The machines are no longer singing

How do we want to live and work in the future? How can we respond to technological change, globalisation and the climate crisis inaway that allows new visions of society to emerge?

The Machines Are No Longer Singing Graphic Design: Our Polite Society

About the project

Dynamics of Structural Change

In 2026 and 2027, the Goethe-Institut Brussels invites you to an exchange on the conditions of living and working together, addressing the past and the future alike. Particular attention will be on themes such as work and emancipation, prosperity or labour migration. Artists and theorists open up perspectives on current transformation processes and design new ideas for our working life and social interaction.

Highlights

The Machines are no longer singing

Molenbeek -
Maastricht - Gelsenkirchen

The Goethe-Institut Brussels is pleased, in cooperation with Recyclart centre d’art, the Jan van Eyck Academie, and Manifesta 16 Ruhr, to present a new experimental format: a curated bus trip from Molenbeek via Maastricht to Gelsenkirchen. Over the course of this day trip, we aim to explore the theme of work, as it is here that the foundations of our democratic society are shaped.

Graphic Design: Our Polite Society Graphic Design: Our Polite Society Graphic Design: Our Polite Society

The Machines are no longer singing

Holger Herschel

With the exhibition Vergessene Zukunft, photographer Holger Herschel explored changes in the world of work through two photographic series.

The series Schwarze Pumpe (Lausitz, Hoyerswerda/Brandenburg) was created in 1991 and presented photographic snapshots of the GDR’s largest energy complex, encompassing the lignite open-cast mine and gas-fired power plant in the Lusatia region, which employed more than 40,000 people.

The series Altes Eisen (Leipzig and Chemnitz, Saxony) was created between 1990 and 1993 in two Saxon foundries, VEB GISAG and Gießerei Rudolf Harlaß. Here, the photographer turned his attention to the people at their workplaces.

Participating artists, authors, and curators

Markus Ambach is the initiator of numerous exhibitions in public space. He studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy and founded the project platform MAP in 2002, which develops and produces context‑based projects in urban space in cooperation with various partners such as cities, museums, and urban actors. Markus Ambach is part of the initiating group whose concept enabled the Ruhr region to be selected as the host location for Manifesta 2026, the nomadic biennial.
Yannic Han Biao Federer’s novels Pappmaché (2019) and Tao (2022) were published by Suhrkamp Verlag, as was Für immer seh ich dich wieder, an autobiographical narrative that was adapted for radio (NDR 2025) and translated into Dutch under the title Ik zie je overal, voor altijd (Querido 2025). His scholarly essays on political theory, reality television, and (post-)colonial topics have been produced for radio (WDR 2020, SWR 2021 & 2022). The world premiere of his play ASIAWOCHEN opened the 2026 edition of the theatre festival 43. Heidelberger Stückemarkt.
Gürsoy Doğtaş grew up in Germany as the child of so‑called “guest workers.” His practice examines how people with migration backgrounds experience and shape cultural institutions. He explores the shifting meaning of “guest” and how curatorial work can counter exclusion while proposing alternative forms of belonging. Doğtaş has (co‑)curated exhibitions and symposia at institutions such as the Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, the Marta Herford Museum, and the Taxispalais Innsbruck. His curatorial concept for Manifesta 16 Ruhr includes three venues in Gelsenkirchen.
Sarra El Massaoudi is a journalist, trainer and speaker. As an expert on inclusion, anti-racism and media literacy, she works to promote a more inclusive media and cultural landscape. She is the producer of the podcast series Nos héritages culturels and coordinates a safe space for marginalised women journalists. She also produces the educational podcast Au cœur de la rédac. In September 2024, Sarra El Massaoudi designed and led the guided tour “Raconter et décoloniser 60 ans de vies belgo-marocaines” through Molenbeek, featuring voices of Belgian-Moroccan people of all generations from the podcast Nos héritages.
Holger Herschel studied sociology at the Humboldt University of Berlin and subsequently worked as a research associate at the Bauakademie of the GDR in Berlin. Shortly before the fall of the Wall, he became a photo lab technician and later a photographer at the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin. Since 1992, he has been working freelance, primarily in the fields of heritage conservation, architecture, and portraiture. The publication Vergessene Zukunft (Forgotten Future), published in 2025 by Christoph Links Verlag, presents twelve of his photo series that vividly depict the East German transformation period.
Nathalie Muchamad is artist in residence at Jan van Eyck Academie. Her work focuses on the role of the European slave trade in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and her family history marked by displacement linked to colonisation and contract labour on coffee plantations. She received an honourable mention from the Climavore organisation for the ‘Food Action Award 2025’ for her research project on breadfruit in collaboration with the Food Art Research Network, an international network of artists involved in the political and aesthetic issues of food.
Annette Schuhmann studied History, Southeast and Eastern European History, and Political Science, and completed her PhD on cultural work in state‑socialist industrial enterprises. Her research focuses on the history of industrial labour and its producers in the GDR, the computerisation of work since the 1950s, network structures in East‑Central Europe, visual history, and oral history. Her most recent book, Wir sind anders. Wie die DDR Frauen bis heute prägt (We Are Different. How the GDR Still Shapes Women Today), was published by Hoffmann und Campe in 2025.
Nora Unger works at the intersection of art, architecture, and urban planning, where she develops, realizes, and communicates projects across these fields. She is currently part of the Brussels-based art center Recyclart, where she conceives and oversees programs under the name STADPLURAAL, a format for multidisciplinary exchange on the right to the city and collective practices in urbanism, architecture, and spatial design. Since 2020, she has also been a curator at CURRENT – ART AND URBAN SPACE, where she is, among other things, responsible for the discourse program.
Marente van der Valk artistic practice focusses on projects and events with an emphasis on environmental awareness, community mindedness and the social importance of food as well as the ephemeral and poetic qualities of food and the act of cooking and eating together. Currently, she coordinates the Food Lab at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht. The Food Lab was created to offer a multidisciplinary platform for chefs and artists interested in food and to explore food as an intersection of culture, identity, politics, physical and mental health, terroir, community, individuality, and poetry.
Younes Zarhoni is a sound and visual artist based in Brussels. Born in Antwerp and of Moroccan descent, he develops his work along two lines: a sonic line, spanning polyphonic vocal installations, explorations of early music, electronic and dance music, field recordings, and a visual line, including drawings, photography, video, and installations. His work draws on medieval mysticism, botany, nightclub culture, and political historiography to map contemporary folklore and diaspora history. It explores the intersections of art history, popular culture, and sound practice.