Stories of Change: The past, present and future of energy

Blog 20 May 2016

Utopia Works at Derby Silk Mill – Museum of Making

Utopia Works at Derby Silk Mill – Museum of Making. Photo: Gorm Ashurst @gorminator

"In Utopia they have a six-hour working day - three hours in the morning, then lunch - then a two-hour break - then three more hours in the afternoon, followed by supper. They go to bed at 8 p.m., and sleep for eight hours. All the rest of the twenty-four they’r e free to do what they like - not to waste their time in idleness or self-indulgence, but to make good use of it in some congenial activity." - Thomas More, Utopia, 1516

Utopia Works took place at the site of the world’s first factory, the Silk Mill in Derby, part of Derby Museums on the 20th May 2016.

For one day we created a factory, ‘works’ of utopian thinking and making. The Utopia Works event featured an Energy Hackathon; ‘Utopia Press’, a pamphleteering workshop; ‘Utopia Walks’, a tour of the Silk Mill archive of energy and making; and ‘Utopia Talks’ a programme of discussions on how utopia works: reimagining the future of energy in work, rest and play.

Utopia Works short film by Lucie Sheppard.

The Utopia Works event aimed to create a space to explore the ways in which creative and participatory processes can help provoke thinking about new and alternative energy futures. It was part of the Future Works strand of the AHRC Connected Communities Stories of Change project - aiming to uncover stories of energy, making and industry in the English Midlands.

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