Imaginative Futures
We live in troubled and complex times, more than ever requiring imaginative thinking about the future. However, many researchers, artists and cultural critics point out the difficulties with the very notion of future, not to mention the formulating of credible and valid visions. In a Western context it has for example been deemed difficult, by many even impossible, to imagine an alternative to capitalism. Similarly, in relation to climate change, it is argued that we face a general “crisis of the imagination”.
The purpose of this project is to make an intervention into the ongoing academic discussions on the role of imagination and imagining practices in shaping and creating our futures. With the help of the concept of “imaginative futures” I explore the possibilities of creating visions of a future society that contain ideas and elements that one would wish to move towards, although without regarding the visions as necessary, or even possible, to fulfill. The focus is thus not on what these visions may be, but on the facilitating of the possibilities for them to unfold. This is a question that furthermore concerns the role of the academic and the need for academic work to also approach the imaginative, its practices and technologies, in order to catch the processes. The topics of imagination, future, time, materiality, art, and artificial intelligence are central for the analysis.
The purpose of this project is to make an intervention into the ongoing academic discussions on the role of imagination and imagining practices in shaping and creating our futures. With the help of the concept of “imaginative futures” I explore the possibilities of creating visions of a future society that contain ideas and elements that one would wish to move towards, although without regarding the visions as necessary, or even possible, to fulfill. The focus is thus not on what these visions may be, but on the facilitating of the possibilities for them to unfold. This is a question that furthermore concerns the role of the academic and the need for academic work to also approach the imaginative, its practices and technologies, in order to catch the processes. The topics of imagination, future, time, materiality, art, and artificial intelligence are central for the analysis.
Final report
In 2023 I received funding by RJ for a nine month long sabbatical, to be used in 2024. The objective was to continue working on a book manuscript with the title ”Imaginative Futures”, a project on imagination and the future. Already when applying, I had a contract with the MIT Press for publishing the book, the most prestigious book publisher when it comes to books on media, art and technology, which is the research field my work belongs within. This is the second book that I will publish with The MIT Press (the first one, ”Collaborative Media. Production, Consumption, and Design Interventions”, written together with Jonas Löwgren, was published in 2013).
As stated in the application, I have used the sabbatical to edit the chapters already existing, and to write two additional, substantive chapters. However, when working with the manuscript, I realized there were strong reasons to also develop the discussions around the concept of imagination in a more philosophical direction than I previously thought. I felt this to be necessary in order to strengthen my reasoning and in order to clearer give an answer to the questions I had posed. But additionally, I realized there were a more general need to question the received history of the concept. Thus, in the manuscript I question this “story” and argue for an alternative, more imaginative history of the concept of imagination, bringing into the discussion thinkers that traditionally have been written out of this story. This concerns medieval, esoteric thinkers, the Italian 18th Century philosopher Giambattista Vico, and the utopian philosopher Ernst Bloch. As an example of a contemporary subversive thinker within the area I also add the American science fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin to the discussion. When it comes to the other chapters, obviously developments and changes have been made, but nothing that changes the general thrust of the book. An interesting aspect, however, concerns the fast development of artificial intelligence since I wrote my application; the relationship between artificial intelligence and imagination has undoubtedly become more crucial.
I spent two of the nine months in London, as guest researcher at King’s College London. My contact person was Joanna Zylinska, Professor of Media Philosophy. I have worked with Joanna Zylinska previously, and the stay in London made it possible for me to discuss my work with researchers well placed within the field, beside Zylinska in particular Steven Connors, Professor and Research Director for King’s ”Digital Futures Institute”.
In London I took part in a symposium called ”Imaginative Digital Futures” (https://www.kcl.ac.uk/events/imaginative-digital-futures-a-symposium), a title derived from the title of my book manuscript. The symposium was partly organized in order to launch a new online Master’s program in Digital Futures. Given that my department at Malmö University since a couple of years have offered an online Masters’ program in Media and Communication Studies, the idea is now that we will look at the possibilities of future collaborations between the programs.
During my time in London I was also in contact with researchers at University College London, in particular Claire Thomson, Professor of Cinema History. At UCL I gave an evening seminar on my research at their Institute of Advance Studies. Just like the symposium at King’s, it was open for the public (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/institute-of-advanced-studies/events/2024/nov/talk-space-hauntings-golden-records-hope-and-regrets-tender-time).
