Episode 41: Planetary Hope as Not-Yet-Realism

The theorist Patricia Reed on hope in times of Trumpism and the climate crisis

Hope in the age of polycrisis – is this possible? We asked theorist Patricia Reed. Accompanying our current exhibition Attitude Era, we present an audio recording of Reed’s lecture Planetary Hope as Not-Yet-Realism, delivered at donaufestival in Krems on May 2, 2026. The event was co-hosted by Kunstraum Niederoesterreich. Drawing on philosopher Ernst Bloch’s concept of the “not-yet-conscious,” Reed explores how hope can be rethought in a time marked by climate crisis and the global resurgence of authoritarian forces. Against the fossil-fuelled, post-truth utopianism of MAGA and similar movements (“Drill, baby, drill!”), she argues for a hopeful “not-yet realism” that believes another world is possible without ignoring planetary limits.

Patricia Reed is a theorist, artist, and designer based in Berlin. She is Head of the Critical Inquiry Lab (MA) at Design Academy Eindhoven (NL) and a lecturer in Sound Practice Research at Folkwang University (DE). She is also a forthcoming research fellow at the Weibel Institute for Digital Cultures in Vienna. Her recent writings have appeared in Informatics of Domination, Pierre Huyghe: Liminal, Ceremony: Burial of an Undead World, Navigation beyond Vision, and e‑flux Journal. Reed was a co‑author of the Xenofeminist Manifesto as part of Laboria Cuboniks, later published by Verso Books. A collection of selected essays, Cosmovisiones de otro mundo, was released by Holobionte Ediciones (in Spanish) in 2025, and her research project Figuring Planetary Space: Abandoning Man’s Measure was recently published by the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam as part of its Agent of Change program.

Credits:

Moderation: Maximilian Steinborn

Editing: Simon Hilmar

Opener and Mastering: Alexander Wieser | Sonobelle Recordings