Speculative Laboratory Doar Mâine is a project carried out by the Doar Máine Association in Arad and Timișoara between April and December 2023. The aim of the project is to develop an interdisciplinary learning, research and creation laboratory approaching a speculative methodology and is a complementary component of the "Post - education. The pedagogies of the crisis", the Horizons of Knowledge station, concluding and concentrating its activity in a laboratory - an independent space intended for research, education and creation.

The laboratory has an educative and creative character using as benchmarks practices from fields such as: science, new media and speculative art, speculative design, anticipatory literature, speculative realism, etc. We aim to address the multitude of visions of the future generated by local communities, taking into account the specificity of the area, socio-cultural, economic dynamics and current crises. The engagement of especially the young public, in the activities of the laboratory, is an essential relevant element through the insight specific to digital natives and by legitimizing their direct involvement in the search for more desirable and responsible ways towards the future.

The project is built starting from the vision developed within the project "Post-education. The pedagogies of the crisis" about building a cultural ecosystem that supports education in addressing current crises (climatic, energy, political, epidemiological, etc.) and in creating strategies for a sustainable future, by capitalizing on the critical and emancipatory role of art and the innovative role of new technologies. In this context, the present project expands the proactive side and dialogue with the public by cultivating the concept of speculative laboratory. Speculative thinking is a way of embodying "as if" and basically has behind it a scenario about the future or something imagined that does not exist, but answering real or plausible questions and problems with solutions that combine creativity with technology and science.

In this context, the project proposes the creation and presentation of interdisciplinary artistic works at the intersection of art, scientific research and new media, made by young people, mainly from the art education system (visual art, design, interactive arts). The student groups are local, national and international so we hope that the results cover as wide an area as possible of approaches and visions about alternative or possible futures both locally and in a wider European context. The works will be created as part of the activities developed within the speculative laboratory, which is also an independent space dedicated to education, art and research. As an activity related to the production of new media/interactive/contemporary artworks, the laboratory will generate a series of workshops aimed at discovering and exploiting them for educational purposes.

The activity of the laboratory in 2023 includes:

• collaboration and exchange of best practices with Ars Electronica Linz around the "Create your world" program;
• the Speculative Laboratory Doar Mâine 1.0 exhibition made in collaboration with Furna Art & Culture Linz, Politehnica Timișoara, UNATC Bucharest, Faculty of Arts and Design, UVT, Faculty of Design, UAV Arad, Faculty of Theater and Film, UBB Cluj-Napoca, in which invite student teams to create and exhibit work on alternative approaches to the future;
• speculative research workshops, work meetings of students and pupils;
• cultural mediation activities and development of the speculative laboratory as an independent space.

Partners: Arad Museum Complex; College of Arts "Sabin Drăgoi" Arad; Faculty of Design Arad, UAV Arad; Polytechnic University of Timisoara; Casa Artelor Timișoara – Directorate for Culture of Timiş county; Ars Electronica, Linz; FURNA art & culture, Linz, Austria; Faculty of Theater and Film, UBB Cluj-Napoca; UNATC Bucharest

The purpose of the project: The purpose of the project is the development of an interdisciplinary laboratory for education, research and contemporary artistic creation and the creation within it of activities and contents that focus on the use of a speculative methodology.

The Only Tomorrow Speculative Laboratory project  is part of the national cultural program Timișoara - European Capital of Culture in 2023 and is financed through the program Inside Timișoara 2023, run by the Project Center of the Municipality of Timișoara, with amounts allocated from the budget of state, through the budget of the Ministry of Culture.