What Does it Take to Change the Future?

Kim Stanley Robinson stands as one of today’s most beloved science fiction writers and is a prominent exponent of climate fiction. In his novel The Ministry for the Future (2020), he envisions a scenario where India is struck by a devastating heatwave, resulting in the loss of millions of lives within days: soon after this tremendous tragedy, a climate response begins to take shape. Do we need such a shock for governments, or maybe some billionaire, to take radical actions against the climate crisis? Solutions to buy time before we reach the point of no return are already known and available, maybe a utopian horizon painted by literature can help us implement them. In his most bleak yet hopeful work to date, Robinson delves into the limits and possibilities of human cooperation under extreme circumstances.

Guests: Dr Lučka Kajfež Bogataj, climatologist and a pioneer in researching the impact of climate change; Dr Luka Omladič, philosopher, environmentalist and environmental analyst; Ida Hiršenfelder, sound artist and archivist.

COLOPHON

Host: Marta Peirano

Guest: Kim Stanley Robinson

Editing, Audio Mix and Music: Gašper Torkar

(re)programming podcast series

Produced by Janez Fakin Janša and Marcela Okretič

for Tactics&Practice #10: (re)programming

Project coordinator: Sonja Grdina

Production:

Aksioma | Institute for Contemporary Art

Ljubljana, 2023

Part of

Tactics&Practice

konS – Platform for Contemporary Investigative Art