Creating Artifacts of Plausible Futures: An Introduction to the Art of Futurology

Futurology, or foresight, is a multidisciplinary field of study that examines future change - why and how environments, societies, or technologies are changing, and where such changes might lead in the future. In short, the discipline helps to create plausible and consistent images of alternative futures in order to explore and evaluate possibilities beyond the dominant images of the future and the limitations of the present, which are often based on implicit assumptions. 

Today, futures studies play an important role in most organizations dealing with long-term developments, such as business decision-making, urban planning, design, innovation, policy development, or strategic planning, as well as in more complex critical futures studies, such as human-technology-environment relationships, and imagining possible futures in the context of expected future developments, such as the rise of AI or biotechnology, climate change, or other technocultural transformations. 

In the seminar, we will learn how to use such futurological tools: First, we will be introduced to the main foresight methods. Then participants will choose one or more topics for their own futures field trip: Using the methods learned, we will explore the possible, plausible, probable, and desirable futures of the selected topics. However, we will not only produce field reports, but we will also try to create future artifacts from this journey that can open dialogues and stimulate art and innovation for futures that could be. 

Dozent*innen Prof. Zilvinas Lilas und Dr. Björn Theis