Abstract

Speculative art and design emphasize enquiry, experimentation and process. Outcomes from projects have to be flexible to enable experimentation, process and enquiry to be pushed further for future development. The focus is ‘what might be’ not ‘what is’. There is a deliberate configuration of technological systems to explore future oriented scenarios and conditions of consequences. This requires the participation of ‘users’ in the production of speculative art and design technology. This does not mean that speculative art and design has to be dominated by notions of desirability, usability is the primary drive, as speculative art and design do require designers, including artists, to have technological knowledge. The presence of artists, designers, ‘users’ are essential to speculative art and design. Speculative art and design can include a different range of communication technology; the focus is not text as data or index but the actual use of technology as methods of communication. This paper will discuss how speculative art and design work together to enable technological fluency to engage with ‘users’, artists and designers. It would refer to international projects where speculative art and design is used and make people aware of new developments in communication technology.