LIID Future Lab

CRAFTING THE FUTURE WITH ART, IS IT NOT AN IDEAL?!

 

Created in 2000 as a conceptual art project, LIID (Laboratoire d’Ingénierie d’IDées / Idea Engineering Lab), renamed LIID Future Lab in 2016, is today a platform designing LABs (special projects) and cultivating a live artistic, theoretical and prospective research ecosystem.

 

LABs are either commissioned by structures (universities, think-tank, cultural places, cities, companies, etc.) for various reasons (see www.liid.fr), or independent and R&D oriented.  These last ones might includes partnerships and collaboratives capsules, such as the Lab Paris Galaxies, on the Future of the Greater Paris Metropolis.

 

LABs are variable in time (from half a day to several years for R&D labs) and mix a great diversity of formats: photomontage, diagram, installation, exhibition,  publication, text, study, creative future trend report, conference, essay, future scenario, theory-fiction, research group, method and pedagogy innovation, collaborative workshop (including performative photography in the public space), etc.

 

The more recent lab Toward Alien Cosmologies, prospective of an anthropological reset, is today LIID’s R&D main driver and remobilises research and experiences from all other labs since 2000.

FUTURE LAB R&D / ART - KNOWLEDGE - IMAGES - WOLRD-BUILDING

-Lab Toward Alien Cosmologies, prospective of anthropological and epistemological reset, since 2017: Lab to design post-human futures in the AI, Anthropocene and Post-Truth era, including research on foresight methodologies.

Publications: FUTUR(S) Trend Report, Peclers, 2017, FuturHebdo Anthologies Prospective review #4, 2020, Susch Muzeum Magazine #1, 2020, and Knowledge For the Anthropocene, E. Elgar publishing, 2021.

Conferences: Muzeum Susch Disputaziune #2, 2018, Nordic Summer University, Diffrakt Berlin, 2020 ; World Future Studies Federation 24th Global Conference, 2021 ; Association of Professional Futurists research webinar and Philosophy of Futures, 2022.

Design fiction workshops: Ecole de Design Duperré, Paris and Forecast Laboratory, Telecom Paris Tech University, 2018.

Exhibition: HiFlow Geneva, 2021-22.

+ LABs ART - IMAGE - FICTION - KNOWLEDGE

Machination lab, since 2015: Research on fiction as an instrument and a research method. Series of theory-fiction and artist fiction experiments taking the shape of conferences (Corner College, Zurich, 2015, Fictions-Interactions Laboratory, Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne University, 2016, and Seminar Science & Fiction, Paris 8 St Denis University); or texts and photomontages in publications (8 episodes on d-fiction.fr, 2016-18).

Open Polygon lab, since 2010: design de méthodes de recherche “polygonale” (multi-facette) autour des grands thèmes prospectifs du LIID (art & savoir, design organisationnel, modèles conceptuels urbains, et design de gouvernance global). Série d’expositions (Apex Art, New York, 2010, Aalto University, Helsinki, 2010, Espace d’En Bas, Paris, 2011, Corner College, Zurich, 2014, galerie Forde, Genève, 2016) et publications (édition Clinamen, Genève et éditions L’Harmattan).

– IMAGE Lab a.k.a. PIIMS (Petite Industrie de l’IMage Sensorielle) and Republic of Images Lab, since 1998 : series of artistic creations, installations, photomontages and conceptual diagrams exhibited (French Institute of Architecture, Paris Project Room gallery, Colette boutique, La Villette Park, Hannah Barry gallery, etc.) or published (Magazine ®, Marges Review, Nuke review, Chronic’art magazine, Pylône Review, Tales Magazine, Cahiers Européens de l’Imaginaire).

FUTURE LABs - DIGITAL TRANSITION

– Peclers Future Trends, Paris, since 2011: Yearly foresight research, such as for annual FUTUR(S) Trend Report (2012-18), on societal transformations (international macro- and micro-trends).

