Beyond Utopia - with Monika Bielskyte

In this episode Monika Bielskyte talks about a variety of topics concerning the present and future including the importance of language and stories when it comes to the future over colonialism, the marginalized, paradigms and stereotypes to protopian future.

About Monika Bielskyte

As a futures researcher, Monika Bielskyte has been on an 9-year nomadic journey exploring futures in 90+ countries. As a futurist and futures designer, Monika consults on and prototypes culturally expansive, socially and environmentally engaged future world designs for the media industry, technology companies, and cities/countries. With expertise in the immersive media space (XR/AI/UX) and edutainment, her work consists in connecting bleeding edge technological innovation with some of the world's most original creative visions that explores the relationship between speculative science fiction narratives (Dystopias, Utopias, &, most specifically, Protopias) & the unfolding Global Futures.

Monika’s past clients include Universal, Google, Nike, DreamWorks, World Economic Forum, BBC, Microsoft, Mexico City, McKinsey, Anonymous Content, Ridley Scott Associates, Reliance JIO, Telefonica, Intel, MTN, Huawei, TATA, Xerox PARC & Rick Owens, among others. 

Monika is also an internationally renowned public speaker in the field of innovation represented by London Speaker Bureau & The Closer. Her talks cover the range of subject matter at the intersection of science and technology and its feedback loop with social, cultural and political realities across the world. She has spoken on panels and presented keynotes at The Royal Society, CERN, Unesco, C2, CPH:DOX, Future Of Storytelling, Sonar, among others. 

Most recently, Monika has been working on @ProtopiaFutures – a platform for research & creative collaborations challenging & offering alternatives to dystopian/utopian stereotypes. Protopia explores visions of radically hopeful & inclusive futures centering Queerness, Indigeneity, Disability & previously marginalized cultural perspectives in the context of futurism & foresight work. The framework of Protopia has been shaped by the urgent need for expanded futures literacy, to combat the rise of misinformation in the coming age of the increasingly immersive media.

Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/monikabielskyte/

https://twitter.com/monikabielskyte

https://medium.com/@monikabielskyte

https://medium.com/protopia-futures

https://www.instagram.com/monikabielskyte/

https://linktr.ee/monikabielskyte

Books mentioned in the podcast

The Future is History - Masha Gessen
The Memory Code - Lynne Kelly
Dark Emu - Bruce Pascoe