<p dir="ltr">In an active, cross-sector programme of presentations, demonstrations and material masterclasses, the 2024 biennial conference will explore social and material innovations, individual and global fabrication, analogue and digital technologies, knowledge production and exchange, archival and experimental processes, collaborations and partnerships, projects and products, studio pedagogies and practices which will influence the future of craft as a material practice and as a cultural idea. </p> <p dir="ltr">Arts University Plymouth offers academics and students a unique interdisciplinary ecosystem of materials, processes, and technologies, spanning cutting-edge facilities including Fab Lab Plymouth and a comprehensive Materials Lab that supports innovative practices in hot glass, ceramics, and biomaterials.<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/people/stephanie-owens">Associate Professor Stephanie Owens</a> said: “This year we’re evolving the focus of Making Futures to balance the disciplines of contemporary craft and material innovation. As with all forms of creative practice, the boundary of what is considered ‘craft’ is fugitive—adapting and transforming as we look with urgency at how the deep, historical knowledge and artisan traditions associated with craft might provide contemporary society with an alternative to our current habits of consumption and enable us to live more respectfully with each other, the natural world and our planet. </p> <p dir="ltr">“The power of crafting, or of shaping the physical realm, is often juxtaposed with computation and technology, but as distributive manufacture, distance learning and platform economies have shown, the interface between atoms and bits have introduced not merely new, more efficient, sustainable supply chains, but have begun to generate a new language of form and experience that is meaningful beyond craft. This language is symptomatic of a more intertwined creative practice that unites art, design, computation and science in a shared field of human agency and ingenuity. “<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Since its establishment in 2009, Making Futures has been a pivotal platform for dialogue around contemporary craft and maker movements and how they relate to the creative industries in 21st century society. The three-day 2024 conference will encourage a rich exchange of ideas across various domains, including individual and global fabrication, and the evolving synergy of art, design, computation, and science. Making Futures 2024 stands as a crucial platform for examining the future of craft, not merely as a practice but as a transformative cultural idea.</p> <p dir="ltr">This iteration of Making Futures poses pivotal questions about craft's engagement with material science innovations, ecological challenges, and the quest for a sustainable future. The organisers are seeking contributions from designers, artists, makers, educators, scholars, policymakers, scientists, and any creator or curator of culture on the topics covered in the upcoming conference focused on areas of material practice and craft that are breaking new ground.<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Curator Stephanie Owens said: “For this iteration of Making Futures we are most interested in aspects of material-led, creative practices and innovations that expand traditional techniques into new domains of design practice, knowledge production and exchange, interdisciplinary thinking and making, cross-cultural learning and exchange, material hybridity, speculative or new materialism, creative and material ecologies, models of art/science pedagogy, biomaterials, small-scale and distributed material production, circularity in material practice and education, and other physical and philosophical interfaces between life, matter, and creativity.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Six conference tracks for Making Futures 2024 have been selected:<br /></p><ol><li><p dir="ltr">Craftsmanship, Artisanal Knowledge and the Aesthetics of Place</p></li><li><p dir="ltr">Rethinking the Relationship Between Body, Fashion and Ornament</p></li><li><p dir="ltr">Generative Materials? Toward a Convergence of AI and Matter</p></li><li><p dir="ltr">Softsystems – Biology, Networks and Post-natural Frameworks for Co-creativity</p></li><li><p dir="ltr">Optimising Craft Techniques for Sustainable Alternatives to Extractive Practices </p></li><li><p dir="ltr">Futurecraft – Pathways for Art, Design and Materials Science Research Collaborations</p></li></ol> <p dir="ltr">Keynote speakers and details around how to register to attend Making Futures either in Plymouth or online are planned to be announced in May 2024. The conference will include presentations from leading experts in their fields, panel discussions, workshops, masterclasses and artisans-in-residence, culminating in later publication of the next Making Futures Journal to collate key learnings and outcomes from the event.</p> <p dir="ltr">The call for papers is now open online. Visit <a href="http://makingfutures.org.uk">makingfutures.org.uk</a> for more information about how to submit. <strong>The deadline for submissions is 5pm (BST) 15 April 2024.</strong></p>