Topics addressed: individual and collective identity, diversity, togetherness and cultural globalization, sustainable development and environment, innovation and collaborative economy, relation to time and space (including mobility, urbanity, ubiquity, etc.), frontier of science and technologies (AI, XR, metaverse, Web3, biotechnologies, neurosciences, space, etc.), well-being and quest for meaning and transcendence (incl. spirituality, post-truth, etc.).

+ FUTURE LABs

– APCI (Association for the Promotion of Industrial Creation), Paris, 2020-21: Lab New Deal x Design on how Design can support corporate responsibility and transition toward sustainable and b-corp models.

– LEAP (European Political Anticipation Laboratory), 2020: Future lab on COVID crisis impacts and EU socio-economic resilience strategies via training, education and creativity. Series of workshops (Hackathon EUvsVirus), conferences (UNESCO Foresight Webinar and EU Joint Research Center), and publications (LaTribune.fr, euractiv.com, medium.com) including an open-letter with 30 European co-signers.

– France Television University, Paris, 2019: Lab on how to use the future in training programs.

– WDHB (international executive training), Paris, 2019: Lab on Foresight and Learning Experience Design.

– CNRS (National Delegation), Paris, 2018-19: Lab on the future of Science, Transition and Innovation to guide the design a vast program of events for the scientific research institution’s 80 yrs anniversary, dedicated to local, national and global audiences, in and out the academic sphere.

– Montpellier Business School, 2015-19: Annual workshop on cultural ecosystems and innovation trends.

– Cape and Cape, Paris, 2013: Lab design x fooding x new afro imaginaries.

– Design Management Institute, Aalto University, Helsinki x Institute For The Future, Palo Alto, California, 2012: Lab on social innovation and the future of alternative, digital and “outlier” organizations between the profit and nonprofit sectors. Series of workshops and design of critical maps to highlight systemic change.

– Neoma Business School, Grande Ecole program, 2011-14: Annual workshop to initiate students to LIID’s aesthetic audit method to detect and analyze organizations future potentials and responsibility.

– Aalto University, Helsinki, 2010-11: international steering committee member of the yearly Aalto Camp For Societal Innovation, a one week future camp (150 academic and professional participants, 40 nationalities). Special advisor to introduce art and design in the program and the facilitation, recruitment of 12 international artists and design of an exhibition kit to stage and display group’s work.

– Tales-Magazine.com (quarterly publication), 2009-11: Editorial direction of the Vision section (30 pages on art, architecture, ideas, literature), curation of avant-garde subjects and authors, production of contents (text, images, videos), design of innovative corporate partnerships and development of a creative community.

– PWC Luxembourg, 2010-11: Series of labs on organizational design, on creativity, and on how to explore and model corporate social and environmental responsibility.

– Immaterial Economy Chair, Paris Sud University and Cigref, 2009: Lab on Gen Y and work, organization and information systems transformations with the digital revolution.

– Lexus Car France x Style-Vision, 2007: Lab on multi-cultural design and hybrid mobility. Design of an image-based research kit to facilitate collective aesthetic exploration and cultural translation.

– Center for Molecular Medicine, Karonlinska Institute, Stockholm, 2006: Lab on the laboratory’s organization, translation research culture, imaginary and future purpose in the scientific community and society.

– Chanel Cosmetics x E-Mergences, Paris, 2005: Lab to explore new cosmetics products and aesthetic experience (uses and imaginaries).

– Air de Paris gallery, 2003: Lab Air de Paris Reality Show, organization aesthetic audit prototype.

URBAN LABs R&D / URBAN FUTURES and UTOPIA

Mesopolis Lab, since 2011: lab on urban ecosophy, resilience and utopia. Exhibition at Atelier Martel Architecture, Paris (2013). Publications in Tales Magazine (2011), and Bad To The Bone review (2021). Conferences in an Art & Science symposium, Ecole Polytechniques/ENSAD (2019) and an urban symposium at ENSA St Etienne (2021).

