AfroRithms SynBiosis

“For Every Algorithm of Oppression, There’s an AfroRithm of Liberation.”

Highlights from the October 25, 2023 cooperative world-building event at The Walt Disney Concert Hall Founders Room, Los Angeles, CA

On October 25, 2023, Fathomers and The Science & Entertainment Exchange, a program of the National Academy of Sciences, presented AfroRithms SynBiosis at the Walt Disney Concert Hall Founders Room in Los Angeles, CA. AfroRithms SynBiosis was a specially-themed version of the AfroRithms from the Future game facilitated by its creators Dr. Lonny Avi Brooks and Ahmed Best, scribe Jade Fabello, and special guest Dr. David Sun Kong of the MIT Media Lab. AfroRithms SynBiosis explored ideas and technologies from the field of synthetic biology while challenging participants to imagine the biofutures they want to live in.

AfroRithms from the Future is a cooperative world-building game focusing on the design and exploration of a Black and Indigenous-centric multiverse. Players work together to think critically and problem solve, design unique artifacts that help them explore the AfroRithms multiverse, and ultimately, unlock a collaborative vision of anti-racist futures where Black, Indigenous and People of Color thrive. “AfroRithms from the Future doesn’t just help us imagine new, vibrant, expansive futures,” says Lisa Kay Solomon of Stanford University, “it empowers us to bring those futures to life.”

This program was part of Fathomers’ Emergence: A Convening, and was made possible thanks to support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and Getty through its PST ART: Art & Science Collide initiative.

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

Dr. Lonny Brooks is a leading scholar on Afrofuturism from the East Bay and co-founder of the AfroRithm Futures Group. He is a professor at California State University East Bay in Strategic Communication and Foresight and a visiting professor at Stanford’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design. He has published an array of work on Afrofuturist studies internationally, including in the Journal of International Communication, USC Annenberg Press; The Black Scholar;  Black Experience in Design: Identity, Expression & Reflection; and the Afrofuturism 2.0: The Rise of Astro-Blackness anthology.

Ahmed Best is an award-winning artist, educator, director, the host of the Afrofuturist podcast, and co-founder of the AfroRithm Futures Group, among a multitude of other pursuits. He is a Senior Fellow at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, a professor of Film and Actor Entrepreneurship at USC School for the Dramatic Arts, and a visiting professor at Stanford’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design.

Jade Fabello is an Austin-based writer and the operations manager for the AfroRithm Futures Group. A former political public speaker for U.S. Senate candidates, Jade’s writing focuses on politics, race, art, grief, and love. His work has appeared in Texas Monthly, Thrillist Magazine, Study Hall, the Brown Journal of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, and elsewhere.

Dr. David Sun Kong is a synthetic biologist, bio designer, community organizer, musician, photographer, and the Director of the MIT Media Lab's Community Biotechnology Initiative. His research explores the multidisciplinary domains of synthetic biology, biological design and art, collective intelligence and movement building, and STEAM learning.

AfroRithms SynBiosis is presented by Fathomers and The Science & Entertainment Exchange, a program of the National Academy of Sciences, with the AfroRithm Futures Group. This program is part of Fathomers’ Emergence: A Convening, and was made possible thanks to support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and Getty through its PST ART: Art & Science Collide initiative.