Realities of Science Fiction III
Conferences, discussions, projections
Parc des Ateliers
From
to
When does science fiction become a reality? How do artists work with Artificial Intelligence What forms of resistance can science fiction inspire? What can cyberpunk tell us about current technological developments?
Over the course of a weekend, artists, authors, and researchers discuss topics relating to Afrofuturism, artificial intelligence, and science fiction as a strategy of resistance.
The third edition of Realities of Science Fiction will culminate in the development of ideas on world-building and possible futures at a moment when societies are driven by rapidly changing technology. Highlighting alternative futurisms and non-hegemonic forms of imagination, Realities of Science Fiction III will bring together leading voices from diverse disciplines to explore critical approaches to Western science-fiction archetypes and the production of emancipatory narratives. The multilayered complexities and ambiguity that characterize sociotechnological change will also be the focus of this event.
Of particular importance is the increasing dominance and rapid advancement of artificial intelligence in the different fields of human experience. From cyberpunk to climate fiction, many authors and cultural practitioners have considered other forms of consciousness parallel to our own perception of the world. Reflecting on the current nature and evolution of artificial intelligence, conversations will draw on major examples from the science fiction literature that first imagined the processes we currently inhabit.
At the heart of science fiction lies the invention of alternative modes of access to knowledge and consciousness. The symposium will also address these realities, from psychedelic history to more contemporary experiments in the sciences and arts.
Practical Info:
Dates: Friday, December 15 / Saturday, December 16 / Sunday, December 17
Place: The Tower
Program
Free entrance (upon booking)
Note: All conferences are simultaneously translated (FR > EN).
Friday, December 15th
→ THE TOWER, LEVEL 8
- 6:00 p.m.: Conversation
With Samuel R. Delany, writer (online), and Benjamin Thorel, art critic
- 6:45 p.m.: Break
Catering will be available during the break.
→ THE TOWER, LEVEL 1, AUDITORIUM - 7:30 p.m.: Screening of Atlantiques (15 min, 2009) and Atlantique (1h45, 2019)
By Mati Diop
- 9:30 p.m.: Conversation
With Mati Diop, filmmaker, and Vassilis Oikonomopoulos, director of Exhibitions and Programs at LUMA Arles
Saturday, December 16th
→ THE TOWER, LEVEL 1, STUDIO 3
- 10:00 a.m.: Writing and world-building workshop
With Atheel Elmalik, writer and filmmaker
Artist and writer Atheel Elmalik will present a writing workshop in the vein of Adrienne Maree Brown and Walidah Imarisha, who co-edited a book titled Octavia’s Brood, in which they asked organizers and activists (most of them first time writers) to write a story set in the world that they are fighting for. Per Walidah Imarisha, Ursula K. Le Guin summed up the power of sci-fi perfectly in her 2014 National Book Award speech, when she said that hard times were coming, so we will need writers who can imagine alternative ways of living. Also in the spirit of Mariame Kaba, who proclaimed that “hope is a discipline,” this workshop is a practice in visionary fiction. It is an opportunity to come together and utilize collective intelligence to build fictional worlds and explore whatever issues feel resonant to the group.
Each participant will then have time to write an individual story set in that collective world.
(The introduction to the workshop will be taking place in English and translated to French. Participants can write in the language of their choice).
→ THE TOWER, LEVEL 8
- 2:00 p.m.: Conversation
With Eden Tinto Collins, artist, and Flora Katz, curator
- 2:30 p.m.: Conference
The American Supreme Court in Space: Samuel R. Delany’s The Ballad of Beta-2
By Isiah Lavender III, PhD, Sterling Goodman Professor of English, University of Georgia
- 3:10 p.m.: Conference
From Marronnage to Counter-Dystopia
By Michael Roch, writer
- 3:50 p.m.: Break
- 4:00 p.m.: Conversation
With Kim Stanley Robinson, writer (online)
- 4:30 p.m.: Conference
Fan Fiction, Science Fiction, and the Epistemic Community of AI Safety
By Shazeda Ahmed, PhD, postdoctoral researcher at UCLA
- 5:10 p.m.: Conversation
With Neïl Beloufa, artist, Nora N. Khan, curator, and Bahar Noorizadeh, artist, and Vassilis Oikonomopoulos, director of Exhibitions and Programs at LUMA Arles
- 6:00 p.m.: Conference
Reclaiming the Past, Reimagining the Future
By Nalo Hopkinson, writer
- 7:00 p.m.: Book signing
Bookshop, The Tower
Sunday, December 17th
→ THE TOWER, LEVEL 8
- 10:30 a.m.: Conference
The Collapse of the Present Under the Weight of Images
By Nicolas Giraud, artist, professor at ENSP Arles
- 11:10 a.m.: Conversation
When Heartbeat Makes Artwork
With Shahryar Nashat, artist, and Emma McCormick-Goodhart, artist and independent researcher
- 11:50 a.m.: Break
- 12:00 p.m.: Conference
Altered States of Consciousness: Interpreting the Effects of Psychedelics
By Zoë Dubus, PhD, postdoctoral researcher at University of Saskatchewan, Canada
- 12:30 p.m.: Conference
« Avec des si, on pourrait changer l’avenir » (“With Ifs, We Could Change the Future")
By Vinciane Despret, PhD, philosopher and psychotherapist, professor at University of Liège
→ THE TOWER, LEVEL 1, AUDITORIUM
- 3:00 p.m.: Screening of Neptune Frost (1h45, 2021)
By Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman
A group of escaped coltan miners forms an anti-colonialist computer-hacker collective in the hilltops of Burundi. They soon attempt a takeover of the authoritarian regime that's exploiting the region's natural resources—and its people.
Trailer
Organised by Vassilis Oikonomopoulos, director of exhibitions and programs, Martin Guinard, curator, Flora Katz, curator, Salma Mochtari, research associate, assisted by Claire Charrier, junior project manager.