What if AI could solve mental load? And who’s in charge of cleaning up the internet?
Neugefragt is a speculative design project that extrapolates emerging technologies into (im)possible futures. Different societal consequences are humorously explored by means of comics, texts, audio stories and lecture performances.
Part of the Artist in Lab program by Fraunhofer-Netzwerk Wissenschaft, Kunst & Design and initiated by Gesellschaft für Informatik and Fraunhofer ISI.
2 exhibitions
All creative outputs were presented at Fraunhofer-Institute in Berlin and during the Festival of the Future at Deutsches Museum in Munich.
1 science year
Neugefragt developed under the wings of the German Science Year 2022 titled Nachgefragt! (eng.: Inquired!).
What if all the data in the world were openly available to us? What if we interacted with machines the way we interacted with real people? Current research in computer science raises many questions and equally many hopes and fears. The project Neugefragt (eng.: Asked in a new way) reimagined questions collected from the general public into different speculative futures.
Project Phases
1
Research
Prior to the start of Neugefragt, citizens were invited to ask any questions they had regarding computer science – providing the inspirational playground for the project.
2
World building
Different future characters, behaviours, places and institutions were invented based on the creative extrapolation of emerging technologies.
3
Expert feedback
Initial drafts were presented to an expert committee of Gesellschaft für Informatik and Fraunhofer ISI asking for feedback on plausibility.
4
Creation
In the final phase, the expert feedback was implemented in the final creation of the media outputs, amounting to written stories, comics, audio stories and a lecture performance.
Main Outcomes
Media output
A total of two written stories, four comics, six audio stories and a live lecture performance.
Discussions
Fostering lively discussions on needs, desires and worries connected to emerging technologies.
Challenged perceptions
Provoking alternative and critical views of how technologies might shape society.
Tools & Methods
Speculative Design
An experimental, creative and critical approach to the question What if...? that helps discover alternative futures.
World Building
A method that uses different ideation prompts to imagine one or more alternative future worlds.
Narrative Storytelling
A creative method to communicate imagined futures in an accessible and engaging way.
Envisioning desirable futures of tourism in Spain with 50+ tourism stakeholders in the regions of the Canary Islands, Donostia-San Sebastián and the Laciana Valley.
A collection of quick and dirty method ‘snacks’, providing practical insights into futures thinking for the working context in digital interactive 1-hour sessions.
A collection of desirable futures on specific topics, sampled via a digital futures questionnaire probing into the fears and desires of different people from around the globe.
A series of futuring workshops for young people on sustainable tourism: Together, students explored different futures of tourism and the jobs they might require.
A co-creative course for master students of Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel to explore possible future implementations of Community Wealth Building principles on their campus.
A book publication on the scientific enquiry, critical reflection, practical use and visualisation of images of the future, in collaboration with Dr. Reinhold Popp.
An interactive exhibition showcasing facts, perspectives and ideas on the futures of ageing. Visitors were encouraged to think about their own future and reflect upon their assumptions.