20 pieces of work were submitted, and 21 judges assisted with the judging process.
APF Student Recgonition Awards Convenors: Peter Hayward and Charles Brass
Judges for year 2025: Jim Breaux, Jim Burke, Zabrina Epps, Elissa Farrow, Maggie Greyson, Terry Grim, Monica Jamalludin, Kelly Kornet, Sabine Lehman, Joe Little, Patricia Lustig, Tim Mack, Vesna Marjanovic, Sam Miller, Tim Morgan, Sara Murdock, Grace Okubo, Aimee Pedretti, Gabrielle Rizzo, Sarah Skidmore, Paul Tero
Abstract
This study examines the application of comics in futures research to involve stakeholders in infrastructure strategy discussions for disruptive futures. It employs a graphic novel called “Vanishing Point! Our Built World,” which augments generative AI art with human storytelling to transport participants into a speculative 2150 with a solarpunk theme. The narrative applies the concept of future-self continuity and a temporal discontinuity framework to promote visions of sustainability for both humanity and the environment. The research emphasises the ability of comics to foster meaningful discussions on future infrastructure coordination by incorporating Social Construction Theory, Social Construction of Technology Theory, and Actor Network Theory. Comics being adapted into videos and used in workshops highlight their effectiveness in promoting engagement and facilitating semi-structured discussions. This demonstrates comics as a dynamic tool in futures research and participatory methodologies. Relevant themes: An-thropocene, Ecocene and Climate Change/Post-capitalism/Utopias, Eutopias and Dystopias/Solar Punk and its relations/Artificial Intelligence and Automation/Wicked Problems/Futures and Metaphor/Reimagining Futures Tools and Methodologies. Statement acknowledging use of Generative AI Art and copyright ownership: “Vanishing Point! Our Built World” graphic novel artwork was created with Midjourney generative AI. These images were created using the author’s prompts and ideas. The author owns these AI-generated photos and their derivatives. Synthesia was used to create animated films and AI-generated avatars from comic artwork. Statement on the use of Generative AI in the production of this manuscript: Referring to Author Guidelines on Using Generative AI and Large Language Models| Sage Learning Resources (sagepub.com), this manuscript employed various AI tools to assist with research and writing. ChatGPT4 and its plugin, Scholar AI, helped identify relevant literature in addition to traditional research. Litmaps revealed article linkages, clarifying the research landscape. ChatGPT4 critiqued the manuscript. Quillbot improved the manuscript’s clarity and consistency by improving its language.
Preparing for pluriversal futures through games
The Pluriversal Chronicles is a multi-player game inspired by the Columbian anthropologist and scholar Arturo Escobar’s critical work on development, sustainability, and the intersection of culture, politics and ecology that argues for alternative, localized, and pluralistic approaches to societal progress.
The game invites us to explore how we might harness our collective imaginations and commit our shared capacities and resources towards equitable, inclusive, pluriversal futures.
It asks us to examine our existing mindsets and heartsets, to challenge the official narratives we may be constrained by and to begin from a posture of inclusion, positivity and plural human-centered progress.
Abstract
This article examines the complex relationships between rivers and human societies, touching on historical, cultural, symbolic, and spiritual aspects. It contrasts modernist science and indigenous worldviews using Causal Layered Analysis to explore and anticipate the essence and function of rivers in future cities. As the first series of a trilogy on river epistemologies, ontologies and urban futures, it emphasizes the rivers’ dual nature of sustenance and destruction, their roles in shaping cultural identities, and their impacts on urban development futures. This paper seeks to explore the intricate connections between rivers and the evolution of urban spaces, offering a reflective narrative on their influence throughout history, their present significance, and their potential future purpose. Through a blend of diverse perspectives, this piece aims to highlight the profound relationship between rivers and urban existence, underscoring their enduring influence across time and space.
