10 Treurenberg, 1000 Brussels
Marking the midpoint of the Spanish-Belgian-Hungarian trio of EU presidencies, the Liszt Institute organises an exhibition to showcase the fruits of a collaborative endeavour between creative minds from these three countries. Co-edited by Mariano Martín Rodríguez and Ádám Gerencsér, Sci Phi Journal is the only international science fiction magazine based in Belgium, and the sole English-language publication dedicated to the intersection of philosophy and speculative literature. Started as a hobby project by a handful of volunteers, the journal grew to win the 2022 European SF Award for Best Magazine, and is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Its visual identity has become synonymous with the work of Belgian solarpunk illustrator Dustin Jacobus, now in his fourth year as cover artist for the magazine. Based out of Ghent, he has a long track record of vivid, hand-crafted images bringing positive visions of the future to life, and his work was a finalist for the 2022 Utopia awards.
Join us on 19th March for an interactive opening evening, incl. a panel discussion about the future of art and creativity with the team behind Sci Phi Journal and a personal tour of the exhibition with Dustin.
Sci Phi Journal co-editor Ádám Gerencsér writes in English and his native Hungarian about science fiction and the evolution of human ideas, ranging from scholarly journals such as the SFRA Review to his light-hearted column in one of Hungary's main newspapers. In his official life, Ádám represents the European Union at multilateral gatherings around the world.
Hailing from Toledo, Spain, his colleague Mariano Martín Rodríguez works as a translator at the European Commission, while also co-editing the bilingual speculative literature periodical Revista Hélice. He publishes academic papers and critical editions of modern classics, including rare works of science fiction and fantasy that were previously unknown to the wider public.
Dustin Jacobus is an artist and industrial design engineer with special interests in nature, water resource management, sustainable design, and futurism (Solarpunk). In his art he tries to imagine what, a world where we try to take care for all lifeforms, would look like. He has worked for more than a decade as a freelance technical illustrator for a diversity of clients. He developed the art project Universitas, wherein a fictional character explores 7 futuristic, utopian civilizations. His collaboration with American technical Sci-fi writer Eric Hunting resulted in one of the first ever written technical-scientific solarpunk books: “Solarpunk: post-industrial design and aesthetics “ and the technical paper “the Living city” about a future in which the human habitat and the natural biosphere have become one vast living symbiont. Jacobus has explored the Solarpunk genre for the last 5 years which resulted in a broad range of art projects and publications. On a regular basis he gives keynote speeches and workshops in which he discusses and presents his view on the future.