The sixth edition of Festival 42 proposes 71 activities on artificial intelligence, dystopias, and environmental collapse. It will gather over 160 participants and attracted 8,500 attendees last year.
With 71 activities, including two exhibitions, a literary route, workshops, and performance proposals, Festival 42 aims this year to explore the fears of the present and possible futures. The event is curated by Karen Madrid Ribas and Susana Vallejo, and features the participation of more than 160 participants.
The programming revolves around artificial intelligence, the construction of imaginary worlds, environmental collapse, and the relationship between art, politics, and power. The underlying idea is to show how science fiction, fantasy, and horror serve to interpret the social and technological changes we are experiencing and to imagine other ways of life.
Among the international authors are Ken Liu, who will discuss artificial intelligence and artistic creation, Sequoia Nagamatsu, author of At the End of Darkness, Naomi Ishiguro, Mahmud El Sayed, Laila Lalami, Charles Stross, Lisa Tuttle, Christopher Buehlman, and Jorge Volpi. Catalan literature will also have a prominent presence, with Olga Xirinacs, Maite Carranza, Laia Aguilar, Alicia Kopf, Iván Ledesma, Ada Castells, and Martí Gironell, among others.
The most anticipated round tables are “The Great Constellation of Fantastic Voices” and “The Great Table of 42. International Cartography of Fantastic Genres”, where authors from different countries will debate styles, traditions, and current trends. Meanwhile, LovecraftCon will review the origins of cosmic horror and the legacy of H. P. Lovecraft, and EspectreCon will follow the evolution of literary ghosts, from Victorian tradition to Catalan folklore.
The festival pays tribute to Richard Matheson on the centenary of his birth and to Stephen King on the fiftieth anniversary of Carrie.
Among the tributes, the festival will remember Richard Matheson on the centenary of his birth and Stephen King for the fifty years of Carrie. Olga Xirinacs will receive her own event for turning ninety, and the illustrator Albert Monteys will have an exhibition dedicated to his work, which uses fantasy and science fiction to review reality.
Another exhibition will be “Other Worlds. An Extraordinary Journey Through the Imaginary Worlds of Catalan Literature,” which spans over a century of creation through twelve types of fantastic universes, featuring classic and contemporary works and original illustrations. The literary route “An Ideal Future. Modernists: Nature, Fables, and Architecture” will connect Barcelona's modernism with literary imagination, in the year marking the centenary of Antoni Gaudí's death.
The program will conclude with the presentation of the 42 Awards, activities for secondary school students, and a cosplay contest. Complete information on schedules and venues is available on the festival's official website at barcelona.cat/festival42.
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