As outlined in the application, the objective of this sabbatical was to work on a very concrete book manuscript, and that is what I have done. But as an effect of this work, together with my previous colleague Jonas Löwgren I have started work on a scientific article that will update our now more than ten year’s old book for the MIT Press. This is work that for my part is based on the new insights on media that this sabbatical has led to. The plan is to submit an article to an international, peer review based journal some time this spring.
I also want to mention that after finishing this manuscript I plan to start working on a more popular scientific Swedish language book on imagination and the future. This will obviously be a quite different from this academic book. The English language concept of Imagination is difficult to translate into Swedish; it is placed somewhere between a concept closer related to phantasy (fantasi), and one closer related to rational thinking (föreställningsförmåga). But the book will of course be based on the work I am conducting now.
To sum up. I have used the nine months according to plan: I have continued to work on the already existing book manuscript, and I have used my time in London to get new impulses for my work, as well to work on new collaborations between my home department and King’s College London. I have an agreement with my editor at The MIT Press to deliver a final manuscript the summer of 2025. The MIT Press works hard on making more and more books available as Open Access, and my hope is that my book will be available that way.
As stated in the application, I have used the sabbatical to edit the chapters already existing, and to write two additional, substantive chapters. However, when working with the manuscript, I realized there were strong reasons to also develop the discussions around the concept of imagination in a more philosophical direction than I previously thought. I felt this to be necessary in order to strengthen my reasoning and in order to clearer give an answer to the questions I had posed. But additionally, I realized there were a more general need to question the received history of the concept. Thus, in the manuscript I question this “story” and argue for an alternative, more imaginative history of the concept of imagination, bringing into the discussion thinkers that traditionally have been written out of this story. This concerns medieval, esoteric thinkers, the Italian 18th Century philosopher Giambattista Vico, and the utopian philosopher Ernst Bloch. As an example of a contemporary subversive thinker within the area I also add the American science fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin to the discussion. When it comes to the other chapters, obviously developments and changes have been made, but nothing that changes the general thrust of the book. An interesting aspect, however, concerns the fast development of artificial intelligence since I wrote my application; the relationship between artificial intelligence and imagination has undoubtedly become more crucial.
I spent two of the nine months in London, as guest researcher at King’s College London. My contact person was Joanna Zylinska, Professor of Media Philosophy. I have worked with Joanna Zylinska previously, and the stay in London made it possible for me to discuss my work with researchers well placed within the field, beside Zylinska in particular Steven Connors, Professor and Research Director for King’s ”Digital Futures Institute”.
In London I took part in a symposium called ”Imaginative Digital Futures” (https://www.kcl.ac.uk/events/imaginative-digital-futures-a-symposium), a title derived from the title of my book manuscript. The symposium was partly organized in order to launch a new online Master’s program in Digital Futures. Given that my department at Malmö University since a couple of years have offered an online Masters’ program in Media and Communication Studies, the idea is now that we will look at the possibilities of future collaborations between the programs.
During my time in London I was also in contact with researchers at University College London, in particular Claire Thomson, Professor of Cinema History. At UCL I gave an evening seminar on my research at their Institute of Advance Studies. Just like the symposium at King’s, it was open for the public (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/institute-of-advanced-studies/events/2024/nov/talk-space-hauntings-golden-records-hope-and-regrets-tender-time).
As outlined in the application, the objective of this sabbatical was to work on a very concrete book manuscript, and that is what I have done. But as an effect of this work, together with my previous colleague Jonas Löwgren I have started work on a scientific article that will update our now more than ten year’s old book for the MIT Press. This is work that for my part is based on the new insights on media that this sabbatical has led to. The plan is to submit an article to an international, peer review based journal some time this spring.
I also want to mention that after finishing this manuscript I plan to start working on a more popular scientific Swedish language book on imagination and the future. This will obviously be a quite different from this academic book. The English language concept of Imagination is difficult to translate into Swedish; it is placed somewhere between a concept closer related to phantasy (fantasi), and one closer related to rational thinking (föreställningsförmåga). But the book will of course be based on the work I am conducting now.
To sum up. I have used the nine months according to plan: I have continued to work on the already existing book manuscript, and I have used my time in London to get new impulses for my work, as well to work on new collaborations between my home department and King’s College London. I have an agreement with my editor at The MIT Press to deliver a final manuscript the summer of 2025. The MIT Press works hard on making more and more books available as Open Access, and my hope is that my book will be available that way.