In an era shaped by ecosystemic crises, rapid technological transformation, hypercapitalism, and a socio-political condition marked by global uncertainty, anticipation is a central mode through which individuals, groups, and societies engage.
Anticipation operates through rhythm, rupture, experiences, expectations, relations, isolation, fear, hope, patterns, and deviations within the expanded aesthetic field. Anticipation is simultaneously produced and productive in itself, its possible effects are untamable and unpredictable, yet it is strategically mobilized across economic, socio-political, technological, cultural, and not least aesthetic spheres and practices.
Keynote speakers:
Professor Nanette Nielsen, Institutt for musikkvitenskap - RITMO Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion (IMV), Oslo University.
Associate Professor Mikkel Krause Frantzen, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, Copenhagen University
Regitration is now open. Please register here.
| MONDAY 18 MAY 2026 | |
| 11:00-12:00 | Coffee and registration |
| 12:00-12:30 | Welcome by organizers |
| 12:30-14:00 | Keynote lecture by Nanette Nielsen, Oslo University Anticipatory Aethetics and the Listening Body |
| 14:00-14:20 | Coffee Break |
| 14:20-15:50 | Parallel sessions 1A and 1B |
| 1A | Peter Edwards: Gardener of Time: An Aesthetics of Anticipation Erik Wallrup: The ear as organ of prediction Christian Refsum: The ‘Just Friends’ Topos in Popular Music, from Chet Baker to Amy Winehouse |
| 1B | Nicolò Pioli: Planning risks and protecting territory. On Gilbert Simondon’s concept of “anticipation image” Christine Dysers: Musicking as Waking Dreamwork Anna Enström: Atmospheric Anticipation: Air and the Reversal of the Possible and the Real |
| 15:50-16:10 | Coffee Break |
| 16:10-17:40 | Parallel sessions 2A and 2B |
| 2A | Malthe Stavning Erslev: Calculating Anticipation: A practice-based approach to the attention mechanism Alessandra Vailati: Algorithmic Anticipation. Protention, Rhythm, and the Uncanny in S.S. Lacuna: Prologue Emanuele Andreoli: The Future-Anterior Temporality of Predictive AI and the Missing Half-Second: Toward a Right to Intermittence |
| 2B | Solveig Daugaard: An assailable archive of anticipation. Amina Elmi’s Instagram intervention and the infrastructures of literary heritage. Marteinn Sindri Jónsson: Infrastructures: Curating Anticipation Inna Gerasymenko: The Morphology of Anticipation: Rhythmic Grids and Semantic Haloes in Russian Formalism (online) |
| 17:30-19:00 | Welcome reception |
| TUESDAY 19 MAY 2026 | |
| 09:00-10.30 | Keynote lecture by Mikkel Krause Frantzen, University of Copenhagen Anticipating the (Anti)Apocalypse – Worst-Case Scenarios Between Science and Fiction |
| 10.30-10.50 | Coffee break |
| 10.50-12.20 | Parallel sessions 3A and 3B |
| 3A | Alessandro Bertinetto: Performing the Unforeseen: Improvisation, Habits, and Anticipation Pauline von Bonsdorff: Anticipation and imagination in early performative play Stefan Marco Schneider: Metaphoric Anticipation: How Imagery Scaffolds Aesthetic Movement Experience through Embodied Sense-Making |
| 3B | Jonathan Maskit: Anticipation, Dread and Mourning in Environmental Aesthetics Martta Heikkilä: The Forest and Politics of Image and Vision Aloisia Mose: Anticipation and Guessing |
| 12:20-13:00 | Lunch |
| 13:00-14:30 | Parallel sessions 4A and 4B |
| 4A | João Lemos: Kant, Expectations, and Bad Art Ole Skilleås: Anticipation and appreciation Sebastian Rozenberg: Sensus Statisticus: Anticipating Human Judgment in Aesthetic Datasets |
| 4B | Janne Vanhanen: Anticipation and obscurity: the case of noise music Anna Caterina Dalmasso: Crystal Balls. Predictive Media as Divinatory Apparatus Federica Cavaletti: “Our Time is Now": Reclaiming One’s Future, and its Emotional Correlates |
| 14:40-15:00 | Coffee break |
| 15:00-16:30 | Paper session 5A and 5B |
| 5A | Christian Ulrik Andersen: Electric Blue: The Colour of Technological Anticipation Lotte Phillipsen: From archives to anticipation: how AI reshapes visual futures Søren Pold: Inside the Anticipatory Interface: Essayistic Experiments in Chatbot Self-Reflection |
| 5B | Tina Mariane Krogh Madsen: Anticipation and hesitation in performance art as (im)material relation: The sublime wait. Anne Busk Bro: Art That Sticks: Affective Encounters and Sensory Spaces of Participatory Art Filip Šenk: The Broad Vision of Architecture |
| 16:45-17:00 | Coffee Break |
| 17:00-18:00 | General Assembly |
| 18:30 | Conference Dinner at “Det glade Vanvid” |
| WEDNESDAY 20 MAY 2026 | |
| 09:00-10:30 | Paper session 6A and 6B |
| 6A | Jussi Pentikänen: Anticipation and the Need for Control in Marcel Proust Gabriella Daris: Instructing the Future: Anticipation and Action in Yoko Ono and Paul Ricoeur Sarah Kolb: Rendezvous of Sunday, February 6, 1916. Anticipation as a Readymade Strategy |
| 6B | Anna Talasniemi: Care, futures and sauna - Finnish sauna culture from the perspective of everyday aesthetics and everyday heritage Morales Maciel & Rostan Davyt: Imagination and Embodied Projection in Everyday Design Vincenzo Cerulli: Anticipation and Negativity: On the Uncontrollability of Filmmaking Practices (online) |
| 10:30-10:45 | Coffee break |
| 10:45-12:15 | Workshop Donatella Della Ratta & Maj Ørskov |
| 12:15-12:30 | Closing remarks and farewell |
| 12:30 | Lunch to grab |
If you have any questions, please get in touch with the conference organisers:
Maj Bjørn Ørskov (mbo@cc.au.dk), Birgitte Stougaard Pedersen (birgittestougaard@cc.au.dk) or Mette-Marie Zacher-Sørensen
