Digesting climate change
Host: Martijn Lindeboom
Climate Change looks to be here to stay. At the moment of writing this description, the European climate service Copernicus recorded the warmest month ever for nine months in a row. We hear the warnings and know what we have to do to reduce our CO2 emissions, but what if human nature takes over and we are left with no other options than to harness climate change?
Martijn Lindeboom likes to work together with scientists and researchers when he writes his stories. That has resulted in a number of books about archaeological finds, where he wrote fictional histories to go with the scientific articles. More recently he has combined scientific research in climate change and the protein transition with science fiction stories in two anthologies, titled Grontopia and Verteerbaar (Digestible).
During his lecture Martijn will talk about dealing with climate change by looking at current science, while also offering insights from science fiction works like The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson, Hummingbird/Salamander and Borne by Jeff VanderMeer, the MaddAddam-trilogy by Margaret Atwood and classics like The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler and The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner. Come and get practical tips to use in your advantage, like making cheese from CO2 and oxygen, so our farm animals can retire. Here you get offered new perspectives through stories, to digest Climate Change in our future.
On the beach: climate change effects on the Dutch lowlands
Host: Maarten Kleinhans
In 2016, the self-image of the Dutch as the greatest engineers against floods from rivers and the sea was dented. Climate change might cause the sea level to rise more than 10 meters! Since then, a societal debate has raged between believers in technology and adapters to change. But how will climate change, and how will the lowlands respond? And what can you and I do?
Pieter Harting’s ‘Anno 2065’ and the global export of Dutch scifi in the 19th century
Host: Robert-Jan Wille
Not much Dutch science fiction seems to cross the country’s borders these days. In fact, we’ll have to do with the American film adaptations of Paul Verhoeven, the cinematography of Hoyte van Hoytema, or Rutger Hauer’s improvised ‘tears in rain’ dialogue, but the Netherlands is not a global SF powerhouse. Even the literary writers who have seemingly hijacked SF as a serious genre in recent years are not really read outside the language area.
This was no different in the nineteenth century; there was no Dutch Jules Verne or H. G. Wells.
However, there was an exception, the novel ‘Anno 2065’ written by the biologist Pieter Harting in 1865. It was translated into English, German, Chinese, and Japanese. And recently, a Turkish translation was added to the list. Particularly in Japan, the book was eagerly embraced by a society in transformation at the end of the nineteenth century. How did this book become so widely read beyond the Dutch border?
In my lecture, I will show that Harting’s book is actually a very exceptional narrative, which should be understood as a key novel of Dutch politics and science around 1865. For the writer, who was mainly known as an advocate of new scientific instruments and experiments, the novella was primarily a one-time literary experiment, perhaps even a joke. Yet the work struck a chord with the public. One of the enthusiastic readers was the well-known Nicolaas Beets.
At the same time, due to the global rise of a new genre of science fiction stories, the book was eagerly embraced by dreamers and utopians worldwide – especially by those who did not always know the political context – and incorporated into the canon of captivating futuristic fantasies.
Apparently, the most successful stories are those that, in their creation, do not necessarily fit into an existing category, express the changing spirit of the times in an original way, and, with a bit of luck, are embraced by others in new exciting genres. What could this mean for Dutch writers today?
Sense of wonder to the sense of wander
Host: Francesco Verso
A multicultural approach to Science Fiction. The value of diversity is becoming increasingly relevant to the problems of the globalized world. Preserving the literary biodiversity of the future is the best way to keep the genre of Science Fiction alive and fresh, as it should be by definition because Science Fiction is the narrative of transformation and over the last 50 years, it has been appropriated by one language, one market, one economy, one religion, one lifestyle and thus one single view of the future that has marginalized all others. The Sense of Wander is the best tool to decolonize the Future and embrace the many Futures that awaits us.
This lecture will be followed by a panel discussion of the Sense of Wonder to the Sense of Wander.
The (star)ship inside your head: the fun way to improve your mental health
Host: The Safe Haven
Every person is like a ship on a journey, and our brains are her crew. The rational Captain, the passionate First Mate and the instinctive Deckhand each have their own tasks and responsibilities. But when their Ship is in trouble, they will have to work together! In this workshop, you’ll take a first glimpse at your personal Ship and discover how daydreaming about your crew’s adventures offers a fun way to improve your mental health.
The Witcher: origins, the present, the future
Host: Andrzej Sapkowski
Andrzej Sapkowski will speak about his best-selling Witcher books, from their early development, current success and what’s in store for the future.
Wildlife on the planet Furaha; Darwinian evolution meets Newtonian biomechanics
Host: Gert van Dijk
Gert van Dijk, a former medical scientist, works on a speculative biology project under the alias ‘Sigmund Nastrazzurro’. He designs odd animals, plants and mixomorphs living on the planet Furaha, using digital paintings and animations to bring them to life. His animals are not composites of loose bits and pieces of Earth animals, nor are they just enlarged arthropods. He takes mass, weight and ‘scaling laws’ into consideration, which sometimes prohibits his imagination to run amok: the erstwhile lighter-than-air ballonts were exterminated when calculations showed they wouldn’t work. But there are many paths open to evolution that were not taken on Earth. Gert will talk about the results of his efforts during Eurocon, showing paintings of Furahan lifeforms and of humans studying them. He will also show that similar calculations can be used to study the anatomy of giants, or whether giants could ride mammoths. If you ever wanted to see and hear what a six-legged gallop looks and sounds like, now is your chance!