Imagined (Lunar) Communities: Hope, Habitation, and Humanity

Four speculative fiction authors come together to workshop the future. Singaporean author Manish Melwani writes sci-fi and horror that explores history and empire; Hugo Award Finalist and sociologist Malka Older writes on subjects from systems to compassion; Brazilian writer Fabio Fernandes writes solarpunk with a postcolonial twist; and Anishinaabe scholar and editor Grace Dillon* first defined the genre of Indigenous futurism. Drawing on the future history of the Mare Nectaris lunar habitat, each author will bring a short vignette exploring and building out the world of the future. The body of this talk is split between a reading, where each author presents their work, and a generative worldbuilding discussion, where our moderator, SF scholar Smaran Dayal takes the panelists through a process of re-imagining the futures their stories inhabit. The panelists also discuss the fictions, realities, and futures that inspire them and their work.


Inspired by New School Policy and Design for Outer Space's (NSPDOS) year of events with the Venice Biennale, we close out the series that started with our Human Considerations panel. Space habitation is not merely a technical challenge to be overcome, there are also social and cultural considerations that matter deeply for the future worlds we build together. Science fiction is a tool for thinking about these problems both critically and poetically. Who is included in the future? What is daily life like? Who holds power and how is meaning made? These questions can arguably be better explored through story rather than technical means. Fiction illuminates our hopes, dreams, and nightmares for the future. At our last event of the biennale we ask our audience: What future do you want to help create?

Participants:
Manish Melwani http://www.manishmelwani.com/
Malka Older @m_older
Fabio Fernandes @fabiofernandes
Grace Dillon*
Moderator: Smaran Dayal @smaran https://wp.nyu.edu/sdayal/

Co-Organized by:
Manish Melwani
Afro and Indigenous Futures

Under the egis of CityX and the Venice Biennale: https://cityxvenice.org

*Unfortunately Grace Dillon could not join the final panel.