 

Lab Paris Galaxies, future of Greater Paris, 2008-18: Lab laureate of the Paris 2030 academic research program from the City of Paris in partnership with ACTE (Art, Creation, Theory, AEsthetique) Institute, Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne University, and a pool of other universities from 2012 to 2018.

Long series of creations, collaborations, worshops, exhibtions, conferences and publications. See below all research episodes.

+ LABs PARIS GALAXIES, GREATER PARIS FUTURES

Paris Galaxies Action Shooting Lab, since 2015: Series of photographic performance workshops in the public space with Paris College of Art, Paris, 2015, CASA93, 2017-18, and Dance Air group, 2021-22. Lab re-staged at large scale in the book Paris Ars Universalis, fiction scenario of a future Greater Paris metropolis, Avant-Garde Collection, L’Harmattan publishing, 2017.

– Boulle Design School, Paris. 2020-21: Mentoring and jury of the “Lived Spaces” diploma thesis and projects, in partnership with the “Grand Orly Seine Bièvre” territory of the Greater Paris where projects are located.

– SOFERIM & Réinventer la Métropole II, 2018-19: Future insights on transitions and co-design or an urban innovation proejct with Arcas Architects and Land’Act Paysage for the Lisch Station in Asnières (92).

– Lab Paris Ars Universalis, fiction scenario of a future Greater Paris, 2015-18: design-fiction research and book (collection Avant-garde, L’Harmattan, 2017), followed by a series of workshops and conferences.

– Grand Paris Aménagement, Paris, 2016: Insights on creative urban innovation for the Greater Paris, and on the design of new collaborative hybrid places and work spaces.

Grand Paris Future Lab (horizon 2165), Palais de Tokyo, 2015-16: Experimental foresight research program, laureate of a transdisciplinary pedagogic innovation grant, with masters and PhD students of HESAM Pole (Paris 1 Sorbonne University extended academic group), and LAA (Architecture and Anthropology Laboratory), Paris La Villette Architecture School, CNAM University, and AIGP (Atelier International du Grand Paris). Design of a creative foresight methodology for long horizons (150 years) and of a performative installation to stage and share the group’s research. Open-Lab sessions with guest foresight experts and scientific journalists.

– Athem-Skertzo (urban communication and event agency), Paris, 2015-16: Future insights on Creative Cities metabolism and levers, and on the Greater Paris metropolis; strategic reflections to reposition the agency; co-design of a creative hub proposal for the Reinventing the Seine River call of innovative urban projects.

– NEOMA Business School, Rouen, International Master of Science in Art Management, 2013-17: Rouen Art-Based Urban Lab including each year, future trends conferences, workshops to design creative urban projects in response to specific sites (future Greater Paris station, Reinventing the River program, Great Armada event, etc.) and open-lab session with local stakeholders (House of Architecture, Harbor, City, Tourism Office, etc.)

– Paris College of Art, Design Management Dpt (dir. Yasmine Abbas) and 6B (Creative hub), St Denis, 2015-17:

Future insights on art and urban creative leadership; workshops to co-design online collaborative platforms to support the Greater Paris creative ecosystems (incl. the 6B Creative hub and reflections on economic models); collaborative future research on experiential tourism, new hospitality culture and forms of creative training.

– Campus Fonderie de l’Image, Digital Design Master, 2015:  #CartoCamp x Paris Galaxies workshops cycle (with designer Sylvia Fredriksson). UX and UI research to design possible collaborative platforms to support and empower the “creative constellation” of the Greater Paris metropolis.

– Paris College of Art, Design Management Dpt (dir. Alice Peinado), 2013-14: workshop cycle including insights on creative cities; online and in-field research to identify artistic places in the Parisian suburb; creation of a database of 300 hotspots forming the Greater Paris creative constellation; critical analysis of urban creative reinvention potentials; presentation and publication of an academic communication at Antwerp University.

