Thu, Oct 11, 2018
Our perception of the world is largely shaped through the mediums of fiction. Our political positions are informed by fake news, we live out our lives in the pixelated territories of video games and we escape into the pages of a novel or the flicker of the movie screen. In film, games and literature we have always imagined alternative worlds as a means to understand our own world in new ways. Sometimes moments, places or cities are best understood by examining the stories we construct about them. Join an ensemble of directors, concept artists, video game designers and storytellers as we go on an expedition through an atlas of imaginary worlds, fictional cities and speculative geographies. This is a tour through landscapes for the projection of belief and disbelief, worlds of fear and wonder that are both thrilling and scary, necessary and urgent. Curated by Liam Young, Architect/Director.
Mon, Jun 29, 2020
We often design fictions as a way to come to terms with conditions that reality struggles to grasp. Where stories of imagined lands, help us to visualize alternative futures that sit outside of the ones that all too often feels inescapable. Such stories can transport us, often they are antidotes to an angry and broken world. Sometimes we tell stories to comfort us, to educate or empower us, to add mystery or to strip it away, to fall in love all over again or to scream with rage. We craft such tales because today such madness is the only way of staying sane. Each year for Fear and Wonder we bring together an extraordinary cast of directors, concept artists, video game designers, choreographers and storytellers for an expedition through an atlas of imaginary worlds, fictional cities, and speculative geographies. In parallel to the annual live event we asked our guests to sit down with us for this film and discuss how they build imaginary worlds and why they might be important. Voices include Black Panther Costume designer Ruth Carter, artist and filmmaker Andrew Thomas Huang, Blade Runner 2049 concept designer Mike Hill, Ben Babbit of Cardboard Computer, creators of the game Kentucky Route Zero, Director and Creative Collaborator for Savage x Fenty Philippa Price and Fear and Wonder curator Liam Young.
Thu, Oct 14, 2021
It's been nearly 40 years since the AI replicants of Blade Runner first walked the neon drenched streets of sci fi LA. Despite significant advances in technology however, narratives of human-like Artificial Intelligence spiraling out of control still permeate all forms of popular culture. In most of these stories AI means sentient robots with a consciousness that mirrors our own. Super soldiers, Sex bots, domestic help and humanoid machine laborers liberating us from work, fulfilling our desires, going places we fear to tread rising up, taking over and doing away with our outdated fragile bodies. In the imaginary worlds of Science Fiction, we have always explored the fears and wonders of AI technology. In this film we will explore contemporary representations of artificial intelligence in film, television, and global culture and with an ensemble of designers from the entertainment industry, scientists and technologists we will investigate where the science ends and fiction takes over.