Reclaiming Agency: Art, Technology, and Collective Futures

How do we shape the futures being designed around us? Join us for a conversation about technology, civic life, and collective imagination.
About this Event

How do we shape the futures being designed around us? Join artists rootoftwo, Taeyoon Choi, and Mother Cyborg for a conversation about technology, civic life, and the possibilities of collective imagination.

Organized on the occasion of rootoftwo’s exhibition Anyspace? Whatever., this discussion considers how systems of surveillance, artificial intelligence, and data extraction increasingly shape our public and social worlds. The speakers will explore technology not as a neutral force, but as something shaped by human values, labor, power, and collective choices.

Moving beyond critique, the conversation will consider how artists, educators, technologists, and communities can use creative practice to question dominant models of innovation and imagine more equitable futures. Together, the speakers will ask: Who gets to design the future? Who benefits from the systems we build? And how might we create technologies and civic spaces rooted in agency, cooperation, and care?

The conversation will be followed by an opportunity for audience questions and discussion.

rootoftwo is the creative and civic studio of Cézanne Charles and John Marshall, based in Detroit. Through public works, immersive spaces, artifacts, and publications, they explore the intersections of science, technology, and society. Their work examines the consequences of under-imagined futures, questioning the promises of innovation and who emerging technologies serve. Their projects consider issues of privacy, agency, and consent as digital and physical life become increasingly intertwined, creating playful yet critical spaces to imagine more equitable futures.

Taeyoon Choi is an artist, educator, curator, and activist whose work explores the intersections of poetry, technology, society, and human relationships. His research examines the histories of computing and communication, resource and labor extraction, and the politics of industrial production and excess. Through artistic and research-based practices, Choi considers how these systems connect to historical and contemporary structures of colonialism and capitalism.

Mother Cyborg is a musician, technologist, community organizer, and educator whose practice explores the intersections of technology, art, and social life. Through music, creative projects, and educational tools, she examines how technology shapes communities, economies, and relationships. Her work is guided by a vision of collective liberation and more equitable technological futures.