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Workshop at the End of the World and Back – International Sustainable Futures Camp 4–9.06.2023

60 students and teachers from eight universities in six countries met last week for the “GEM – Sustainable Futures Camp” at the Projektraum Drahnsdorf in Brandenburg, Germany.

Together they developed visions for a more sustainable future and created media concepts to tell thematic stories. Inspired by a combination of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and by scientific fact, concepts included living with/under water, vertical gardening for Malta and self-sustaining communities on ocean liners. Inventive ideas such as the peaceful coexistence of humans with intelligent fungi also found their place, drawing attention to the incredible potential of these invisible and often underestimated creatures.

Experts on hand included Dr. Frank Kreienkamp (from the German weather service DWD) and Prof. Kim Albrecht (Professor of Data Visualisation at the Film University) with enthralling lectures on climate and climate change. “Only in the interaction between scientific facts and storytelling methods do visions emerge that are at the same time ambitious and realisable but also accessible and understandable,” said Prof. Dr. Björn Stockleben (Film University).

The workshop was not only about nature and how it can be preserved but also focussed on nature as a learning space. The events began with “Nature Walks” during which students went on a discovery tour in the surrounding forests and developed their initial ideas over the course of the workshop. This culminated in the internationally mixed student teams going on forest walks at night for several hours: “The very well-coordinated learning methods and the involvement of nature were very different to other workshops I have supervised,” says Bojan Mrđenović (School of Dramatic Arts at the University of Zagreb). Nature walks were followed by an Art for Futures workshop, successfully presented on a number of earlier occasions by Prof. Angelica Böhm (Film University, Camilla Plastic Ocean Plan) and Nicole Löser (Institute for Art and Innovation).

In eight teams, the students researched inspiring but largely unknown innovations and approaches for a sustainable transformation of our society in the face of climate change. Using Design Sprint methodology, emerging ideas were further developed by the students over the following days with active support from the teachers. “I was really surprised how much we achieved in such a short time in a team that had just been thrown together, and how we grew together in the process,” is how Anke Weisenburger (Film University) describes her impressions in retrospect.

For the final presentations, the students developed impressive teasers and prototypes, from short films to virtual reality experiences. “This workshop was incredibly rich in very different content, and the learning on the topic was brilliantly complemented by the teaching of lateral skills such as teamwork and multicultural communication,” comments Małgorzata Kotlińska (Lodz Film School). Goran Pavlić (Academy of Dramatic Art, University of Zagreb) adds: “It was almost dangerously exciting, in the sense that our everyday university life pales in comparison and I am now addicted to more of this.”

At the end of this international “Surprise Festival”, all participants sat together around the (unlit) campfire, exhausted but very happy with what they had achieved. The campfire was not burning, because Brandenburg is currently facing a high-to-very high risk of forest fires – a timely reminder that the sustainable use of natural resources is not just a global issue, but a very real one for our region.GEM – Green Education in Media is an Erasmus cooperation partnership led by Sophie Tummescheit and Prof. Dr. Björn Stockleben (Film University) with the following partners: University of Malta, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Academy of Dramatic Art / University of Zagreb, Lodz Film School, Jagiellonian University Krakow, Tampere University, the Tampere University of Applied Sciences and the Institute for Art and Innovation. Together, in this three-year project (2022-2025), they use a variety of activities and forms to explore how the experience of nature and sustainability can be more intensively incorporated into university learning and life, and into curricula in the field of film and media production.

Photo Credits:
– Creative groups during the design sprint: Sophie Tummescheit
– Serving dinner to the participants of the Sustainable Futures Camp: Sophie Tummescheit
– Getting to know each other during the nature walks: Bojan Mrđenović
– Forest near the workshop location in Drahnsdorf (Brandenburg, Germany): Bojan Mrđenović

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