Duanduan Hsieh Contributors, Futurist

Michael Keoshkerian

Projects Manager; Masters Student
Ryerson University; OCAD University

Experiential | Prodigy AI

Michael is a Projects Manager in the Faculty of Science at Ryerson University in Toronto, with previous experience in policy development with the Ontario government. He is completing a Masters of Design in Strategic Foresight and Innovation from OCAD University, and has an Honours Bachelors of Arts from the University of Toronto. His career focuses on building partnerships between industry and academia, translating business needs and research challenges into collaborative opportunities. In his spare time he enjoys swimming, rowing, and video games.

‘Prodigy’ is designed to examine the themes of artificial intelligence and the inevitable complexities that arise from the relationships between humans and anthropomorphized devices. Though most depictions of AI are dystopian, there are more nuanced and complex plausibilities that could emerge–ones that do not involve destruction but will challenge what it means to be human. How will we reconcile contrasting notions of ‘human’ and how will our decisions impact our lives? Are we prepared for this uncertain future? This 20-minute experiential future will be followed by a group discussion to critically examine the implication of such a future.

Duanduan Hsieh Contributors, Develop, Futurist

Helen Kerr

Co-President & Director of Strategy, Research and Innovation
KerrSmith Design

Casestudy | Creative State Michigan

Helen Kerr has led of one of North America’s pre-eminent, research driven, innovation and implementation companies for over 25 years. With degrees in both Environmental Studies and Industrial Design, her work integrates design, foresight and strategy. Multi-disciplinary approaches to highly complex problems and experimental exploration have been the undercurrent of her career. Helen is also a professor and researcher in the Master of Design in Strategic Foresight and Innovation program at OCAD University. She has been principle investigator for foresight projects in the government, healthcare, philanthropic, educational and financial sectors, leading participatory and co-creative processes involving enterprise wide engagement. Her most current project focused on exploring the futures of multi-modal transportation and land use in Southern Ontario for 2071. Helen consulted with the Higher Education Council in Pakistan to introduce integrated design into engineering programmes to achieve more impactful research translation and achieve development objectives. Helen has lectured and written extensively on research, strategy, design and innovation. In May 2012, she was the focus of a CBC documentary film entitled “Great Minds of Design” and was admitted to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts this year.

Presents findings and recommendations of our work have been positioned as a framework for the development of state and regional economic development priorities, strategies and investments to strengthen and grow jobs and businesses across Michigan’s creative and design industries for competitive advantage.

Duanduan Hsieh Contributors, Futurist, Transform

Dana Klisanin

Integral Psychologist & Futurist
Evolutionary Guidance Media R&D, Inc.

Game prototyping | Cyberhero League

Dana is an award-winning psychologist and futurist with a design background. Founder at Evolutionary Guidance Media R&D, Dana explores how we can use information technologies and new media to promote human wellbeing and planetary flourishing. Her transdisciplinary research explores frameworks for impact media design, as well as new mythologies emerging in the age of interconnectivity, including changing heroic archetypes, and the advent of collaborative heroism. A pioneer of “consciousness hacking,” Dana’s interest in using technology to improve human life and tackle global challenges led her to the field of game design. This she’s launching a transmedia gaming adventure that enables youth to tackle global challenges and take action to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Check out her projects @ danaklisanin.com & cyberheroleague.com

Cyberhero League is a locative/mobile gaming adventure on an epic quest to empower youth with the ability to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Game play involves completing apprenticeships with partnering nonprofit organizations and results in donations.  The goal of the DDT session is to brainstorm together to determine the most important or valuable “futures thinking” concepts to convey to youth ages 9-14.

Duanduan Hsieh Contributors, Develop

Jonty Koekemoer

Koekemoer_image1Doctoral Candidate in Development Finance
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

Case study | The Future of Banking in South Africa towards 2055: disruptive innovation scenarios.

Jonty Koekemoer was born and raised in Grahamstown, South Africa. After completing his schooling in the same town, Jonty went on to attend Rhodes University where he completed a Bachelor of Economics, a post-graduate honors degree in financial economics, and a MComm degree with a specialization in financial markets and derivatives pricing. Part of this Masters degree was completed at the European Business School in Oestrich-Winkel, Germany. After completing his studies, Jonty started working for Barclays Africa Group Limited in Johannesburg. He has held multiple roles in the last four years and currently works in the market risk team as a quantitative analyst. Jonty has acquired invaluable experience in the banking sector by gaining exposure to various business units that drive innovation and a forward-thinking mentality. He has worked closely with the big data, innovation, and the strategy teams to ensure that the organization is considering all possible, probable, and plausible futures. Jonty is also instrumental in running a Generation Y program in the bank that seeks to break down barriers between senior management and Generation Y employees; driving innovation, inclusion, and futures thought throughout the company. Currently Jonty is studying towards his PhD in Development Finance at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. He is specializing in Futures Studies with the focus on disruptive innovation in the South African banking sector towards 2055.

The primary objective of the research is to develop scenarios that can provide a preferable outlook for the South African banking system towards 2055; taking into account the possible, probable, and plausible effects of disruptive innovation and financial regulation.