Introduction
This Futures focussed paper shares my creative response to a reflexive ricochet of being researcher, to unexpectedly becoming the researched and back again. I am currently using phenomenologically art-led and heuristic research methods to explore the implications of the Futures Senses in tertiary career education. The field of career theory is holistic and multidisciplinary. It draws from psy-chological, sociological and cultural fields to contextualise human action across the lifespan. Therefore, I work with people in transition and anticipation. This paper emerged from my immersion in the Futures Sense of Yearning and the moment I recognised the futures sense of Yearning in myself. This unexpected epiphany initiated a reflexive response as spectator of, and traveller on, my own transitional and anticipatory experience which was hovering in the spaces between the inner and outer self. Using a Jungian spontaneous drawing technique I set to give voice to what Jung noted as the ‘... two worlds: the world of the external perception and the world of the perception of the unconscious...’. This process revealed latent embodied knowing that surfaced through dialogue with the artwork. The layered emergent data of the artwork is analysed using a Causal Layered Analysis (CLA). The CLA invites diverse and layered perspectives of the subject of inquiry by examining it from the perspectives of litany, systems, worldviews and metaphor. Inayatullah uses an iceberg analogy, to illustrate the layers of an inquiry that are simultaneously exposed and discrete; known, unknown and ‘re-known’. Thus, a CLA of self is used, to reveal the ‘iceburg in the room’, with intention to explicate the meaning of the personal, as it relates to the collective.
Abstract
This project delves into the tranformative horizon of memory manipulation and cognitive enhancement through Neuralink's revolutionary Nemonix technololgy. Set in 2055, the speculative framework imagines a world where memories are fully editable, transferable, and tradeable via the Memory Marketplace, creating profound societal and psychological implications. The project emplys a foresight approach to explore ethical, regulartory, and technological dynamics, addressing critical questions ownership, autonomy, and equity in the cognitive frontier. The narrative potitions Neuralink at the forefront of the Human+ movement, showcasing its innovations in resharing identity, mental health and person growth. Through rigorous analysis and creative speculation, this proiject highlights how menmory technologies can expand human consciousness while provoking essential conversations on the balance between innovation and humanity.
Introduction
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a pivotal technology, heralded as a transformative force
poised to reshape the global economy and impact nearly 40% of all jobs (Georgieva, 2024). Despite
experiencing periods of stagnation, AI has undeniably reached a stage where its influence is palpable
across all sectors, particularly in Public Relations (PR).
*Above is a preview of the introduction. The full submission is available for download below.
About the project
Circus exists as an institution and an ethereal energy. It is a place, an art, and an identity. It represents the tangible, historical tradition where acrobats, jugglers, and strong-people challenge themselves, offering a window into human potential. (Hotier, 1983) It also captures the intangible magic aesthetic: a place or a portal where spectacle meets connection, where anticipation and awe dwell. Also described as a social-ecological system, circus preserves its core essence while embodying transformative power as an agile and ever-evolving phenomenon. (Loring, 2007).
*Above is a preview of the introduction. The full submission is available for download below.
About the project
Imagining the future is a powerful act of shaping the present. This project explores how toys, as artifacts of play and creativity, shape cognitive and moral frameworks. Studying the futures of toys was not merely an exercise in prediction, rather an opportunity to actively shape a world where toys build creativity, resilience, and help individuals navigate a rapidly changing world. Creativity is widely recognized as a driver of innovation and problem-solving, enabling individuals to navigate complexity and generate new possibilities (Sternberg, 2018; Mould, 2020). It fosters exploration, risk-taking, and experimentation, all of which are central to play and learning (Resnick, 2017). Play has long been acknowledged as a fundamental force in cognitive and social development. It spans a spectrum from unguided, self-directed activities to structured, rule-based engagement, offering diverse ways to interact with the world (Zosh et al., 2018). The connection between play and creativity underscores the need for tools, such as toys, for facilitating and activating imaginative problem-solving.
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Holograms have been around since the mid 1900’s, but they have yet to realize their full potential. These ideas aren’t just mere ‘science fiction’, and aren’t as far away as we once believed. In a world constantly developing its digital capacities, we believe that holograms will become a more regularly experienced component in our everyday lives. We see these futures arising in 4 main areas: Science, Lifestyle, Mapping, and Innovation & Infrastructure (see
Appendix).
*Above is a preview of the submission. The full submission is available for download below.
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The arts have had a historical relationship with holding technology accountable through artists’ speculation on its harmful and redemptive characteristics. As young futurists born into an age where Artificial Intelligence (AI) and related processes have become increasingly integrated into society, we wished to utilise this tradition to engage with contemporary anxieties concerning AI’s role in the potential automation of the creative industries. Using the comic book medium, we speculate on how this automation may prove to be an extension of capitalist exploitation through the story of Eve. Simultaneously, we embrace the more redemptive aspects of this technology’s use. We celebrate non-exploitative ‘machine’ art and the potential modes of expression that it may herald. This is as we do not wish to entirely foreclose the involvement of AI in art but simply question the effects such art may have under capitalism.