Ursula aims to build your Futures Literacy—the capacity to imagine preferable futures. She (or perhaps it) embodies the goal of Necessary Tomorrows – a multi-platform documentary project which merges science fiction and speculative fact. Audiences first met Ursula as the narrator of a six-part podcast series released by Al Jazeera in January 2024 – by rendering Ursula as a conversational A.I. agent who can talk and play with you, this version of Necessary Tomorrows aims to build your futures literacy through play and experience. By playing a game known as The Thing From The Future, Ursula helps guests experience fragments of multiple radically different futures.
Ursula is Created by Hololabs
Creative Director: Brett Gaylor
Ursula: Nacia Walsh
Lead developer: Jet Simon
Developers: Samantha Gortarez, Patrick Colquhoun
Art Direction: Scott Douglas
3D Artist: Fernando Flores Artiga
Music: David Parfit
UX/UI Design: Cianna Dawn
Project Manager: Mike Lowry
Ursula plays The Thing From The Future, by SituationLab
Ursula is part of Necessary Tomorrows, created by Doha Debates & Imposter Media
Creative Director: Brett Gaylor
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Brett Gaylor is an interactive media producer and researcher. His recent releases are Necessary Tomorrows, a speculative documentary podcast with Al Jazeera, Welcome To The Metaverse, an AR project for the 2023 International Symposium on Electronic Art in Paris, and Discriminator, an interactive film that had its world premiere at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival. His 2020 documentary The Internet of Everything broadcast in more than 20 countries. For Do Not Track, OK Google and Rip! A Remix Manifesto Brett has received the International Documentary Association award, a Peabody Award, the Prix Gemaux and three Webbys. Brett has received a prestigious Canada Vanier scholarship for his research on critical data literacy.
Brett Gaylor
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/snackstabar/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettgaylor/
- Website: https://impostermedia.com
Hololabs Studio Inc.
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