Nicolas Nova is the Ecsite day keynote lecturer

Nicolas Nova, a multidisciplinary researcher working at the intersection of anthropology, computer science and design who studies technologies and what people do with them, will be speaking at the very first Ecsite day, taking place on 11 June. Our speaker was originally one of the keynotes due to present at the Ecsite Conference in Ljubljana this year, but since the news that the Conference would not be happening, Nicolas will now be providing the network with stimulating content via our online platform instead.

Nicolas has been involved in and identified with hybrid design / futures practices such as design fiction for ten years and has been instrumental in bringing this approach to wider attention through presenting, teaching and writing, as well as speculative projects featured worldwide in exhibits, client works, festivals, and in the page of the international press.

Design fictions and the near future

The Kavli Foundation keynote lecture

Design Fiction is an approach that focuses on the creation of tangible evidence of the existence of possible near futures. Rather than describing future products, scenarios, user experiences or everyday life in some near future world, Design Fiction would create evidentiary material that represents those products, scenarios, and experiences in a way that suspends disbelief in that near future’s possibility. By creating tangible artifacts, Design Fiction sits in a fertile middle between pragmatic design and speculation. The lecture will introduce this approach at the crossroads of design, futures research and anthropology, and show how they help us speculate on the near future possibilities for societal and technological change.

For more information on Nicolas Nova, visit his website.

We hope to see you on 11 June for this highly-anticipated keynote lecture, plus lots more!