Inquiry · 2026

المستقبل خلفناتساؤل 2026

The Future Is Behind Us

المستقبل خلفنا

What might the past teach us about the futures we are building?

The Inquiry travels from London to San Francisco, Shanghai, and Abu Dhabi, evolving through conversations, encounters, and experiments along the way.

PastCurrentUpcoming

Writing

كتابات
Published in ARTIFACT Futures · Issue No. 3 · InterludeChen Qiufan
The Human as PlaceholderArtifacts, Cultural Memory, and Artificial IntelligenceImagine a glass of water. Clear and transparent, it becomes steam when heated and ice when cooled. The skin registers entirely different sensations in each case: wet and scalding, or hard and freezing. When the temperature returns to normal, it flows once more as a liquid. From this, we might easily draw a simple conclusion: its state has changed, but water is still water.Read the essay

Convene

لقاءات

London San Francisco Shanghai Abu Dhabi

  1. Done

    London

    لندن

    10–11 June 2026

    At the British Library Knowledge Centre as part of the London Tech Week Fringe Programme, bringing together voices across culture, technology, research, and institutions.

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  2. Next

    San Francisco

    سان فرانسيسكو

    8 October 2026

    Part of #SFTechWeek and co-hosted with Emergences Labs, MoE Capital, GMI Cloud, and J.P. Morgan, a private gallery evening bringing together AI founders, researchers, investors, and the art world to explore our evolving relationship with AI.

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  3. Coming

    Shanghai

    شنغهاي

    10–15 November 2026

    At West Bund Art & Design, presenting projects by the Builders we back and exploring new possibilities for AI, creativity, memory, and human experience.

  4. Finale

    Abu Dhabi

    أبوظبي

    December 2026

    Abu Dhabi Conversations, held during the week of Culture Summit Abu Dhabi, brings the 2026 Inquiry to a close through cross-disciplinary conversations on technology and the human future.

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