Bringing the joy of fiction back into science
Science fiction is often what prompts young minds to pursue science and engineering careers. As they specialize and narrow their focus, they'd benefit from a reminder of why they entered the field in the first place.

“I believe in the power of imagination to rebuild the world.”
-- J.G. Ballard.

FRACTAL

EXPERIENCE

We gather scientists, engineers, writers, artists, and other members of society to participate in a collaborative storytelling session, fostering innovative thinking at a time when it’s needed the most.

Let's connect!


"Engineers and designers should be trying to think like science fiction authors when they approach their own work."
-- Sophia Brueckner, MIT Media Lab Researcher.

AN EXPERIENCE

TAILORED TO YOUR CULTURE

As your storytelling partners, we work together to discover the experience that will best suit your team. Our wide network of facilitators allows us to find the best possible experts for the collective session. Once we design the basic experience, we include extra activities (alternate reality games, interactive installations, sci-fi prototypes...) to help participants get more immersed in the futures we’re exploring.

After the session, we gather all the insights to put together a short story in the format of your choice (video, comic, audio, interactive fiction, etc.): it can be in the voice of the participants or a new story inspired by their ideas.

Let's explore "what-ifs"!


“The format was largely without precedent [...] and might be best described as a kind of community-engagement design-fiction experiment.” -- Paul Graham Raven (futurist )

“We were awestruck by the clever narrative turns, the melodramatic romantic intrigue, and the distinct magical realist flavor of Fractal’s storytelling.” -- Johanna Blakley (media maven )

“The best festival in the world! Fractal is the most amazing forum to talk about really speculative ideas.” -- Keiichi Matsuda (filmmaker )

“One of the best times of my life, eye-opening and exotic… I made many friends for life and had my horizons and mind broadened." -- Paul Di Filippo (science fiction author )

"The more diversity and collaboration that can be brought to the imagination laboratory that is Fractal, the better we’re able to successfully think out the future possibilities: good, bad, ugly, strange..." -- Alissa Nutting (author )

"Fractal was an explosion of ideas ranging from science fiction to biology, to music - absolutely amazing!" -- Joey Davis (synthetic biologist )

"An absolutely amazing event! I will not forget it. It changed everything for me!" -- Amber Case (cyborg anthropologist )


A COLLECTIVE VISION

OF THE FUTURE

We started Fractal in 2009 as a science fiction festival and it has naturally transformed into the collaborative design fiction experience that we offer today.

The future shouldn’t be dictated by just a group of just experts. A future-focused gathering should also include people from outside science and engineering fields. With a more comprehensive vision of the future, we can improve the ability to drive meaningful change.