Future Now Symposium 2023
23-24 March | Yorkshire Museum
Debate | Discuss | Connect
#FutureNow2023
The Future Now Symposium is an exploration of 21st century culture through the mechanism of art. This multi-disciplinary event brings together key institutions, galleries, publications and artists for discussion surrounding the most pressing issues from today’s creative industries. Through imaginative debates, panel discussions, career advice and cultural engagement, Future Now is a platform for idea generation. You will be able to hear from the UK’s leading curators, artists, gallerists and publications.
Topics include: the ethics of representation, mass digitisation, globalisation, diasporic identities and the continuing threats posed by the climate crisis. This two-day event brings together leaders from the creative industries to invigorate our minds and invite discussions around the most pressing topics from the sector. This year we are looking at Designing the Future: Advancing Technologies, Innovators of Post-Photography, and The Future of Curation. Featured speakers include: Ingrid Pollard, Cornelia Parker, Yuri Suzuki, Hannah Starkey, and Heather Agyepong, alongside representatives from Open Eye Gallery, Barbican, Hayward Gallery, Baltic, Arts Council England and many more. Future Now is a platform for idea generation and a key event in the UK art calendar. The 2023 edition asks: how do curators make decisions? How does an idea develop into a fully realised exhibition? How can you ensure artistic success? In a world where attention spans have been reduced to three seconds, how do you captivate audiences and ensure that public engagement is high?
We will also be celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Aesthetica Magazine and the founders, Cherie Federico and Dale Donley will be speaking about setting up an independent publication. Join us at one of the UK’s most engaged arts events this March.
Navigate the Programme
Sessions by Day
View Thursday View Friday Portfolio Reviews Future Now Passes
Thursday Pass | £50
- Attend a full day of in person talks in York
- Complimentary lunch
- 1 x Portfolio Review included
- Valid 23 March 2023
Friday Pass | £50
- Attend a full day of in person talks in York
- Complimentary lunch
- 1 x Portfolio Review included
- Valid 24 March 2023
Two Day Pass | £75
- Attend two full days of in person talks in York
- Complimentary lunch
- 1 x Portfolio Review included
- Valid 23-24 March 2023
Additional Portfolio Review | £25
- 1-1 in person sessions suitable for all artists
- Discuss your portfolio with industry experts
- Receive essential guidance
- First review free w/ one or two day pass
- Additional in person sessions bookable for £25
Submit to the Aesthetica Art Prize
- Future Now is connected to the Aesthetica Art Prize, championing artists across all media
- Win £10,000, publication and exhibition
- Showcase your work to curators and galleries
- Deadline: 31 August 2022
Find Out More
Future Now Tote Bag
- Show your love for art and culture
with our exclusive Future Now tote - Support independent print and
celebrate 20 years of Aesthetica - Reduce your plastic waste
Day One | Thursday 23 March 2023
Welcome Address
Cherie Federico
09:30-09:45
Cherie Federico, Founder, Director and Editor of Aesthetica, kicks off the 2022 Future Now Symposium with a Keynote Speech. Art has the power to transform and change the world. This has been a time of profound change. Over the last few years, we’ve had to quickly adapt to situations that were beyond our control. Through these turbulent times, we can and have taken comfort in artwork that helps us to make sense of the world. Art is a way to convene, and to collectively discover new modes of thinking. In this brief welcome address opening the event, Cherie Federico, Director of Aesthetica, offers an overview of the talks to come, and the importance of inspiration – an idea at the core of Future Now.
Image Credit15 Minutes with
Aesthetica Art Prize Finalists
09:45-10:00
The Aesthetica Art Prize celebrates contemporary art in all its forms, offering opportunities for exhibition at a major public gallery alongside publication in Aesthetica Magazine and the Aesthetica Art Prize Anthology. The award celebrates creativity in all its forms, across multiple disciplines, including: digital art and installation, painting and drawing, photography, performance and more. Previous exhibitions have posed larger questions about what it means to exist in a digitised, post-industrial landscape. Join us to hear from a selection of our shortlisted artists for this year’s Aesthetica Art Prize. Each artist will take to the stage to discuss their practice for five minutes.
In Conversation
Art, NFTs and the Metaverse
10:00-11:00
The metaverse continues to dominate technology headlines, from NFTs to virtual and immersive reality. These explosive developments provide new forms of interpretation and experience, calling into question the intersection between art and technology, as well as its potential future. But what, really, is the metaverse? How will immersive realities influence creative spheres? How can NFTs be used by artists? Metaverse strategist Kadine James has pioneered new forms of digital content for two decades. She discusses how artists can use these tools to enhance their practice, in conversation with NFT certification platform Verisart’s Shelley Mannion, and Ana-Despina Tudor, London College of Communication.

Designing The Future:
VR & Multi-Sensory Experiences
11:15-12:15
Artificial intelligence. Virtual reality. Augmented reality. Immersive experiences. As these technologies offer users new experiences, and our average screen time reaches upwards of seven hours per day, the lines between “digital” and “real” worlds become increasingly blurred. London-based immersive art collective Marshmallow Laser Feast cut through the noise. In conversation with award-winning designer Sadie Clayton, Co-founder Robin McNicholas discusses the complex relationship between art and emerging technologies, taking us behind-the-scenes of MLF’s mesmerising multi-sensory experiences. This session is a glimpse into the future: it looks at how we might use digital tools to spark conversations.
