VCUQatar presents ‘The Design of Objects That Don't Exist Yet’

As part of the Crossing Boundaries Lecture Series, Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar presents a lecture by renowned science fiction writer and futurist, Bruce Sterling, entitled ‘The Design of Objects That Don't Exist Yet,’ on Wednesday, 16 November, 2011 at 6:00 PM at the atrium at VCUQatar. The lecture is open to the public.

In his lecture ‘The Design of Objects That Don't Exist Yet,’ Bruce Sterling will draw some lessons on futuristic thinking and design, from his book Shaping Things and the category ‘Design Fiction’ on his blog from Wired.com. Sterling will also speak about some of the most prominent people who design imaginary objects and services and how they go about that business.

American author, journalist, editor, and critic,Bruce Sterling, was born in 1954.  Best known for his ten science fiction novels, he also writes short stories, book reviews, design criticism, opinion columns, and introductions for books ranging from Ernst Juenger to Jules Verne. His nonfiction works include The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier (1992), Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next Fifty Years (2003), and Shaping Things(2005).He won Hugo Awards for his novelettes Bicycle Repairman and Taklamakan and has also won Clarke and Campbell Awards.

Sterling is a contributing editor of Wired magazine and writes a weblog.  During 2005,
he was the "Visionary in Residence" at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.  In 2008, he was the Guest Curator for the Share Festival of Digital Art and Culture in Torino, Italy, and the Visionary in Residence at the Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam.  In 2011, he returned to Art Center as "Visionary in Residence" to run a special project on Augmented Reality.

Sterling has appeared in ABC’s Nightline, BBC’s The Late Show, CBC’s Morningside, on MTV and TechTV, and in Time, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Fortune, Nature, I.D., Metropolis, Technology Review, Domus, Der Spiegel, La Repubblica, and many other venues.

VCUQatar’s Crossing Boundaries Lecture Series reflects the cross-disciplinary nature of the featured speakers who are representatives of excellence in design thinking.Each speaker will present a paradigm of design thinking that seeks to evolve solutions to problems in innovative, creative ways.

‘The Design of Objects That Don't Exist Yet’ is the third in the series of six lectures and will be presented on 16 November at 6:00 PM at the atrium at VCUQatar. The lecture is open to the public.