TodaysArt Symposium Program

A complete guide to mind-expanding learning, ground-breaking ideas and forward-thinking solutions.

TodaysArt Symposium Program

For those of you with an unquenchable thirst for new knowledge and looking for a truly mind-expanding experience, we’ve saved the best for last: our Symposium program. Returning for its 5th consecutive year, the TodaysArt Symposium comprises a series of panel discussions, workshops, artist talks, presentations and debates that provide a stage for ground-breaking ideas and innovative, forward-thinking solutions. Bringing together leading artists, technologists, creative thinkers, researchers, policymakers and entrepreneurs from all manner of sectors and disciplines, the Symposium is a colorful collision of bright ideas, talents and opportunities.

This year’s TodaysArt Symposium taps into our festival’s main theme, Public under Construction, while also covering a number of other related topics, and takes place at Theater aan het Spui, Filmhuis Den Haag and the Spuiplein itself on the festival Friday and Saturday (23 + 24 September). In a TodaysArt first, we’ve opened the Symposium to all festival ticketholders. Whether you’ve purchased a single Day Ticket or Full Festival Pass, you can attend any of the Symposium events on the days your tickets are valid.

So without further ado, here’s a complete guide to the TodaysArt 2016 Symposium.

Session: Public under Construction
Location: Spuiplein Agoras
Date: 24 September
Time: 13:00 – 16:00
Brief: Taking place in the midst of the cultural and urban infrastructure of The Hague’s city center, in and around the agoras of the RUIMTE installation, the Public under Construction sessions dare to raise questions about the future of our public space. Presented in the form of a series of confronting, captivating and provocative monologues, the session reflects on the conflicts and opportunities surrounding urban areas in transition, and aim to spark new perspectives on designing, using and experiencing our public space and built environment.. Speakers include, among others, Elma van Boxel + Kristian Koreman (ZUS), Michiel van Iersel (Failed Architecture), Koert van Mensvoort (Next Nature), and Willem Andree.

Session: VPRO Medialab Meet Up
Location: Filmhuis
Date: 23 September
Time: 14:00 – 17:30
Brief: Debuting at TodaysArt 2016, the VPRO’s new travelling dialogue VPRO Medialab Meet Up delves into the future of storytelling in an ever evolving (social) media landscape. Moderated by the ‘Mind of the Universe’ host, Rob van Hattem, the first MediaLab Meet Up focuses on non-fictional stories and begs the question, how can we re-imagine and tell non-fictional formats differently? Joining van Hattem on stage are the team behind Entropy, the transdisciplinary epic that recounts the history of our universe and its stars, as well as fellow TodaysArtists Ali Eslami and Floris Kaayk. Following the talks, you’ll have the chance work hands-on with the artists’ material, dissecting and analyzing how each artist’s medium influences the story being told.

Session: New Emergences #4
Location: Theater aan het Spui
Date: 24 September
Time: 11:00 – 13:00
Brief: An ongoing The Hague-based lecture and discussion series hosted by a group of composers, improvisers, performers, researchers and sound artists, New Emergences #4: How numbers speak for themselves tackles the current debates around gender in electronic music. The session opens with a keynote by Gonzo (circus) Managing Director Ruth Timmermans, followed by a panel discussion and audience Q&A moderated by Underbelly’s Mariette Groot and featuring Timmermans, Anne La Berge and Florian Cramer.

Session: Art, Astrospace and MoonMars
Location: Theater aan het Spui
Date: 23 September
Time: 11:00 – 14:00
Brief: Led by Bernard Foing, researchers from the ESA European Space Agency and members of the Entropy team host a series of presentations and workshops that survey the latest discoveries in cosmology and astrophysics, address the human and social aspects of space exploration, and examine possible human MoonMars habitations.

Session: Novel Tools for Sonic Manifestation
Location: Filmhuis Zaal 5
Date: 24 September
Time: 15:00 – 17:00
Brief: Marije Baalman (Formely at STEIM) joins TodaysArtists Francesco López, Andre Vogrig, Darien Brito, Myriam Bleau, Tarik Barri and Alba G. Coral for a series of artist talks and presentations that examine new technologies, formats and trans-disciplinary collaborations, and the increasingly novel ways in which they can be employed to push the boundaries of creating, presenting and experiencing music and sound.

Session: Emerging Artists
Location: Filmhuis Studio A
Date: 23 September
Time: 16:30 – 18:00
Brief: Norwegian DJ and producer Charlotte Bendiks, Berlin-based vibraphonist Masayoshi Fujita, Polish techno experimentalist We will fail and iii-member Matteo Marangoni discuss their craft and the trials and tribulations of emerging European sound artists in a panel hosted by fellow iii-member Jonathan Reus.

Session: Decentralize
Location: Filmhuis Studio A
Date: 24 September
Time: 13:00 – 15:00
Brief: The Internet of 2016 isn’t the free and open place the pioneers of Web envisioned in the 90s. Moderated by Jonathan Looman and Daniel Erlacher (Elevate), a panel of Joachim Lohkamp, Lars Holdus (TCF/Resonate), Maurice Mikkers, Beer van Geer and Roeland Landegent (Steemit) explore new ways of cultural entrepreneurship that seek to answer the urgent question: How can we decentralize the Internet for citizens and creators again? Using the Blockchain as the jump off, the session explores alternatives for hosting, distributing and making digital culture accessible in an autonomous and safe way.

Session: City Sondols
Location: Spuiplein
Date: 24 September
Time: 24:00 – 01:00
Brief: An ongoing series of public interventions presented by iii, City Sondols explores architecture and public space, and employs performative practices and mobile audio devices to induce perceptual shifts within the built environment. Performers, equipped with self-made, mobile musical instruments, lead an audience on a walk through the city while probing the surrounding space with sound.

With all that fully digested, you have no excuse but to get yourself a TodaysArt 2016 ticket. Festival Passes and Day Tickets that grant you access to the Symposium on the days your tickets are valid are available here.