Image Credit
The Future Of Curation:
Who Tells The Story?
13:30-14:30
How do curators make decisions? How does an idea develop into a fully realised exhibition? How can you ensure it is a success? In a world where attention spans have been reduced to three seconds, how do you captivate audiences and ensure that public engagement is high? What opportunities are there for emerging practitioners in an age defined by footfall and what is “Instagrammable”? Who and what is being exhibited, how and why? This session discusses the role of the curator in all its many forms and intricacies in the 21st century. The panellists are from some of the UK’s leading galleries, including Open Eye Gallery, Hayward Galley, The Art House and Barbican, and the discussion is chaired by Ameena M. McConnell.
Heather Agyepong
Identity and Diaspora
14:45-15:45
Heather Agyepong is a trailblazing contemporary artist and winner of the Jerwood / Photoworks Award 2022. Over the past five years, she has achieved worldwide recognition from the likes of Foam Talent, Prix Pictet, Sky Arts and many more. She will discuss how lens-based practices and performance can be used to explore mental health and wellbeing in relation to diasporic communities. This often involves looking to the past to critically examine prevailing versions of history. She will reflect on her key projects, such as Two Many Blackamoors, which meditates on her experiences as a young Black woman dealing with the macro- and micro- traumas of racism. Agyepong will also discuss capturing emotion, as evidenced in recent series.
Aziz + Cucher
Innovators Of Post-Photography
16:00-17:00
Anthony Aziz and Sammy Cucher have worked together as artistic duo Aziz + Cucher since 1992. Experimenting across a variety of media, including digital imaging, sculpture, animation, and video installation, their work is marked by a distinctive concern for technology’s impact on the body and society. Aziz + Cucher have been exhibited globally, notably at the 46th Venice Biennale with works held in museum collections including: the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Los Angeles Country Museum of Art and Reina Sofia, Madrid. They will discuss the representation of the body in the post-human digital age and portrayals of the natural world understood through new technology.
Ingrid Pollard
Who Shapes The Narrative?
17:15-18:15
Turner Prize-nominee Ingrid Pollard is a photographer, media artist and researcher. Pollard is a leading figure in contemporary British art. She has developed a social practice concerned with representation, history and landscape with reference to race, difference and the materiality of lens-based media. In the 1980s, Pollard produced a series of photographs of Black people in rural landscapes, entitled Pastoral Interludes. The works challenge how English culture places Black people in cities. Pollard will speak about her career – how she has broken new ground and forged pathways for younger generations, which has shaped Britain’s understanding of society and culture.
Aesthetica Art Prize Exhibition:
Private View & Awards, York Art Gallery (Y01 7EW)
18:15-20:15
Visitors have the chance to explore the 2023 Aesthetica Art Prize ahead of the crowds at this private view. You can join delegates, curators and guests from the art world, alongside the Aesthetica team, for a special evening of networking. After an informative day of talks and panel discussion, enjoy the Awards Ceremony – all from the heart of York Art Gallery. The exhibition features 20 shortlisted artists whose work invites you to explore, discover and engage with themes from our rapidly changing world, including: the ethics of representation, mass digitisation, globalisation, diasporic identities and the threats posed by the climate crisis. Please pre-register for this event.
Portfolio Reviews
Hosted by Industry Professionals
Daily
These 1-1 sessions, hosted at York Theatre Royal, are for practitioners working across all genres, including painting, photography, digital media, sculpture, video and more. Our industry experts provide essential guidance on how to develop ideas and further artists’ careers, as well as providing insights on funding opportunities and exhibition. Each session lasts 20 minutes. This is an opportunity to get key advice on any number of topics: how to accelerate your practice through digital platforms, how to approach curators and galleries, or simply to discuss a particular portion of your portfolio in real time. Booking essential. Click here to find out more.
Image Credit
Day Two | Friday 24 March 2023
Meet Aesthetica’s Directors:
20 Years of the Magazine
09:30-10:00
Aesthetica Magazine is a bastion of independent publishing, ideas and thoughts, founded by Cherie Federico and Dale Donley in 2003. This March, the publication celebrates its 20th anniversary. It is a true achievement, and in this session, Cherie and Dale will speak about their journey setting up an arts organisation with international reach. They will talk about what it means to make your mark. They did not have funding, a business plan or distribution; they had an idea and a passion for culture. Hear how this became a leading publication for art and design with a reach of 500,000, as well as a platform for creativity across the Art Prize, Creative Writing Award and the BAFTA-Qualifying Film Festival.
15 Minutes with
Aesthetica Art Prize Finalists
10:00-10:15
The Aesthetica Art Prize celebrates contemporary art in all its forms, offering opportunities for exhibition at a major public gallery alongside publication in Aesthetica Magazine and the Aesthetica Art Prize Anthology. The award celebrates creativity in all its forms, across multiple disciplines, including: digital art and installation, painting and drawing, photography, performance and more. Previous exhibitions have posed larger questions about what it means to exist in a digitised, post-industrial landscape. Join us to hear from a selection of our shortlisted artists for this year’s Aesthetica Art Prize. Each artist will take to the stage to discuss their practice for five minutes.
