Working Title: No More Bullsh*t Futures

Univ. Prof. Anab Jain

As we face unprecedented global shifts in demographics, technology, and economic systems, you—our students—stand at a critical juncture that earlier generations never had to confront. The "generation contract" that sustained societies for decades is fracturing as population growth reverses, AI and robotics challenge traditional notions of human productivity, and climate emergency looms. You inherit not just environmental crisis, but the transformation of our most fundamental social contracts. Yet within this moment of collapse lies potential for radical reimagining.

The future they promised is dead. What will you demand now?

How might we redefine the value of being human?  What happens when economic productivity no longer serves as our primary metric of worth? What new forms of social organization become possible—even necessary—when old certainties crumble?

This semester we invite you to explore these questions. Move beyond critique to imagine, speculate, materialize—through films, moving images, experiential scenarios, or other speculative artifacts—futures that honor our interdependence with each other, with other species, and with the planet itself. Use the power of storytelling, worldbuilding, speculative design, and filmmaking to bring these possibilities to life.

This semester we will host workshops in filmmaking, make a field trip to Venice Biennale, and our final outcomes will be shown at an exhibition at the Vienna Design Week 2026. 

There will be three key touchpoints include Midterm review, Design Freeze and final jury.