Digital Utopias In A Dystopian Time Of Planetary Crisis

What roles can language, imagination and art play as guiding forces toward a decolonized utopian future? In this class, we will confront the reality of our present moment and make steps to decolonize our imaginations and cultivate new ways of relating to technology and the future. How do our avatars and virtual ecosystems reflect / parallel / interact with our physical reality? How can critical fabulation open portals to possible futures? Students will explore these questions in depth, through readings, engaged conversation, experimentation and play. Over the semester, students will produce the digital artifacts of their own speculative utopias by creating language driven digital art using sound, video and new media. Students should expect weekly assignments and readings that will nourish a final project.