Concept Workshop: Speculation

Fafnir presents Concept Workshop: Speculation When? May 25, 2022, 2–4 pm Where? Realfagsbibliotekets undervisingsrom 209, Blindern campus, University of Oslo & Zoom Welcome to the speculative concept workshop organized by the editors of Fafnir – Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research! In this two-hour workshop, we will discuss the concept of ‘speculation’ and aim to (re-)define […]

Leandro Pisano: The Manifesto of Rural Futurism

PAM: Møterom 252

Leandro Pisano, co-author of The Manifesto of Rural Futurism, will be visiting CoFUTURES and giving a lecture on the manifesto. Open, public event. Location: PAM: Møterom 252 Read the manifesto here: https://www.ruralfuturism.com/  

Textival

Samtal: Systemkollaps 16.00-16.45 Malte Persson Undergången (2021) / Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay Fiktionaliseringen av framtider (2021) / Bim Eriksson Baby blue (2021) Samtalsledare: Per Strömbäck ​Utifrån dikt, serietecknande och fiktionalisering av framtider möter talesperson för Dataspelsbranschen och före detta förläggaren Per Strömbäck Malte Persson, Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay och Bim Eriksson i ett samtal om vår och litteraturens förhållande […]

Monsters sans Frontières

Monsters sans Frontières (MSF) is a panel-discussion-cum-mini-workshop organized as part of the Futures from the Margins events.  

Norse Tomorrow

Parksalongen Waldemar Thranes gate 1A, Oslo, Norway

Norse Tomorrow is an event/workshop showcasing what is going on within Norwegian speculative fiction. It is part of the Futures from the Margins arrangements. The event is financed by the Norwegian Research Council (grant agreement no. 300931). Venue: Parksalongen, Waldemar Thranes gate 1A, 0171 Oslo

Kalpavigyan: A Speculative Journey

Vega Scene Hausmanns gate 28, Oslo, Norway

Movie screening as part of the Futures from the Margins arrangements. Location VEGA SCENE Hausmanns gate 28 0182 Oslo

In Conversation with Manjula Padmanabhan

Online

Manjula Padmanabhan (b. 1953), is an author, playwright, artist and cartoonist. She grew up in Europe and South Asia, returning to India as a teenager. Her plays include LIGHTS OUT and the MATING GAME SHOW. Her play HARVEST won the first ever Onassis Award for Theatre, in 1997, in Greece. She writes a weekly column and draws a weekly comic strip in Chennai’s “Business Line”.  Her books include UNPRINCESS, GETTING THERE and THE ISLAND OF LOST GIRLS. She lives in the US, with a home in New Delhi. Website: https://magnoliana.com/

Regina Kanyu Wang: The Globalized Chinese Science Fiction

UiO: HumSam Biblioteket georg sverdrups hus, oslo, Norway

What are the latest trends in Chinese science fiction, and why has the genre been so popular globally in recent years? Meet writer and researcher Regina Kanyu Wang, who will take you through this and more!

Cameron Kunzelman: The World is Born From Zero

Online

Please join us for a CoFutures Friday afternoon seminar with videogame scholar Cameron Kunzelman, who will be talking about his recent book The World is Born From Zero: Understanding Speculation and Videogames. Cameron is a prolific writer of games criticism, for both academic and popular outlets like Waypoint and Polygon. He is also part of the critical podcasting network Ranged Touch for which he produces longform shows on topics like Stephen King's oeuvre, as well as Game Studies Study Buddies in which he and his co-host Michael Lutz critically assess academic works of game studies. 

The World is Born From Zero is an investigation into the relationship between video games and science fiction through the philosophy of speculation. Cameron Kunzelman argues that the video game medium is centered on the evaluation and production of possible futures by following video game studies, media philosophy, and science fiction studies to their furthest reaches. Claiming that the best way to understand games is through rigorous formal analysis of their aesthetic strategies and the cultural context those strategies emerge from, Kunzelman investigates a diverse array of games like The Last of Us, VA-11 Hall-A, and Civilization VI in order to explore what science fiction video games can tell us about their genres, their ways of speculating, and how the medium of the video game does (or does not) direct us down experiential pathways that are both oppressive and liberatory. Taking a multidisciplinary look at these games, The World is Born From Zero offers a unique theorization of science fiction games that provides both science fiction studies and video game studies with new tools for thinking how this medium and mode inform each other.