Speculative Peculiars

SPECULATIVE… WHAT?
2059 Speculative Peculiars is an imaginary and visionary look at the future of Amsterdam and Montreal’s urban landscapes. It’s an interdisciplinary program about the possible and impossible, the politics, subcultures, conventions and other developments that will govern and shape Amsterdam and Montreal 50 years from now.

Speculative Peculiars wants to explore how we’ll live, work and socialize in the two cities in the future. What kind of places we would frequent and what kind of people we would meet. It wants to map how we would give meaning to our surroundings.

AND WHAT DOES THAT MEAN, REALLY?
2059 Speculative Peculiars consists of five public events where artists, writers, scholars, scientists, designers, politicians and many others will give their impression of their cities in 50 years time from now. They are asked to research trends from today, something they see as important, or maybe even irreversible, and extrapolate these trends to the not-so-distant future of 2059. Their work will also be available in fanzines and on Sid Lee’s Websites.

PROGRAM
Their ideas will be put out there for all to worship through public events (monthly exhibits held in the Amsterdam Sid Lee Collective cafe-gallery), fanzines (published), and the best ideas will be further developed in the laboratory (financed, marketed, displayed).

The first kick-off event of Speculative Peculiars on September 6, at 4 p.m. will feature the following people:

Marjolijn van Heemstra – writer, poet, theatre maker and theologian
Roosje Klap - graphic designer
Katja Prins – jewellery designer
Jan Rothuizen - artist
Reimer van Tuinen - media specialist 

The Speculative Peculiars afternoon is hosted by Maurits Martijn – journalist of Vrij Nederland (VN) and Amsterdammer. In Amsterdam, there will also be a collaboration with the Gerrit Rietveld Academie.

At the end of the day there will be music and some drinks to support the mind-boggling data and ideas.