Image CreditWhat Does It Mean To Be A
Painter In The 21st Century?
10:30-11:30
Painter, activist and entrepreneur Stuart Semple will speak about what it means to be a painter in contemporary society, exploring the impact the digital world has had on the medium. Beyond this, he will discuss his belief that art is for everyone. Semple is a multidisciplinary British artist working across painting, sculpture, technology and activism. He is well known for his sociologically engaged works that discuss youth politics, accessibility and democracy. Semple’s body of work orbits around a handful of recurring themes; anxiety, society, cultural history, technology, connection, community and freedom. There is a clear-minded sense of utility: art itself should have a social function.
A Guide to Funding
Your Practice
11:45-12:45
Being an artist needs to be thought of as running a business. It is important to think about how you will fund projects and develop partnerships in order to reach your goals. There are funding bodies out there who do support artists; however, competition is fierce. How will you make your applications stand out and what can you do to support your practice? How can you transform your career and continue to make work that is financially viable, environmentally sustainable and creatively innovative? This session includes a panel of experts from New Contemporaries, Arts Council England and Jerwood about the avenues and opportunities currently available to developing artists.
Ori Gersht
Collisions Of Art History, Science And Technology
13:30-14:30
Can creatives draw inspiration from and re-imagine classical work? How can these images be brought into the digital world? How do you converse with the past? These are questions posed by London-based Israeli artist Ori Gersht, who is best known for destroying painstakingly recreated versions of classical paintings on camera. Fruit explodes and flowers shatter in slow-motion video, many of which reference classical paintings. His distorted replicas invite conversation around digitalisation, reality and virtual spaces. Gersht is interested in time periods involving revolutions – the scientific, industrial and digital – which he posits as the crossroads that define photography. A collision of history, science and tech.
Yuri Suzuki
Sound Design And Installation
15:00-16:00
Yuri Suzuki is interested in the potential of sound to inspire, shape and connect people on a global scale, using unique combinations of digital and analogue technologies to push the boundaries of art. Interactivity is key to his practice, from community-focused installations to accessible phone applications that give people the tools to create music. In 2018, Suzuki was named as a partner of leading independent design studio Pentagram and has since shown work at The Design Museum, London, Turner Contemporary and Triennale Milano. He joins us to talk about sound design, interactivity and connection, drawing on significant projects from his studio and work with Google and will-i-am.
What is the
Future Of Photography?
16:15-17:15
Photography has had a long and eventful history – moving from wet plates to smartphones, camera technology has changed dramatically over the years. What does the future hold for storytelling in this media? Four photographers with very different practices – Hannah Starkey, Tom Hunter, Maryam Wahid and Mónica Alcázar-Duarte – take us on a journey through the future direction of photography and lens-based media. How do we hold up a mirror to the present? Where do we go from here? These panellists discuss how practitioners continue to innovate with the democratisation of photography – where almost everyone has a camera in their pocket, and pictures are shared round-the-clock.
Cornelia Parker
Art That Engages With The World
17:30-18:30
Cornelia Parker RA OBE is one of Britain’s most acclaimed contemporary artists. She is best known for transforming everyday objects into room-sized installations, addressing issues of violence, human rights and environmental disaster. Her most famous examples include Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View (1991), a garden shed frozen at the moment of explosion; Thirty Pieces of Silver (1988-1989), flattened silver objects including candle sticks and dinnerware; and War Room (2015), created from red paper left over from the production of British Legion remembrance poppies. Now, after her 2022 retrospective at Tate Britain – which brought together her most iconic pieces – Parker joins us.

Drinks Reception
Yorkshire Museum, Y01 7FR
18:30-20:30
Celebrate with us as we mark 20 years of Aesethetica Magazine and the close of the Future Now Symposium 2023. This drinks reception, taking place in the Medieval Gallery at Yorkshire Museum, is a fantastic opportunity to unwind after a busy day of sessions, portfolio reviews and networking. Catch up with participants and delegates alike. Make new connections. Discuss key themes from the sessions you’ve attended. Immerse yourself in conversations about art. This casual social event is a great way to finish off the Symposium experience. It’s a destination for meeting attendees over a complimentary drink, which will be served on a first-come, first-served basis. All attendees are welcome.

Portfolio Reviews
Hosted by Industry Professionals
Daily
These 1-1 sessions, hosted at York Theatre Royal, are for practitioners working across all genres, including painting, photography, digital media, sculpture, video and more. Our industry experts provide essential guidance on how to develop ideas and further artists’ careers, as well as providing insights on funding opportunities and exhibition. Each session lasts 20 minutes. This is an opportunity to get key advice on any number of topics: how to accelerate your practice through digital platforms, how to approach curators and galleries, or simply to discuss a particular portion of your portfolio in real time. Booking essential. Click here to find out more.
Image Credit