– Urban Lab and Slade Art Research Center, University College London, 2013: exhibition and conference in Cities Methodologies #3 cross-disciplinary research program and symposium.

– Parsons School Paris, Critical Studies Dpt (dir. Vivian Sky Rehberg), 2011-12: Cities of Tomorrow workshop cycle (with Magda Jarvin); ethno-sociological, online and in-field inquiry around the Peripherique Boulevard; design of future narratives and imaginaries; exhibition and conferences in Scaling Up symposium (co-organized with ACTE Institute, Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne University).

– Lab Paris Galaxy 1.0, LIID R&D, 2008-11: Design of a foresight methodology and urban conceptual canvas; publication of a first future strategic scenario to “make” the Greater Paris” on parisgalaxie.blogspot.com and of the conceptual canvas research in the Parsons Journal For Information Mapping, NY.

URBAN LABs - ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSITION

– Geneva Art and History Museum, 2022-23: Incubation of a lab on the future of museums (80 participants). Series of masterclass and workshops to explore the impact of environmental, digital and demographic transitions on museums. To be continued…

– HiFlow (hybrid innovation hub), Geneva, 2020-22: Futur x Art x Innovation lab, series of conferences, masterclass, exhibition and design of future labs for the Greater Geneva innovation ecosystem.

 

– Lausanne University, Institute of Geography & Sustainability, and ISUH (International Society For Urban Health), 2021: topic modelling and weak-signals analysis of urban health futures for the World Health Organization.

+ URBAN LABs

– IHEST (Institut des Hautes Etudes en Sciences & Technologies, Ministry of Research and Higher Education), since 2017: Series of future labs (various collaborative and custom-made research methods), as part of the National Cycle program (selective executive training) and including the casting of guest experts.

Topics addressed:  the Future of factories and fabrication, of cultural industries and fashion soft-power, of the green economy, of nuclear energy, as part of the Cycle National (elite executive program), etc.

– France Hydrogene (ex-AFHYPAC), Paris, 2020: Open-lab on the future of the French hydrogen industry.

– Bouygue Real Estate and Bouygue Construction, Paris, 2011-19: Series of future labs and in-depth studies (emerging “weak signals”, trends and systemic change analysis) on the future of Cities, of Campuses, of Urban Resilience, of Social and Urban Innovation.

– Wildbunch Films Distribution, Paris and Les Arcs Film Festival hackathon, 2018-20: lab on the future of film distribution and the role of movies theaters in cities; digital innovation project design and development.

– Atelier LUMA Arles, 2017-18: Future lab (workshops, keynotes and publication) to co-design resilient future scenarios for Arles’ trans-region and an extended community of local and international stakeholders.

– Citynove (Galeries Lafayette group), Paris, 2017-18: Future lab on cultural, architectural, collaborative and urban innovation to rethink the role of department stores in city centers.

– City of Montevideo, Uruguay, 2013-14: Future lab in collaboration with a pool of local stakeholders (Architecture and Territorial Foresight Laboratory, Republica University, Polo Mercosur Foundation, etc.), and in partnership with international platform arte-sur.org. Mobilization of a local creative community (25 students and professionals), program of urban explorations, workshops, conferences and open-lab sessions to incubate creative innovation projects. Production of a video.

– Science-Po Paris and DATAR (Government Planning Agency), 2009-11: Creative Territories research program.

– Shanghai World Expo 2010 “Better City Better Life”, 2005-10: Expo urban program competition in collaboration with researchers from Tong Ji University Urban Department, Shanghai (2005). Exhibition at galerie France Fiction, Paris (2007). Publications in La Tribune, Paris (2010).

– City of Copenhagen, 2003-07: Lab on the future of the neighborhood and « free-town » of Christiania. “Aesthetic audit” of its urban renewal potentials (2003, published in 2006). Design of a future urban strategy awarded in a Danish government’s idea competition (2004). Exhibition at Over Gaden Art Center, Copenhagen (2005). Design fiction research of an alternative future scenario, France Fiction review (2007).