A still from “In the Eyes of the Animal” a VR Experience at Sundance by design studio Marshmallow Laser Feast
Publication Date: 2nd October 2017
Part 2 of 2
Read Also: Part 1 where I discuss the use of Immersive Storytelling as a tool for conservation
Imagine walking through a dense woodland…in the middle of Times Square?!
This is the idea behind PopUp Forest: Times Square a recently funded Kickstarter campaign, launched by urban ecologist, Marielle Anzelone. The goal of the project is to make those millions of people walking through Times Square to feel connected with their neighbouring woodlands.
Modernist Studio’s futures vision — A branded life with Domicile™
Another key reason for encouraging futures visioning is to bring diversity into the field. In our experience most futuring exercises devolve into a rehashing of scenarios reminiscent of Blade Runner or ready Player One. The entire vision seems mostly removed from the envisioner, almost as if the future they are mere spectators and the future is “going to happen” to someone else. They simply don’t see themselves represented in the futures and therefore can’t see where their cultures continue to fit into the tapestry. Alisha Wormsley’s recently banned billboard in Pittsburgh is a powerful reminder of this phenomenon. That such a strikingly simple statement can evoke so many emotions both negative and positive is a testament to the belief that a select few “own” the future and therefore get to shape it.
The Last Billboard’s landlord, We Do Property, forced Alisha Wormsley’s text to be taken down over “objections to the content”
There are some bright spots emerging in the field of diverse futures visioning. Decolonized Futures, Indigenous futures, etc. are interesting movements being increasingly adopted across the spectrum. Afrofuturism is a futuring trend that has thrown up powerful work over the years and recently broke through the mainstream with rich realisation in Black Panther’s Wakanda this year. The worldbuilding of Wakanda is especially noteworthy for its focus on the culture rather than the tech. Given the rich history of Vibranium in the Marvel Comics Universe it would be the easiest thing to focus on the tech-related aspects of the story however what stood out was the respect with which African cultures were represented. The rich culture in the street scenes is completely opposite to the general representation of the shady street culture in cyberpunk worlds of Blade Runner to Minority Report and most recently Altered Carbon.
The vibrant streets envisioned by the worldbuilders of Wakanda stand in stark contrast to the standard “grey and glass” worlds of pop culture & Sci Fi
Futurists themselves are becoming a more diverse lot. While nobody gets it right every time, I have experienced, first hand, how welcoming and willing to share the community can be.
In India there is a small but palpable interest in using tools like Human Centered Design & Futures Design to imagine the world of tomorrow with a more Indian worldview. This is a community we hope to tap into with Future Tense Inc. By sharing tools and co-creating new ones to enable more vibrant futures visioning, we hope that we stop treating the future as a blank slate but a continuing tapestry which grows richer as more perspectives are involved in realising it.
So far at our Mumbai meetups we’ve been fortunate to host some incredible speakers like Ayaz Basrai of The Busride Labs & monika bielskyte (link)who have shared their worldview and had engaging conversations with our community. We are hearing murmurs of the brilliant work being done by other like Quicksand’s Antariksha Sanchar and others we hope will join us in conversations in the future.
We have also created a framework for indigenous futures visioning ourselves and we hope to share it with members of our community soon. Our global online:
(Twitter: futuretenseinc) / Future Tense Inc. – Commmunity (Facebook) & offline community has been incredible in offering up help and sharing expertise with other members.
As we grow our community we hope to expand the conversation through workshops, meetups, roundtables, etc. We are also using strategic foresight to help organisations to innovate in business models, products and services. So if you happen to be in our neighbourhood with a hankering for a good conversation on futures and design give us a holler!
Through Future Tense Inc. we plan to try on different futures for size. Join us, won’t you?
You can reach out to Future Tense Inc. on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook Groups, Facebook Pages, or sign up to the mailing list on our website & me personally on Twitter or LinkedIn
