Towards Circular Communities

For this edition of the SAR conference, Falk Hübner will introduce the new research project Towards Circular Communities. This project has recently kicked off in collaboration with Next Nature, situated in the iconic 'Evoluon' building in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. During this 2-year research project, Fontys Academy of the Arts and Next Nature are collaborating to explore how we as a society can integrate circularity into our lives—together with people, nature, and technology such as artificial intelligence (AI).
Five artist-researchers are asked to imagine new perspectives on circular communities through artistic research and speculative design. They will be working in residency at the Next Nature Museum. The residencies will partially overlap, creating opportunities for exchange, reflection, and public presentations.
In parallel, we are developing a custom-made "Circular AI" that not only supports the artists but can also be used by the wider public. The project will culminate in an exhibition where visitors are invited to contribute their ideas, experience, and participate in speculative proposals for a circular society.
The goal is to view circularity not only as an economic or technical issue, but primarily as a socio-cultural challenge: how can we live, share, collaborate, and care together—with each other, with nature, and with technology?
The project brings together a wealth of (research) expertise, also from Circular and Sustainable Transitions, with other Fontys research groups such as Transforming the Economy and Moral Design Strategy. AI specialists are also involved in the project. . During this initial phase of the project, the SAR conference offers the perfect frame to open up and co-think the topics and methods of this research project beyond the core group in a more diverse setting. The input we will generate here will nurture the core of the project. We also want to find new researchers and collaborators for the project.