Beyond the Blue Marble: Summer Camp for Planetary Imaginaries

About

Beyond the Blue Marble: Summer Camp for Planetary Imaginaries is a program launched by the Chimerical Intelligence Lab and Baltan Laboratories, taking place in Bolsena (IT) from the 18th to the 24th of August 2025. The 7-day summer camp will dive into the power of image-making for the creation of shared alternative imaginaries about our planet. The beautiful location, along with a custom-built program, will offer the opportunity for creatives and open-minded individuals of all disciplines to explore possibilities for new perspectives on our shared reality.

The Blue Marble image is a landmark in the genealogy of cosmological ordering, the historical and philosophical evolution of how humans have structured and understood the cosmos and their place within it. The authority of modern Science is one more iteration of defining where we are in the order of things.

We propose that the titular photo wasn’t only taken, but rather made. It is the offspring of a specific techno-historical context. The question is how to reclaim our agency in the making of alternative planetary imaginaries, beyond the Blue Marble

Course leader

Baltan Laboratories is a cultural indisciplinary lab based in Eindhoven. It was founded in 2008 to revive the creative, collaborative and exploratory spirit of the Philips Natlab (physics laboratory of Philips) in Eindhoven, by a group of local artists who missed a place for that type of exploration and experiment in the arts. The Chimerical Intelligence Lab (CI-Lab) is a platform for distributed thinking. The Lab aims at conducting non-linear thought experiments that manifests itself in overlapping study, research and working groups. It acknowledges the entanglement of all layers of reality and hence, the necessity to reattribute agency to the symbols and artefacts involved in every thinking process

Target group

Approximately 20 participants will be selected based on their motivation, as well as their profiles and practices. The selection will be based on experience and intent within the themes of the program. The group diversity and coherence will be attempted in this process. It is advisable to have a medium level of English, oral and written. Interested applicants must submit the following documentation via an email:

— Motivation letter or a video which contains (max 2 A4 or a video of max 10 min):
Introduction of yourself and your practice (artistic, theoretical, scientific, pedagogical…).
How do you relate to the topics of the Summer Camp.
A research question that connects your work to the theme of the Summer Camp.
— Curriculum vitae (CV)
— Research or portfolio with a maximum of 5 projects.

Results of the selection: on a rolling basis, we will give you an answer as soon as possible after your submission, so you can plan your holiday period. If you submit just before the deadline, you will receive a reply within a week after the deadline

Course aim

We offer a space to think with a diverse group of peers, through images and references, challenging our understanding of the reality we take for granted. We are looking for a small group of participants willing to invest in our common exploration with their practices, approaches and interests. The summer program includes a series of talks and workshops that will provide theoretical resources and (historical) visual inputs as a common ground for in(ter)disciplinary conversations.

We will capture the outcomes of these discussions through collages, assemblages of text and images, evocative visualisations that will short-circuit into unexpected prompts for different perspectives on the topics discussed. Each participant will have the opportunity to apply the methodology, topics or references to their interests, develop a personal project within the framework of the summer camp (or beyond), and make use of the expertise, guidance, and resources

Fee info

Fees include registration and accommodation at the convent. Travel and food are not included. Selected participants shall send 40% of the payment within one week after their acceptance to confirm their participation