Book Launch & Talk: Wende Wallert, founding curator | The Future is Now

On November 19, 2026, during the festive opening of The Future is Now, the VU ART SCIENCE gallery will launch the publication of the same name to mark the gallery’s fifth anniversary. The publication, in line with the exhibition and the gallery itself, explores the potential impact of transdisciplinary and inclusive research on the development of academia.

Since 2021, the VU ART SCIENCE gallery has presented exhibitions with a public programme on the campus of VU University Amsterdam. The exhibitions focus on the major issues of our time. Through conversations between artists, scientists and the public, participants work together to explore alternative visions of how we, as a society, can face the future.

During the event, writer Loes van Beuningen and the gallery’s founder and director, Wende Wallert, will discuss the possibilities of exhibiting art at the university. How can art help to democratise academic institutions and make them more inclusive? What does the interaction between scientists and artists bring about? In what ways can art be integrated into academic teaching and research?

Following the conversation, the first copy of the publication will be presented to Marcel Nollen, until recently a member of the university’s Executive Board who played a key role in the establishment of the VU ART SCIENCE gallery.