How can arts and fiction help us imagine the futures of work, and explore unusual territories? In 2018, the WORK+ collaborative project collected more than 150 fictional “Fragments” on the futures of work from science-fiction, videogames, speculative design, visual and performing arts, etc. Our intent was to use this material in order to stimulate imaginations, open up new perspectives, generate new “thinkable futures” and help broaden the set of alternatives for all stakeholders. This was tested during workshops during the Futur.e.s event in Paris (2018), as well as SciencesPo, Thecamp, Unesco (2019).
Winfried Baumann, “Urban Nomads – Instant Housing”, 2005 (link)
In 2020, we intend to evolve WORK+ into an autonomous, open-source toolkit designed to kickstart a collective thought process on the futures of work within organizations or other work collectives. Its expected outcomes are:
- To agree on why change is coming/necessary (not necessarily on what it’ll be)
- To produce new words, new images about what work could be like in the future, incarnated in stories, artefacts, situations, etc.
- To broaden the set of “thinkable futures” and help frame the next steps of collective discussions on how to make the futures of work desirable.
Documents and materials
WORK+ booklet : this booklet contains 46 (in the French version) or 17 (English version) “fictional and artistic fragments” used before and during the workshops and will give a good idea of WORK+’s approach and material.
Winfried Baumann, “Urban Nomads – Instant Housing”, 2005 (link)