Image credit: work by Caroline Yan Zheng, 2018, photography by Sapphire Goss, 2018
[T]he question of the future is an affective one; it is a question of hope for what we might yet be, as well as fear for what we could become.
Sara Ahmed 2004: 183-84
Affective Futures is a space to propose, probe and prototype the future of our emotional life with technologies and robots. It actively engages minds and practices across the disciplinary spectrum. It is the first of its kind to bring together interested minds and hands from science, technology, philosophy, engineering, arts and design, as well as members of the public over the delicate topics of emotions. Rather than looking for generality, we want to engage the personalised versions of anticipations about the future. By creating this unique space we hope to catalyse creatively and critically, the emergent dialogues and tangible prototypes for how our affective futures could be and how they should be.
The space constitutes of a symposium and a making space.
This space was initiated by Caroline Yan Zheng in 2016 and was previously called the Sentimental Machines Group. It inaugurated with a series of participatory and co-design workshops prototyping individualised affective relations with soft robotics enabled companion artefacts.
Joachim Rotteveel has generously helped in creating this website.