26 hod., compulsory

The five main topics/blocks in which the subject is been divided are supposed to act as orientation; all of them are going to be a “hybrid” form, combination of lectures, seminars and individual creative work.

1. Introduction to speculation: potentialities
During the introductory part(s) of the course we will discuss theoretical texts dealing with the notion of “potentialities” and what could be (future scenarios) under what kind of circumstances. The students will be presented with examples of speculative thinking from history of visual art, literature, film and design but will be also asked to conduct a little research and present their own findings of examples on speculative thinking.

2. Crazy objects that turn into philosophical matter
During this part of the course, the students will be introduced to a selected set of projects devised at the centres that are known for experimenting radically with mixing art and science such as the MIT Media Lab (USA), Strelka Institute (Moscow) and similar, so the students can engage with a variety of bold examples of art, design and architecture research from the recent years.

3. Anti-disciplinary everything
Beyond interdisciplinary - there is anti-disciplinary; an important element in the processes of imagining future scenarios about things and relations as anti-disciplinary allows new ways of working (“not just a sum of a bunch of disciplines” as Joi Ito states), because it does not obey the well-established methods, frameworks and approaches of work.

4. Future of work
"Future of work", used actively as a syntagm across contexts, is referring to the future of work and workplaces as we know them now in an ever-changing world of technology, demographics and globalization. "Future of work" is a hot topic of today which brings together experts from various domains to imagine and discuss possible future scenarios about their workplace, companies; systems of human as well as human-nonhuman relations. Through various examples of using artistic approaches to create future work scenarios for companies and public bodies, the dialog of the present and the future is being examined, as that future is already here; the examples have been implemented and documented during the lecturer's work as a consultant in future scenarios at RISE SICS Stockholm. During this block of seminars we would try to imagine what is beyond the popular belief that “AI will replace our jobs” as the systems of the future will be more complex than that.

5. Post-anthropocene landscapes
During the final block of activities, we will discuss future landscapes through ecological thought, taking in consideration possible political and architectural landscapes of the future where people could, but do not have to dominate (or even exist on) their native planet. The students are expected to present their work on the topic during the final meetings, or upon agreement for an individual presentation with the teacher.