MTF Aveiro 2022
From 10th to 15th of October,
MTF Labs ran a third commissioned event
at Teatro Aveirense in the city of Aveiro.
Representing a total of 22 countries,
50 experts were assembled
in person and five global satellites
joined online for a week of creative brainstorming,
co-creation and response to grand challenges
under the theme ‘Ecosystem Living’,
resulting in 17 original new projects
and a final collaborative performance.
From 10th to 15th of October,
MTF Labs ran a third commissioned event
at Teatro Aveirense in the city of Aveiro.
Representing a total of 22 countries,
50 experts were assembled
in person and five global satellites
joined online for a week of creative brainstorming,
co-creation and response to grand challenges
under the theme ‘Ecosystem Living’,
resulting in 17 original new projects
and a final collaborative performance.
“It was a really great experience!
I met great people and excellent professionals
from very different areas of science,
technology and art, and we had the chance and time to
share views and knowledge, and work together.
I learned a lot!”
- Luis Menezes Pinheiro
Ecosystem Living theme
MTF places music and creativity at the heart of innovation across all domains to address grand societal challenges. The MTF Labs Aveiro 2022 theme is Ecosystem Living.
Building on the 2020s Another Green World and 2021’s Just Ocean, the new Ecosystem Living theme challenges MTF Labs participants to consider how human beings can live in specific relation to their surroundings and environment.
This challenge moves beyond and away from the concept of urban planning because we reject ‘urban’ as a necessary (or even desirable) condition for human habitation.
Ecosystem Living transcends the idea of spatial planning, since the focus of spatial planning is limited to the physical space and not the complex interactions between cohabiting species.
Nor is it ecosystem planning because we do not seek to impose order, encourage extractive practices or create the conditions for entirely anthropocentric habitation.
We consider human beings and their activities to be part of nature and not separate from it, and so true ecosystem living is about harmony, alignment and balance, and finding an entire value network within a holistic cohabitation. This balance must synthesize, and integrate artistic practice, scientific research, traditional craft professions and local cultural practices.
“It was a really great experience!
I met great people and excellent professionals
from very different areas of science,
technology and art, and we had the chance and time to share views and knowledge,
and work together.
I learned a lot!”
- Luis Menezes Pinheiro
People
Meet the MTF Labs experts. artists, inventors, and creators who contributed to MTF Aveiro 22
Projects
A week of creative brainstorming and co-creation in response to grand challenges under the theme ‘Ecosystem Living’ resulted in 18 original new collaborative projects that were presented at the Saturday night showcase event, in addition to a final improvised performance by all participants.
EXCLUSIVES
The Labs featured high-level presentations from around the world, including the United States, Singapore, Bangladesh, Germany, New Zealand, and Britain as well as international artists and scientists from around the world live on stage in a blend of online video presentations and in-person exclusive VIP talks.
People
Meet the MTF Labs experts. artists, inventors, and creators who contributed to MTF Aveiro 22
Projects
A week of creative brainstorming and co-creation in response to grand challenges under the theme ‘Ecosystem Living’ resulted in 18 original new collaborative projects that were presented at the Saturday night showcase event, in addition to a final improvised performance by all participants.
EXCLUSIVES
The Labs featured high-level presentations from around the world, including the United States, Singapore, Bangladesh, Germany, New Zealand, and Britain as well as international artists and scientists from around the world live on stage in a blend of online video presentations and in-person exclusive VIP talks.
Integration of the city’s natural surroundings has been a key feature of MTF Labs in Aveiro, and the 2022 edition emphasiszed this with multiple field trips by boat, by bus and on foot to explore the seafront, Salinas, and wetlands of Aveiro.
Satellites
Satellites from five countries participated in simultaneous labs connected to the Aveiro event by live stream and online collaborative brainstorming. Projects were submitted as video presentations and developed the themes explored during the Brainstorming sessions, such as food ecosystems and beyond-human ecosystem living.
Satellites
Satellites from five countries participated in simultaneous labs connected to the Aveiro event by live stream and online collaborative brainstorming. Projects were submitted as video presentations and developed the themes explored during the Brainstorming sessions, such as food ecosystems and beyond-human ecosystem living.
Participants words
I was astonished by the accumulation of different backgrounds, mindsets, and personalities in one room. I was challenged to reframe my perceptions and expectations of the outcomes produced in one week.
- Deborah Habermacher
The ecosystem of people was amazing. I felt enabled and playful the whole time around even when sleep deprived - that says a lot!