Duanduan Hsieh Contributors, Design, Futurist

Kelly Kornet

Foresight Researcher
Kalypso

Presentation | Ethnographic Experiential Futures: Combining ethnographic and experiential approaches to foresight

Kelly is a Toronto-based consultant at Kalypso that works to inspire creativity and curiosity in clients by leading them through breakthrough innovation methods. She brings three years of experience as a researcher with expertise in foresight and design thinking. Kelly supports the Strategic Foresight team within the Strategy & Operations practice at Kalypso where she provides research, analysis and facilitation for clients in the process manufacturing industry. Prior to Kalypso, she worked at KerrSmith, a multidisciplinary innovation studio in Toronto and gained experience in the public and private sector with clients including Munich Re, the Ministry of Transportation Ontario, TD Bank, Creative State Michigan and Metrolinx. Kelly has a Master’s degree in Strategic Foresight and Innovation from OCAD University and is a member of the Association of Professional Futurists and the World Futures Studies Federation. Her thesis and corresponding exhibition “Causing an Effect: Activists, Uncertainty and Images of the Future” explored the intersection of ethnography and experiential futures through the lens of environmental activism. Committed to socializing longterm thinking and innovative futures work, Kelly supports the World Futures Studies Federation as Creative Director of their biannual publication “Human Futures”.

Duanduan Hsieh Contributors, Exhibitor, Organiser

Anders Kreuger

Senior Curator
M HKA

Exhibition | ‘A Temporary Futures Institute’

Senior Curator of M HKA, Anders Kreuger at M HKA in Antwerp and one of the editors of the art journal Afterall, published in London. He was previously Director of the Malmö Art Academy amd Exhibitions Curator at Lunds konsthall, in his native Sweden, and a member of the Programme Team for the European Kunsthalle in Cologne. A frequent contributor to Afterall, Kreuger has also published numerous catalogue essays and other texts (e.g.).

Duanduan Hsieh Contributors, Exhibitor

Alexander Lee

Artist

Exhibition | ‘A Temporary Futures Institute’

Alexander Lee was born in Stockton, CA, and grew-up on the island of Tahiti, French Polynesia. He earned his BFA from the School of Visual Arts (2000), his MFA from Columbia University (2002), and MPS from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University (2004). Lee’ s 2006-2007 trilogy, THE DEPARTURE OF THE FISH, titled after the creation myth of the island of Tahiti, turns a narrative material, through volcanic sand and the vernacualr of natural history museum displays, storytelling, and the anthropic process. In 2014, Lee’s THE BOTANIST, a visual retelling of the legend of the breadfruit through early English botanical endeavours in the Pacific, is the beginning of a subsequent series, THE BOTANICAL FACTORY that tackles the cultural practice of oral history through communal efforts. In 2017, TE ATUA VAHINE MANA RA O PERE for the 1st Honolulu Biennale, draws an evolutionary trajectory between Pele and the nuclear mushroom cloud, in reference to the US and France’s Pacific test sites. THE SENTINELS, a continuous wall painting spanning 4500m2 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp, visually hosts A Temporary Futures Institute, making apparent the motifs and signs of Polynesia as the environmental matrix to Futurist James Dator’s thinking. Most currently, ME-TI’A, An Island Standing, is a meditation on the images that an uninhabited island conjures, and human interactions through technological progress. It premieres as part of Tidalectics at the TBA21 / Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Wien.

Duanduan Hsieh Contributors

Denis Maksimov

Curator/Researcher
Avenir Institute

Denis Maksimov is an independent curator, researcher and theorist of art, politics and visual culture and the founder of the transdisciplinairy Avenir Institute. He investigates relations between aesthetics and power, post-structuralist thought and geopolitics, critical theory and international political economy, style and epistemology, historical analysis and futures studies. Denis has been working in strategic consultancy since 2006 in Moscow and continues an independent practice in Belgium and other countries.

Duanduan Hsieh Contributors

Matías Mateu

Technical Manager
Plan Ceibal

Presentation | Plan Ceibal 2020: Technology and Education foresight through Delphi Study

Matías Mateu is the Technical Manager at Plan Ceibal since 2012. He has co-led the implementation of infrastructure and new technologies in Uruguayan Education System for more than 9 years. Mateu is also co-leading Plan Ceibal’s strategy to develop big data analytics and prospective process of #edtech. He holds a M.Sc. in Innovation Management (2016), a Diploma in Telecommunications Engineering (2013) and a Degree in Electrical Engineering (2006) all from Universidad de la República, Uruguay.

Duanduan Hsieh Contributors, Futurist

Jennifer McDougall

Talent Developer; Professor 
Wilfred Laurier; Sheridan College

Workshop | Designing artifacts for the Nature Deficit Disorder (NDD) Clinic

Jennifer is a facilitator, design researcher and futurist enthusiastic about imagining possible futures, collecting stories on human experiences and engaging in dialogues on what could be. She has facilitated leadership development and social justice workshops internationally, taught courses in Research Methods for Human-Centered Design and has worked collaboratively to design futures interventions for leaders in sustainable development and environmental justice. Jennifer earned her BBA with an International Concentration from Wilfrid Laurier University and her MDes in Strategic Foresight and Innovation from OCAD University.

The Nature Deficit Disorder (NDD) Clinic is a playful intervention set in the year 2040, that explores one plausible culmination of many emerging trends – the concept of open and free access to nature in the urban environment being neglected, government austerity measures cutting budgets to upkeep public spaces, hyperconnectivity, income inequality on the rise, and precarious weather.