shown at "Financing the Green Transition", 26 August, 5 p.m. at Herz-Kremenak-Saal (Congress Centrum Alpbach): Making the invisible visible through everyday dadaistic acts, Afterlives highlights the fate of consumer items: energy-intensive in production and soon discarded.
  • Power (Dana Sink, US 2017) will be shown at "Better Safe than Sorry", 26 August, 5 p.m. at Herz-Kremenak-Saal (Congress Centrum Alpbach): The whole is greater than the sum of its parts - machines and chain reactions come together in a surprising way to create a complex formation.
  • Wind (Robert Loebel, DE 2012) will be shown at "Countering Far-right Narratives", 28 August, 5 p.m. at Herz-Kremenak-Saal (Congress Centrum Alpbach): In a world of wind, humans have adapted perfectly to life under adverse conditions. But not everything is as it seems in this lovingly animated parable.
  • High Hopes (Amir Mrzae, FR 2023) will be shown at Looking back 100,000 Years", 29 August, 5 p.m. at Herz-Kremenak-Saal (Congress Centrum Alpbach): High Hopes tells a tale of returning to our initial understanding of existence - a speck of light ascends back to the very place from which it once fell.
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Interactive Sessions

Elections are for participation!

During the Europe in the World Days, a utopian election will take place: Join a series of artistic workshops to scheme, dream and form new alliances. Let’s say goodbye to cognitive dissonance by using the tools of psychology and dance; co-create an election campaign with the designers of the Inhabit the Future project; participate in creative exercises to find your (political) voice. Our election rally takes place on 27 August.

Manifest a new world during the Austria in Europe Days: Connect with nature and your fellow beings by experimenting with sound; co-create new (climate) narratives of the future with climate activists; and use the tools of design and storytelling to imagine a new tomorrow with students of Design Investigations at the University of Applied Arts Vienna.

Read about last year's arts and culture programme by guest curator Yana Barinova:

FRACTURED FUTURES EFA23