In a conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist, trend forecaster Emily Segal, journalist Niklas Maak and architect Rem Koolhaas discuss the future of the countryside. Their starting point is the question of why the countryside is being neglected in social discourse and where the fixation on urban living space comes from. Another point of discussion is the advancing automation, which will lead to a massive reduction of jobs in the countryside. Does this offer the utopian potential to free people from wage labor, or is it to be feared that job loss will inevitably lead to a loss of identity and thus to crisis? The transformation of rural infrastructure, which more and more serves individual – economic – interests, is also discussed. The city as a mega-hub and intersection seems obsolete. The background for the discussion is the planned exhibition project “Countryside, The Future” by Rem Koolhaas, which will be on view at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City in 2019.
“The assumption is that there is a desire for living in the city.”
— Niklas Maak
