What is the reason for this playground?

When technology is not only the infrastructure but also generates the ideological superstructure of a total technology, accelerating climate and social injustices, it becomes crucial for organizations engaging with it to take time to reflect on their relationship to it, not just in theory but also in practice. Caught in ever-shorter cycles of cultural production, economic directives, the "entertainment" decree by ICOM in its new definition of museums, and the acceleration of technological innovations, it becomes increasingly complex to adopt a mature and thoughtful stance on digital practices in arts and culture organizations. At least, it is difficult and detrimental to do so alone.

That's why we believe in adopting a collective approach to understanding these challenges and adopting responsible practices, sharing the advances of our research, and building together rather than separately would benefit everyone, and this beyond our own borders.

How does this playground matches with French & Dutch research problematics?

Conceptualized in 2020 by hacker Ville-Matias Heikkilä, the idea of Permacomputing has gradually made its way into activist circles that have articulated its challenges in ways that they can be better understood. For several months, the term has been slowly emerging from expert circles and is being used in contexts sometimes far removed from its original issues and principles. To prevent the word from serving merely as a green stamp for sometimes clumsy initiatives, it seems necessary to mobilize the active Permacomputing community in a joint effort with cultural actors who are interested in it. By adopting a pragmatic and collective approach, its ethical and virtuous principles are more likely to be integrated into sincere and sustainable initiatives instead of being imposed as a vaguely understood trendcycle and replaced by another as soon as it is co-opted by the capitalist sphere, as was the case, for example, with the Low Tech movement.

The active community of researchers being primarily located in the Netherlands, it seems important for French institutions to create international bridges in order to put their own approaches into perspective with those developed abroad. Thus, a program mixing asynchronous research and in-person meetings appears necessary to tighten the links and practices while benefiting from the viewpoints and specific contexts of the participants.

Why do we, at Fabbula, want to run this playgrond?

Fabbula has always operated at the crossroads of contemporary art, social and environmental sciences, and video games. After years of delving into the possibilities offered by speculative fabulation and world-building practices through real-time media arts and play, we find ourselves earnestly questioning the nature of our tools and the implications of the technological infrastructure they rely on. What ideologies does technology convey? What is its real environmental impact? When can we do without it, and when does it uniquely illuminate aspects that no other means could? We will not passively wait for tools to quantify our CO2 emissions or for reports that we already know will be alarming. Rather than merely providing a guide to good conduct, we are developing an ethical approach, choosing to scrutinize every technological action to deconstruct it and ensure that its cost does not jeopardize our own societal ideals.

We aim to introduce a practice-based critical approach rather than one solely grounded in theory. Engaging institutional teams in a collaborative effort with researchers, designers, and artists will enable the active participation of each member within an international role-playing playground. Our experience with MMORPGs and online communities reinforces the belief that it is feasible to unite diverse yet complementary profiles in the pursuit of a common goal, even more when separated by geographical boundaries.

We recognize that others, like us, are grappling with questions raised by their own perspectives. It's time to intertwine those perspectives, share our solutions, tailor them to our specific situations, draw closer to each other, and counter the massifying effect of individualism among arts and culture organizations.

How does the project relate to existing knowledge or projects on this theme and what does the project add to the field?

Countless research endeavors aim to nurture sustainable practices within institutions, but when it comes to the arts and tech sphere, it's a rare sight to find projects that genuinely walk the talk. And on the off chance they do, their appeal is often limited to an echo chamber of insiders, hardly resonating with those on the outside looking in.

The mission, then, is to shatter these echo chambers and forge a vibrant exchange between institutions and their audiences through the universal language of play. The goal is to cultivate a participatory space that doesn't just talk about empowerment but actively seeds it—empowering young minds and collectives alike to redefine their relationship with technology. This is about transforming passive observers into active contributors, crafting a future where engagement and collective agency aren't just buzzwords, but the backbone of our interaction with the digital infrastructure.