'Everything is becoming science fiction. From the margins of an almost invisible literature has sprung the intact reality of the 20th century.' J G BallardWe have always regaled ourselves with speculative tales of a day yet to come. In these polemic visions we furnish the fictional spaces of the near future with objects and ideas that at the same time chronicle the contradictions, inconsistencies, flaws and frailties of the everyday. Slipping suggestively between the real and the imagined they offer a distanced view from which to survey the consequences of various social, environmental and technological scenarios. In this symposium, speculative practitioners from such fields as gaming, film, comics, animation, literature and art present alternative models as test sites for the deployment of the wondrous possibilities or dark cautionary tales of our own architectural imaginings.
Viktor Antonov - Art Director for game Half Life 2 and Production Designer for film Rennaissance. Followed by a response from Jim Rossignol, author of This Gaming Life: Travels in Three Cities. A symposium co-ordinated by Liam Young (AA Inter 7/Tomorrows Thoughts Today) and Geoff Manaugh (BLDGBLOG).