In November, Rui Hu, Assistant Professor of Computation and Design, presented a lecture-performance on speculative ecological fiction at Fotografiska Museum Shanghai as part of VORTEX, a recurring lecture-performance series organized by MACA Art Center Beijing that supports cross-disciplinary artistic and academic projects. The event was attended by approximately 40 people.
“The lecture-performance featured three sets of eco-fictional stories, many of which were co-authored with AI. The stories addressed themes including climate change, entangled coexistence, chaotic causality, dilemmas of decision-making, and the ironies of time.” Prof. Hu said.
The presentation is part of Hu’s ongoing worldbuilding project Imminent Decisions, which explores potential transformations of human conditions under climate change. The project serves as a generative framework for multiple formats, including lecture-performances and a role-playing card game.
Within this speculative setting, two future urban forms are examined: floating cities and large-scale urban rewilding. These scenarios emerge from a fictional research and decision-making process in a coastal city responding to rising sea levels. The project focuses on the processes of research, testing, discussion, and collective decision-making rather than on predetermined outcomes. The lecture-performance was developed and conducted in collaboration with artificial intelligence and presented narrative fragments situated between scientific decision-making and individual consciousness under conditions of crisis.
For more information, please visit: https://www.macaarts.org/en/events/2190/uncertain-solidarities-the-integrative-project-of-climate-ecological-theatre
Written by Yiya Wang, Class of 2028