- Tuuli Utriainen
Honored and grateful for being part of the MTF family. It gives me lots of meaning, happiness, goals, and friends.
- Eyal Weisz
An amazing experience with very smart people. Great to see how everything came together at the end.
- David Muhr
I loved everything about this event. The talks were inspiring and people were happy to talk about anything.
- Pavlo Apisov
Incredible and heartwarming as ever! Waves of creativity have rejuvenated us! Very well organised
- Alexandra Antonopoulou
Great to meet so many different people from such different backgrounds and exchange ideias not only for the projects done during the event but also for future work.
- Xavier Marques
Challenging, life-changing, month-in-a-week’s worth of inspirational development.
- Tim Canfer
MTF Labs provide a ‘safe’ space wherein concepts can be deeply explored by the plenary. New understanding can only be achieved when you are prepared to ask the ‘stupid’ question, the one where you find you misunderstood something, and can only happen in a forum where you can do so in complete confidence that you will not be censured. MTF Labs provide that space, it is your special sauce.
It felt like a safe and energised space for airing insights, demonstrating possibilities and experimenting with truly ground-breaking solutions for both creative communications and real-world design.
It was for me a true experience of a process of emergence. Each participant had the possibility to express his/her potential in a very organic manner. All the conditions were there for creative exploration with great insights and analysis of the current state of society and its underpinning modalities of operations.
I loved it. It was mind-blowing to have the opportunity to collaborate with such a diverse mix of talented and extremely nice people. The talks, the activities, and the environment were thought-provoking. I was inspired by the talent and moved by the performances.
The group was amazing, a balanced group of different fields who did even more interactive projects, with great conversations, ideas and hands on.
The MTF Lab was not only successful, but it also lifted the very format of a lab/workshop to a unique level of both personal and structural innovation. With injections from the highest level experts in so many fields, paralleled with a process of co-creation the MTF Labs Aveiro 2022 has achieved results that will continue to grow for years to come.
Getting to know & learning from brilliant minds with very varied areas of expertise, in an environment where everyone was looking towards common ground ,openly and constructively sharing their interpretations of each other’s ideas and growing these ideas collectively .
I think you have created a beautiful setting for people to listen and explore ideas together.
It was an eye opening event which I could learn different perspectives from other people.
Superbly curated event, managing to combine the best of what the MTF community had to offer with the specialisms of Aveiro’s creative practitioners and highlighting the scale of the city’s tech integration and commitment to culture. Wonderful week!
The most creatively challenging and inspiring week I have ever participated in. A life affirming week which I feel privileged to have attended.
In parallel with the creative innovation labs event, MTF Labs founder and member of the New European Bauhaus High-Level Round Table Michela Magas contributed to the curation and delivery of an NEB-themed conference at the theatre, including moderation of an expert panel on Ecosystem Living, featuring MTF Labs participants.
In parallel with the creative innovation labs event, MTF Labs founder and member of the New European Bauhaus High-Level Round Table Michela Magas contributed to the curation and delivery of an NEB-themed conference at the theatre, including moderation of an expert panel on Ecosystem Living, featuring MTF Labs participants.
The final showcase was also filmed and will be made available online, as well as an exclusive live performance from Stockholm by artist and producer DJ Arthro (Tim Palm), which kicked off the Saturday night showcase.
Since the MTF Labs 2021,
several results have travelled the world.
One is the documentary produced about
local communities in Aveiro facing climate change.
- Michela Magas
Since the MTF Labs 2021,
several results have travelled the world.
One is the documentary produced about
local communities in Aveiro facing climate change.
- Michela Magas
Watch the award-winning Wetland documentary. The director Andrew Dubber discovers the culture of Aveiro, a city under imminent threat of ocean rise due to climate change and undergoing the loss of cultural heritage and traditional industries.
Watch the award-winning Wetland documentary. The director Andrew Dubber discovers the culture of Aveiro, a city under imminent threat of ocean rise due to climate change and undergoing the loss of cultural heritage and traditional industries.
Watch the award-winning Wetland documentary. The director Andrew Dubber discovers the culture of Aveiro, a city under imminent threat of ocean rise due to climate change and undergoing the loss of cultural heritage and traditional industries.
MTF Aveiro Participants
Meet the MTF Labs experts, artists, inventors, creators and students who contributed to MTF Aveiro.
MTF Labs AB
7A Centralen
Vasagatan 7
111 20 Stockholm
info@mtflabs.net