Panel Talk: Push the Button - How We Are Normalising War
Saturday 28 March 16:30 - 18:00 @ Nieuwe Instituut (Museumpark 25, Rotterdam)
FREE ENTRANCE BUT RESERVE YOUR TICKET!
Panel (in English)
Are we slowly becoming accustomed to war again? And what roles do technology, media and art play in this shift?
TEC ART invites you to a critical panel discussion exploring how contemporary warfare is increasingly normalised through screens, platforms and emerging technologies. Today, war is no longer distant—it is mediated, consumed and even participated in through digital interfaces. Soldiers operate drones from afar, share moments on social media, and navigate a blurred line between reality and simulation. Meanwhile, AI and the corporations behind it are reshaping how conflicts are fought and perceived.
As mass media and social platforms bring war closer than ever, the public risks becoming desensitised. War correspondents continue to document its realities, yet images and stories struggle to break through growing indifference. Can art help us re-engage? Can awareness shift the narrative?
This panel brings together voices from journalism, art, activism and science to unpack the mechanisms behind the normalisation of war—and to ask whether this trajectory can be challenged.
In a time when forming an opinion on war is not a given for everyone, this gathering offers a moment to pause, reflect and engage. Through dialogue and artistic inquiry, TEC ART seeks to challenge indifference and open space for critical thought.
