UTOPIENALE is an annual creative assembly which focuses on promoting practical philosophical, artistic, scientific, and activist approaches to civilizational survival in the face of increasingly intractable challenges of conflict, climate, communication, and truth. It is a means of seeking ways forward towards a sustainable and mutually beneficial future of humanity in the world. UTOPIENALE I was held at the Old School ICA in Havelberg, Germany, in 2022, followed by UTOPIENALE II in 2023, and UTOPIENALE III in 2024. UTOPIENALE IV will be held from 28 August to 10 September, 2025.
By choice, the approach of Utopienale is practical rather than theoretical. While examining the unfolding of our environment and civilization on the scale of deep time, it targets the transformational potential of the immediate present. Utopienale encourages the understanding of “utopia” as a method for developing alternative visions of the future and for promoting their implementation (as outlined by the British sociologist Ruth Levitas). It relies on art as an essential vehicle for envisioning this utopian practice, and fosters an interdisciplinary exchange between art, science, philosophy, and transformation studies.
Utopienale is curated by founders Azby Brown and Wolf Guenter Thiel, along with invited guest curators. It aims to bring together senior and junior participants who represent the ideas and convictions of the conference regardless of their career stage. It highlights thinkers and creators whose work embodies the hybridization of disparate fields, and who represent “exceptions” to dominant norms of specialization — such as artist-activists, scientist-philosophers, artist-scientists, along with healers, farmers, environmentalists, and educators. Nominations for invited participants are sought from senior and junior conference trustees and fellows and from participating members.
Utopienale combines conferences, colloquia, art exhibitions, practical workshops, concerts, and performances, originating at the Old School ICA in Havelberg, Germany, and other sites in the region. The combination of participants typically changes from day to day over the course of the event, and priority is given to creating an atmosphere which encourages open and extended personal communication among the participants as well as unplanned collaborations.
Utopienale is a key initiative of the Old School Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), established in 2016 as a forum for addressing pressing issues of our present and future times. Utopienale has been supported by local and regional government stipends and foundations, and has been part of „Interkulturellen Woche“ and the „Langen Woche der Nachhaltigkeit“ of the Landkreis Stendal in Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany.
