THE ELEPHANT IN THE WAITING ROOM edited by Baltan Laboratories

with Lorenzo Gerbi (co-editor), Marlou van der Cruijsen (co-director, Baltan Laboratories), Benji Sheppard (co-editor) and Yubin Jia (contributor) in conversation with the authors at 6.30pm

The Elephant in the Waiting Room is a collection of 10 science fiction stories, curated by Baltan Laboratories, which do not address the theme of imminent disaster, but rather the ways in which we anticipate or overcome it.
For this reason, the cover design by Carosello Lab on the outside of the book, leaves a list of possible catastrophes that orbit around it in an endless doomscroll; yet they remain on the surface, without determining the stories contained within. This almost counters a widespread trend in science fiction that turns the “pornography of catastrophe” and its spectacle into entertainment. Our authors are not interested in the gruesome details of events themselves, but in the myriad ways we influence them and are, in turn, influenced by them.

The Elephant in the Waiting Room brings together artists, writers, and creatives from different disciplines and nationalities, posing them a challenge: to write about the technological revolution of the near future—whether for better or worse, tomorrow or a hundred years from now. We asked the authors to reflect on the traits that define our current technological era and, instead of imagining its climax, to sketch its prologues and epilogues.

This collection proposes an alternative imaginary of revolution: One that is not morbidly fixated on death and destruction—so often presented as the side effects of change—but instead focuses on the people, places, and societies that lead to those supposed “endings” or continue beyond them.
We live in the waiting room—awaiting World War III, the consequences of climate change, technological collapse, and the depletion of natural resources. What would our existence be like if it were not defined by this waiting?

The book is edited by Lorenzo Gerbi, Julia Kassyk, and Benji Sheppard, published by Baltan Laboratories, and distributed by Lecturis. It includes stories by Ambra Stancampiano, Margaret Lamanna, Diego Orihuela Ibañez, Miguel Parra, Yubin Jia, Riccardo Liberati, Marjolein Pijnappels, Julia Schneider, and Benji Sheppard. The graphic design is by CRSL Carosello Lab. The project is co-funded by Creative Industries Fund NL and Stichting Cultuur Eindhoven.

Baltan Laboratories is an interdisciplinary cultural lab based in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, that explores the relationships between humans, non-humans, and technology in the context of today’s social challenges.