UTOPIA 2124 . The Future through the Lens of the Present

Utopia 2124 is a workshop that invites participants to use digital photography to capture the objects, places, and people they symbolically wish to take with them into the future and transform. These photographs of the present-day form the basis for designing personal and collective visions for the year 2124 using AI.

The workshop offers the opportunity to bring together present and future possibilities, discovering new creative forms of expression using current technologies. Participants will first be introduced to the basics of digital photography, and then attend a short session on the latest AI-supported image editing technologies. They are encouraged to find subjects in their immediate environment that might have a personal or societal significance for the future. Once photographed, these items are the basis for further AI-supported editing that allows participants to visualize and interpret futurist scenarios.

This workshop is aimed at young people who are engaged with questions of designing their future. By connecting photography and AI, Utopia 2124 allows participants to express their own visions and dreams for the year 2124. This process encourages both creative consideration of future possibilities and also critical thinking on the role of technology in our lives.

At the end of the workshop, two exceptional works will be selected by a jury comprised of the workshop leaders, as well as representatives of C/O Berlin and IFA, and announced on August 8. The winners’ will get two tickets for IFA and their works will be featured in a Berlin-wide campaign and at the IFA fair, which takes place September 6–10, 2024 in Berlin. There will be an official award ceremony in the IFA summer garden.

Julia Albrecht is a conceptual photoartist whose works engage profoundly with the psychological and cultural aspects of depression and trauma, with a focus on gender dynamics and binary relationships. Her work in photography and beyond aims at exploring and making visible the complex emotional effects of these topics. She studied media art and design at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, then completed an MA in fine art photography at the Royal College of Art in London, as well as studying at TAMK University in Tampere, Finland, and at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

Moritz Wehrmann is a media artist and artistic associate at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. His artistic practice lies at the intersection of art and science. He is particularly interested in the possibilities and critical aspects of AI as well as analogue and digital forms of human/machine interactions. As part of the excellence cluster Image Knowledge Gestaltungat Humboldt University in Berlin, he was involved with the International Research Institute for Cultural Techniques and Media Philosophy. His works have been exhibited at Ars Electronica in Linz and Tokyo, at Gropius Bau in Berlin, at Bauhaus-Stiftung Dessau, and at Deutsche Hygiene-Museum Dresden.