The interdisciplinary research project Caring Futures includes artworks facilitating perspectives and inviting the general and interested audience into the research topic.

The interdisciplinary research project Caring Futures: Developing care ethics for technology-mediated care practices at the University of Stavanger, is funded by the Norwegian Research Council.

This project examines tensions between society’s need for new technology on the one hand, and relational and professional care cultures on the other. How do we experience, recognise and understand care, humanity and vulnerability under new technological regimes?

The techno-optimism that drives our innovation and development seems to drown out thinking towards a long-term perspective that takes care of biological and human needs. In order to be able to exercise some critical reflection and nuance what it means to be a (fellow) human being, amidst all the techno-optimism, we have with the help of 8 artists articulated some issues and thoughts that are presented here in the Caring Futures exhibition.

In the Caring Futures project, we investigate this way of thinking, while pointing to a discrepancy between future plans and strategies from the welfare state and care ethical considerations. But although we find a lack of care ethics in government guidelines, we also find some gaps in the care ethical literature. Here, perspectives on the impact of technology are severely under- communicated, or almost absent. This constitutes a significant societal, cultural and scientific challenge, that the Caring Futures project seeks to address.

The overall aim of the project is to contribute radically interdisciplinary research that can ensure quality in technology-mediated care practices, and safeguard care ethical perspectives in relational work. This has implications for both practice, policy and education. As part of this interdisciplinary approach, we have incorporated the art exhibition CARING FUTURES into our project. In collaboration with artist, curator and researcher Hege Tapio (i/o/lab, OsloMet), we have invited eight artists who, in different ways, pose critical, creative and speculative questions about humanity and care in our time characterized by rapid changes and technological solutions to challenges in society.

With the art exhibition CARING FUTURES, our aim has been to facilitate creative spaces for reflection and understanding of what is happening around us today, both socially, culturally and politically.

Caring Futures
Curated by FeLT PhD Hege Tapio – i/o/lab