Talk: Crosstalk: On Science and Culture with Clarissa Lee and C.W. Shern

There are some concepts we take for granted. Science fiction is sometimes considered a foreign import even as it is a universal concept. Our society perceives its citizens as divided into two kinds of people: those who went into the sciences and those who did not. Such that when someone goes into the arts, that is separate and unconnected to science.

Or is that the case?

Tune in with Clarissa Lee as she discusses not just science fiction but also artscience, speculative design and the degree to which science is imagined in popular culture — in virtual and augmented spaces, from small screens to big screens, inspired by books while also inspiring them in kind. And looming above this is the spectre of our colonial past, and how we turn existing history on its head in the journey towards a decolonised future. For this upcoming segment, she will be joined by C.W. Shern as he shares his insights from his exposure to science fiction and the spaces he currently is involved in.

Clarissa Ai Ling Lee is an art-science creator, science and technology studies scholar, and design-based research specialist residing in Malaysia. In her sparse free time, she likes to play tabletop games, read on non-work related topics, learn about the latest technology, find the most horrifying horror to watch and work on manual creative projects. She is an expert at bringing together different strands of incoherent ideas, much to the chagrin of those around her. She tweets as @normasalim.

C. W. Shern has written across diverse spaces, especially in action, thriller, and science fiction. His projects include an award-winning mobile game, a UNICEF text-based interactive story, and development on a UK film production. He is also a videogame designer and has a novel in the works.