Gentler Futures Festival is a 2-day event exploring what it means to design today, what are the challenges that twenty‒first century designers face and which legacy they hope to leave behind. To do so, the Festival gathers in one place national and international designers, makers, researchers, architects and creatives whose work is shaping the futures we would like to live in: planet‒centred, local‒based, non‒linear and post‒consumerism. The program, featuring hands‒on workshops, talks, temporary exhibitions, screenings, live performances, music and DJ sets aims to pose questions, launch provocations and inspire new mindsets.
This year’s edition, Towards Urban Self-Sufficiency, provides a glimpse into a future where urban communities are locally productive, instead of passive consumers, and self-sufficient, instead of dependent on far-away centralised systems. This through the presentation of experimental design and architecture projects whose goal is: decentralising the means of production, imagining alternative non-linear manufacturing systems, and placing the needs of local communities and the planet over profit and economic growth.
Ongoing — Exhibition, installations, food, drinks and DJ sets
Saturday, June 1
11h00 — Workshops
14h00 — Solar brunch
15h00 — Talk session
17h00 — Workshops
21h00 — Screenings and performances
Ongoing — Exhibition, installations, food, drink, music and DJ sets
Talks, performances and screenings will be held in English. Workshops will be held in English or in Portuguese depending on the preference of the participants.
Workshops
Friday, May 31 (16h00 — 18h00)
01.1 Lisbon's futures in VR: hands-on AI and VR workshop (Megan Ammari)
01.2 The light of marble: build your own lamp using reclaimed marble (Novonovo)
01.3 Elevate and cultivate: growing food together through vertical farming (Upfarming)
Saturday, June 1 (11h00 — 14h00)
02.1 Upcycling organic waste for the built environment (Bagaceira Project)
02.2 Hempcrete: using hemp in design and construction (Natura Matéria)
02.3 Slow kitchen: cooking with solar and human energy (Slow Lab and Marie Verdeil)
02.4 Distributed Design: speculating on alternative futures (Distributed Design Platform)
Saturday, June 1 (17h00 — 19h00)
03.1 Exploring the reuse of residues in ceramics(Prima Matters)
Talks
Friday, May 31 (18h00 — 20h00)
01.1 Introducing Distributed Design: a value-driven approach to design (Distributed Design Platform)
01.2 Matterpieces: material design for circular architecture (Studio8)
01.3 Edible landscapes: art and food (Inês Coelho da Silva)
Saturday, June 1 (15h00 — 17h00)
02.1 Principles for designing a low-tech web (Marie Verdeil)
02.2 Reuse in construction: mapping the ‘mines’ for our future (NADA NOVO)
02.3 Building from the ground: a context responsive approach (MaTierra)
Experiences
Saturday, June 1 (11h00 — 14h00)
01.1 Food literacy projects: a guided tour through Lisbon’s urban farms (Rodrigo Borralho)
Saturday, June 1 (14h00 — 15h00)
01.2 Solar brunch (Slow Lab and Marie Verdeil)
Screenings
Friday, May 31 (21h00 — 22h30)
01.1 Living the change: inspiring stories for a sustainable future (Happen Films, 2016)
Saturday, June 1 (21h00 — 22h30)
01.2 Proof of Concept: 100 geeks, 5 weeks, 1 future (Ouishare / Open State, 2016)
Performances and installations
Inês Coelho da Silva and Kevin Bellò, Pietro Degli Esposti (MaTierra), Pedro Gil Faria and Hugo Pilate (What A Mess), Inês Barros and Giovanna Martins, Megan Ammari, Julia Steketee (Bagaceira Project), Audrey Belliot Darmon (Slow Lab), Marie Verdeil.
Exhibition
Manuel Sanchez (SOS Heater), Patrícia Gomes (Matterpieces/Studio8), Martina Comola (Hacko, 3Bee), Biosphere Solar, Ilaria Pirro, Sara Baptista da Silva, Carla Alcalà Badias, André Trindade and Davide Onestini (Post Paper Studio/BY THE END OF MAY), Isabel Oliveira (Oiá).
How to attend
Open to the local community and to the general public, this year's festival will be hosted at Mouraria Creative Hub. Talks, performances, exhibitions, and screenings are free to attend upon registration and workshop tickets can be purchased online (https://gentlerfutures.com). All proceeds go towards supporting guest creatives and current and future public events, allowing us to keep them free or at an accessible price.
Mouraria Creative Hub
Travessa dos Lagares 1
1100-300 Lisbon
Portugal
About the initiative and organisers
Gentler Futures Festival is a not-for-profit initiative byBY THE END OF MAY, a research and design studio exploring the roles of manufacturing and crafts in creating a non-linear, post-consumerism and anti-alienation economy. The studio develops speculative projects at the intersection of digital fabrication, biomaterials and crafts, to empower the transition towards locally-productive, self-sufficient and regenerative cities.
