Close Modal Public Event Afrofuturism & Radical Imagination Thursday, August 27 | 7:00pm Join the Museum of Science to explore how Black cultural traditions and visionary speculation offer a powerful toolkit for building more inclusive technologies and reimagining the world we inhabit. What if imagination itself is a technology? Join the Museum of Science for a dynamic discussion at the intersection of art, science, and community — exploring how Afrofuturism offers not just a vision of the future, but a revolutionary framework for building it. Rooted in Black cultural traditions and fueled by visionary speculation, Afrofuturism has long challenged the boundaries of what science, technology, and society can look like. Brought to life through the lens of artist and creative director Steven Baboun, this discussion will probe the questions that sit at the heart of both art and science: How do we envision technologies that serve all people? What role does cultural memory play in shaping innovation? And how can speculative thinking — long dismissed as mere fantasy — become one of our most powerful tools for social and scientific progress? Together, we'll unpack how imaginative storytelling functions as a catalyst — driving innovation, enabling healing, and transforming the communities we live in. Whether you're a scientist, a dreamer, a creator, or simply curious — this is an invitation to think boldly about the futures we want to inhabit, and the tools we need to get there. Photo © Steven Baboun Register for the Event Date and Time Thursday, August 27 | 7:00pm Audience Adults 18+ Location Blue Wing View Map Price Free with Pre-Registration Language English Register for the Event Date and Time Thursday, August 27 | 7:00pm Audience Adults 18+ Location Blue Wing View Map Price Free with Pre-Registration Language English What if imagination itself is a technology? Join the Museum of Science for a dynamic discussion at the intersection of art, science, and community — exploring how Afrofuturism offers not just a vision of the future, but a revolutionary framework for building it. Rooted in Black cultural traditions and fueled by visionary speculation, Afrofuturism has long challenged the boundaries of what science, technology, and society can look like. Brought to life through the lens of artist and creative director Steven Baboun, this discussion will probe the questions that sit at the heart of both art and science: How do we envision technologies that serve all people? What role does cultural memory play in shaping innovation? And how can speculative thinking — long dismissed as mere fantasy — become one of our most powerful tools for social and scientific progress? Together, we'll unpack how imaginative storytelling functions as a catalyst — driving innovation, enabling healing, and transforming the communities we live in. Whether you're a scientist, a dreamer, a creator, or simply curious — this is an invitation to think boldly about the futures we want to inhabit, and the tools we need to get there. Photo © Steven Baboun Featuring Image Steven Baboun Artist, Photographer, and Creative Director Steven Baboun is a Haitian artist, photographer, and creative director based in New York City. His interdisciplinary practice spans photography, video, performance, textile, and multimedia installation and explores themes of identity, multiculturalism, queerness, belonging, land, politics, and the Haitian experience. Baboun is the founder and creative director of Studio Baboun, a Brooklyn-based creative house, and the co-founder and CEO of NativRoots Collective, a creative agency delivering visual solutions across entertainment, nonprofits, live experiences, and global brands. His accolades include being named a NYSCA 2025 Grantee, a 2022 Aperture Portfolio Prize Finalist, and an honoree for contributions to arts and culture in New York City, recognized by both the Council of the City of New York and the New York State Assembly. In 2025, he was also recognized as one of the Caribbean-American Entrepreneurs: Ones to Watch by Carib Biz Network. Image Ytasha L. Womack Ytasha L. Womack is an award-winning author, graphic novelist, director, independent scholar, and dance therapist. She lectures on Afrofuturism and the imagination for audiences around the world and creates narrative design and immersive experiences while writing speculative fiction and nonfiction to engage communities in world building, creativity, and futures thinking.Her book Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci Fi & Fantasy Culture(Chicago Review Press) is a leading primer on the subject and is a 2014 Locus Awards Nonfiction Finalist. Her follow up, The Afrofuturist Evolution: Creative Paths to Self-Discovery, (Chicago Review Press) debuted in March 2025. She also wrote and produced the award-winning Afrofuturist science animation and immersive experience Niyah and the Multiverse for the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. The film continues to run at planetariums around the world. Her graphic novella Black Moon Ritual, an ode to sustainable energy, debuted in March 2026 and is now part of the Protopias Collection (AWA Studios/Futurific) anthology. Her book Spider-Man/Miles Morales – An Exploration (Bloomsbury) debuted in June 2026.Widely recognized as a leading innovator in Afrofuturism, she was a cocurator of Carnegie Hall’s Afrofuturism Festival, a nationwide arts festival, in 2022. She is also featured in the documentary Afrofuturism: An Origin Storyproduced in partnership with the National Museum of History and Culture(Smithsonian). Moreover, she contributed essays to the Smithsonian’s book Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures and was featured in the museum’s first of its kind exhibit of the same name. Image Dr. Reynaldo Anderson Dr. Reynaldo Anderson serves as Associate Professor of Africology and African American Studies at Temple University and co-founder of the Black Speculative Arts Movement (BSAM). He is the co-editor of the following anthologies, Afrofuturism 2.0: The Rise of Astro-Blackness and The Black Speculative Arts Movement: Black Futurity, Art+Design (Lexington Books, 2015, 2019), and the author of Afrofuturism and World Order, Ohio State University press (2025). Reynaldo and members of the Black Speculative Arts Movement are leaders in the curatorial expression of Afrofuturism with exhibitions featured with Carnegie and Hall, New York Live Arts, and the United Nations. Moreover, Reynaldo is a scholar in the Marvel cinematic universe appearing in the documentary, Black Panther: In Search of Wakanda. Finally, Reynaldo has been recognized as a leader and scholar by the National Council of Black Studies with the Fannie Lou Hamer/ Kwame Nkrumah award (2025) for leadership, and the Anna Julia Cooper/ C.L.R. James award (2026) for his monograph Afrofuturism and World Order.
