Special Programs Think Tank San Francisco, 2017
In March 2017, Jon Sueda and Sara Dean invited the Extrapolation Factory to California College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco, a few weeks after the Specials Programmes Programme in Malta. Over a weekend, participants served in the Special Programs Think Tank to envision and create hypothetical “special programs” that San Francisco city government might instate, either in the future or in parallel realities.
After an introduction to futures studies, participants scanned for signals of change and mapped their implications on futures wheel worksheets. A research visit to the Prelinger Library let them draw on an archive of governmental records, maps and documents for their program designs. Back at CCA they developed props and proposals, then made each program tangible as official documents, devices, food and wearables, announcing it to San Francisco residents. On the last day the artifacts were deployed in the city and shown in a final exhibition, followed by a reflection on the process. The format returned two years later at the Estonian Academy of Arts in Tallinn.
See more documentation of the workshop on Flickr.
After an introduction to futures studies, participants scanned for signals of change and mapped their implications on futures wheel worksheets. A research visit to the Prelinger Library let them draw on an archive of governmental records, maps and documents for their program designs. Back at CCA they developed props and proposals, then made each program tangible as official documents, devices, food and wearables, announcing it to San Francisco residents. On the last day the artifacts were deployed in the city and shown in a final exhibition, followed by a reflection on the process. The format returned two years later at the Estonian Academy of Arts in Tallinn.
See more documentation of the workshop on Flickr.
Workshop outcomes
The following fictional programs, documents and devices were created by workshop participants and shown in the final exhibition.
