Session 2

IMAGINE FUTURES – FICTIONS AND TECHNO OTHERINGS

FEBRUARY 28, 2025

2:00 pM-3:30PM
VAN PELT LIBRARY
KISLAK CENTER

The 21st century city is digital as much as it is physical. Code, camera, signal, sensor, data, surveillance, and tagging permeate all aspects of public space, so too does the economic and political translation of these ephemeral entities. Technologies of spatialization (mappings and recordings) can empower or disenfranchise those who are its inadvertent consumers or targets. Controlling the digital means of measuring, movement, and representation, controls the access and appropriation of space. This session asks in what way are urban forms of occupation creatively sustained or politically disengaged by capital’s digital shadows?

panel keywords: techno-orientalism, U.S. speculative fiction, Chinese science fiction,  cities in science fiction, urban dystopias, digital-environmental poverty, speculative urban engineering, ecological and urban computing, reservoir computing, non-human intelligence

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PANELIST TOPICS

Techno-orientalist Fictions, Urban Futures, Betsy Huang

Techno-orientalism is the phenomenon of imagining Asia and Asians in hypo- or hyper-technological terms in cultural productions and political discourse.  How does techno-orientalism, as aesthetic and critique, inform visions of urban futures in contemporary U.S. and Chinese speculative fiction? As the two nations jostle for tech and resource dominance, what desires and fears fuel their prognostications of the future as thoroughly urban, high-tech, and Asian (more specifically, Chinese)? What is at stake for ensuring ethical relations between subject and infrastructure in these competing imaginaries when intensifying climate change, resource wars, and economic nativism portend massive reconfigurations in urban centers across the globe?

keywords : techno-orientalism, U.S. speculative fiction, Chinese science fiction,  cities in science fiction, urban dystopias, digital-environmental poverty, speculative urban engineering

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While Water Thinks… Orkan Telhan

Among other things, the project examines how cities are represented and understood via contemporary technologies. From the sleek visions of “smart cities” to the lush imagery of “ecological” futures, the alien allure of “non-human” design, and the utilitarian “data-center” aesthetic, these visual narratives shape how we imagine urban spaces evolving.

While aesthetics have traditionally been curated by humans and emulated by artificial intelligence, emerging trends suggest a shift in this dynamic. AI is no longer merely mimicking human preferences but increasingly driving new visual languages, raising critical questions about authorship, agency, and the future of urban design.

keywords: ecological and urban computing, reservoir computing, non-human intelligence

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Loro (Them): The Cultural Prosthesis, Krzysztof Wodiczko

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In my presentation I will elaborate on a project Loro (Them) in Milan, first of the series of aerial performances in Europe and the USA (2019- 2024) that uses a drone technology to amplify the perspectives of migrants, political refugees, and marginalized citizens to explore the complexities of their lives in today’s globalized society.

During the performance, the drones were equipped with two screens showing only the eyes of the migrants. A megaphone-like mouth amplified each participant’s story told with candor and frankness. Faces were not shown to protect the individuals’ identities, but the eyes and the voice intended to create a relationship with, and at times directly addressed, the public.

keywords: cultural prosthesis, drones, migrants, performance, public space