Download - Guerrilla Futures
Guerrilla Futures
Stuart Candy Ph.D. | @futurystOCAD University | Long Now Foundation
Festival of Transitional Architecture (FESTA), Christchurch26.oct.02013
Strategic Foresight
Tactical Media
GuerrillaFutures
Strategic Foresight is “the ability to create and maintain a high-quality,
coherent and functional forward view and to use the insights arising
in [practically] useful ways.”
- Richard Slaughter, The Foresight Principle
Tactical media is “a form of media activism that privileges temporary,
hit-and-run interventions in the media sphere … that engage and critique the dominant political and
economic order.”
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tactical_
media
Hawaii 2050 (2006)
Four “experiential futures”, immersive scenarios
set in Hawaii in 2050, were staged for 500+ participants embarking on a public
sustainability planning process.(Not a guerrilla project, but a starting
point…)
Our view:
Routine foresight lacks impactand
“Experiential futures” showed promise
but Official processes were too timid to
succeed
= If you can’t do it officially,
do it unofficially
FoundFutures:Postcards from the
future (2007)
Postcards from four different versions of Hawaii circa 2030 were mailed out serially
to the homes of over 100 community leaders.
FoundFutures:Artifacts from the future
(2006/07)
Installations of playful and provocative future artifacts in urban places, for people
to encounterin the midst of their everyday lives.
FoundFutures: Chinatown (2007)
Future artifacts from three scenarios for a much-loved neighbourhood. We created the
stories after speaking with residents and business owners in the area
about its history and their latent concerns.
‘Green Dragon’
What becomes of Chinatowns when Chinais the predominant geopolitical
superpower?
FoundFutures: Chinatown
“Green Dragon”
‘The Bird Cage’
How would the community fareif a bird flu outbreak occurred in
Chinatown?
‘McChinatown’
How would it feel for gentrificationto take over the neighbouthood?
Advertising at Copenhagen airport
during COP 15 (2009)
Greenpeace and tcktcktck urged the world’s leaders not to miss an historic
opportunity.
Earthquake awarenessin San Francisco (2007)
The Bay Area Red Cross temporarily placeda double-sided billboard at the bottom of
Market Street in quake-prone San Francisco, vividly visualising seismic destruction and
encouraging disaster preparedness.
New York TimesSpecial Edition (2008)
Culture jamming activists The Yes Men andartist Steve Lambert distributed an idealised
future edition of the newspaper, featuring“all the news we hope to print”.
FoundFutures:The People Who
Vanished(2012)
A participatory experiential scenario (performance + mixed media installations)
was staged with our collaborators in Phoenix for the first ‘Emerge’ festival at Arizona State
University.
Hypothetical Development
Organization (2010)
Rob Walker and collaborators installed fanciful signage in the streets of New
Orleans, suggesting imaginative new uses for disused buildings.
Compare with‘unsolicited
architecture’
“Unsolicited architects do not wait to tackle the big issues often
overlooked by the market. They create briefs where none are
written, discover sites where none are owned, approach clients where
none are present, and find financing where none is available.”
- Rory Hyde
Guerrilla futurescombines strategic
foresightwith tactical media…
…to produce unexpected encounters with possible
worlds.
Guerrilla futures principles:
. Don’t break the universe. The tip of the iceberg
. The art of the double-take. playfully
. collectively
The point is to show,as well as tell, different
stories…
…bringing futures to life in order
to influence how we act today.
Plus it’s fun.
Take back the future!
More at: foundfutures.org
futuryst.com@futuryst
Thanks.