Organised by artist, researcher and educator Justyna Doherty, the laboratories form part of Futures Literacy and Imagination: Knowledge Production in the Symbiocene, the project explores how imagination and creative inquiry can support learning, connection and agency within cultural and civic spaces.
Futures Literacy, recognised by UNESCO as an essential competency for the 21st century, helps us understand how imagined futures shape what we notice and do today, and supports us in navigating uncertainty.
Across both days, participants stretched their imaginations, explored expected, hoped-for and unfamiliar futures, and questioned the assumptions behind them. They returned to the present with fresh perspectives, opening conversations about how to bring this learning into their work and lives, and what actions might now become possible.
As one participant reflected:
“We need the spaces, TIME, connections and containers to bring our imagination to the unprecedented challenges we face – to co-create a different more equitable way of being together in this living world”
– Workshop participant
Warm thanks to Terre Duffy and the National Museum of Ireland team, prof Philip Napier, for supporting the project on NCAD side, Ciarán Dunne for being a wonderful co-host on the day, Ella de Búrca for joining the Studio+ students, Ciara King from the DLR Arts Office, Elena Somoza, Fola O Grady, Pace Borza Butterly, Shauna Kelly, Rhianna Carey, and everyone who contributed their curiosity and imagination.
The project builds on June’s Futures of the Library laboratory at DLR Lexicon, with further opportunities for shared learning and exploration in development. Supported through CFA’s Communities of Practice Fund
Interested in future Futures Literacy encounters? Register your interest HERE
Photos: Seán Kelly & Nikita Kushch-Shevalev
