Open Call / Science Fictionality: Training Workshop
OPEN CALL
Science Fictionality: Training Workshop
by Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay
September 14 – 16, 2023
9:30 – 14:30
Donaustraße 84, 12043 Neukölln, Berlin
Participation is free. To do so, kindly email contact@sumac.space with the subject line “Training Workshop.” In the email, please include a brief description of your interest in the workshop topic, along with your relevant experience and personal background.
CoFUTURES is an international group working on Global Futures with its sphere of activities scattered across various communities, research groups and networks around the world. They are active in different sectors including academic research, technology research, policy, and the arts.
The CoFUTURES workshops are multi-day training sessions that train participants in worldbuilding, speculative methods, and futurisms. In these workshops, we pair hands-on prototyping activities for participants with instructor-led sessions that cover the methods, tools, and strategies used in futures and speculative thinking. Learn more at https://cofutures.org
The workshop instructors are different members and affiliates of the CoFUTURES group and science fiction writers. In our workshops, we have trained artists, scientists, business professionals, tech industry professionals, innovators, university educators, and environmental activists. Our most recent workshops have been held for United Nations Innovation teams and scientists at the International Space University (France).
The workshop will be built around different speculative manifestos that will guide practical exercises and discussions. The workshop comprises three theory (strategy) sessions, three activity sessions, and two building sessions. The readings for the theory sessions will be provided.
Day 1: Envisioning
09.30 – 10.40 Introduction to Science Fictionality
10.40 – 11.00 Break
11.00 – 12.00 Strategy one: Envisioning
12.00 – 13.00 Lunch break
13.00 – 14.30 Draft Manifesto Design
Reading:
Ken Liu: In the Beginning is a Story
Vandana Singh: A Speculative Manifesto
Day 2: Modeling
09.30 – 10.30 Storyworlds 1
10.30 – 11.00 Break
11.00 – 12.00 Strategy two: Modeling
12.00 – 13.00 Lunch
13.00 – 14.30 Game Time
Reading:
Samuel Delany: About 5750 Words
IndigenousAction.org: Rethinking the Apocalypse: An Indigenous Anti-Futurist Manifesto
Day 3: Futuring
09.30 – 10.30 Storyworlds 2
10.30 – 11.00 Break
11.00 – 12.00 Strategy three: Futuring
12.00 – 13.00 Lunch break
13.00 – 14.00 Designing
14.00 – 14.30 Closing Remarks
Reading:
Martine Syms: The Mundane Afrofuturist Manifesto
Alan Poma: Andean Futurist Manifesto
Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay is Associate Professor in Global Culture Studies at IKOS, University of Oslo, Norway. He leads the international research group CoFUTURES. Chattopadhyay is the leader (PI) of two major research projects funded by the European and Norwegian Research Councils, which explore contemporary global futurisms movements from a transmedial perspective, including literature, film, visual arts, and games. Chattopadhyay runs the Holodeck, a state of the art games research lab at UiO. He is also an Imaginary College Fellow at the Center for Science and the Imagination, Arizona State University. Chattopadhyay is the recipient of numerous awards and prizes, including the World Fantasy Award (2020). Chattopadhyay has written or edited ten books, published numerous articles, exhibited in six transnational art projects, and produced the award-winning film Kalpavigyan: A Speculative Journey, the first documentary on science fiction from India and Bengal.
The workshop is part of GENERATIVE ENCOUNTERS – A FIVE-DAY CREATION AND RECIPROCITY. It is a program accompanying the international encounters conceived by the Vereinigung für genreverbindende Kunstprojekte in collaboration with Sumac Space. It will occur from September 13th to 17th at Donaustraße 84, 12043 in Berlin. The program is part of cultural mediation designed to engage a young audience.
GENERATIVE ENCOUNTERS continues collaborating with artists and cultural practitioners previously built around Sumac Space and VgK. We aim to create a space for exchange where the outcomes often represent the most visible manifestations of relationships, friendships, and collaborations.