Planet B - New Module for Sustainability and Civilizational Issues

In the upcoming semester UMPRUM will launch a new Module for Sustainability and Civilizational Issues called Planet B. The module will be focused on multidisciplinary teamwork and practice-based research centered around some of the pressing environmental or social issues of today. 

The module is now open to students from UMPRUM as well as other educational institutions focused on art, architecture or design in the Czech Rep. and Slovakia.

In short

• In Winter Semester 2022, Planet B will be coordinated by Klára Peloušková and Eduard Herrmann (see contact below).

• The theme of the Winter Semester 2022 will be "Toxic Futures". We will focus on the issue of nuclear power and pose ourselves the question about how to live and work on a toxic planet.

• The module will include many lectures, debates and workshops with experts from both artistic and non-artistic fields. They will relate to the theme of the semester, but also to various methods for creative practice.

• Planet B has the form of a studio exchange. It replaces semestral studio work and the end-of-semester project (klauzura).

• Planet B is open to students enrolled in the 2nd year of their BA studies or higher, irrespective of their field of study. It is possible to sign up for the module even if you´re a student of a different art/architecture/design school than UMPRUM.

• Application Deadline: Sept 15, 2022 (announcement of the results: Sept 18)

• Beginning of the coursework: Oct 3, 2022 (+ introductory workshop Ignored Technology, Sept 19 - 23, 2022)

• Contact: klara.pelouskova@umprum.cz

• More information about the program and how to apply: https://www.umprum.cz/web/en/planet-b

Theme of the Winter Semester 2022

Toxic Futures

What will future societies discover on and under the Earth's surface? What will the remains of the current civilization look like and what will they cause? How to think in long-term timeframes that exceed us? And how can we communicate with – or warn – those who will live here after us?

One of the symbols of modern rationality that evades human control in the permeable space of chemical flows is nuclear energy. As a key geopolitical agent nuclear power enters strategic negotiations in the context of the war as well as the climate. However, radiation ingrained in agricultural products, living organisms or construction materials bears witness to how little we actually know about the slow effects of certain elements. It also shows that from the perspective of the planetary metabolism solid boundaries – material or political – are in fact non-functioning.

But, Planet B won’t be anything other than toxic and looking into the future, we must count on nuclear energy as well – because its infrastructures, industries or existing waste will remain here with us. We need to ask, then, how we can deal with the fragility of ecosystems and volatility of the future. How can we live and work on a toxic planet?

Selected activities and events

• workshop Ignored Technology with architects Veronika Miškovičová (UMPRUM) and Adam Hejduk (Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna) (more HERE)

• a lecture by Zuzana Harmáčková (Global Change Research Institute, CAS / Stockholm Resilience Center) about the way environmental studies deal with uncertainty and distant time horizons

• a discussion with environmentalist and acitivist Edvard Sequens (Calla) and nuclear physics researcher Lenka Frýbortová (Czech Technical University) about the current issues of nuclear energy

• workshop with architect Nicolay Boyadjiev (IAAC Barcelona / IKEA / formerly Strelka Institute) on transdisciplinary research in artistic and design practice (online)

• workshop with researchers and architects Eduardo Castillo Vinuesa and Fernando Cremades (MediaLab Matadero Madrid) on the deployment of radiotrophic funghi in the environments affected by radiation

• symposium with artists and designers on the topic of transdisciplinary research in art and design in relation to the theme "Toxic Futures" (TBA)

• fieldtrip to the former uranium mine and research center for nuclear energy in Rožná and to the area of Horka where a permanent depository of nuclear waste may be constructed in the future