Category: Futures
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The Hummingbird and The Future of Cities
Drawing of the neural network hummingbird, by Karin Victorin
Some say the hummingbird should not be able to fly. Its wings move so fast that it creates the illusion of existing in multiple places at once—like a quantum state, like a neural network, like an intricate web of connections spanning time and space.
Fragile yet powerful, it is so delicate that it is said to never survive more than 24 hours in captivity. And yet, it is one of the most resilient creatures in the world—a being of pure movement, thriving only in freedom, adaptation, and connection. In many Indigenous traditions, the hummingbird is a messenger of joy, a bringer of lightness in heavy times of challenge, reminding us to seek delight even in the most complex landscapes. HUMMINGBIRD carries a message from deep time—that the future is not something to be captured or controlled, but something to be danced with, embraced, and co-created with curiosity and care.
This is why the hummingbird became our symbol of Beyond Blueprints—one of four future scenarios we developed within The Futures We Build, a project led by Media Evolution and funded by Formas & the Swedish Energy Agency.
Beyond Blueprints – A Vision for Living Cities
The transdisciplinary team behind Beyond Blueprints—Vanessa Ware, Malin Lampa, Maria Lindelöf, Bo Baudin, and myself, Karin Victorin—believes cities should be living, breathing ecosystems, shaped by imagination, adaptability, and co-creation. Instead of static blueprints and rigid masterplans, we need urban environments that grow, regenerate, and respond to life—where people don’t just live, but actively shape the places that care for them.
🔥 Now, this vision is alive at Form/Design Center in Malmö until March 16th, where you can step into the future through LumenMind, a sensory AI fireplace I built as part of the exhibition. It invites visitors to reflect on the city we know and imagine the city that could be.
Wild Ride – Taking the Vision Further
As Beyond Blueprints launches into the world, Vanessa Ware and I are now exploring the path forward.
Together, through my company Wild Ride, we create immersive experiences, speculative storytelling, and strategic futures work—helping organizations navigate change with imagination and intelligence.
I come from a background as an artist, AI expert, and senior creative director with a master’s degree in social sciences, specializing in transdisciplinary work at the intersection of technology, storytelling, and human experience. Vanessa brings expertise in innovation and urban processes, making her an invaluable partner in shaping new futures.
Our work is about rewilding imagination—helping cities, businesses, and institutions break free from outdated structures and embrace the cycles of change and regeneration.
Step Into the Future with Us
📍 Visit the exhibition at Form/Design Center before March 16!
Experience Beyond Blueprints and three other visions shaping the future of cities.
💡 We are expanding our work and seeking new partners & projects. If you’re working with urban futures, AI, speculative design, or cultural transformation, let’s talk!
👥 Please get in touch if you are working at the intersection of tech, culture, and urban development!
🔗 More details: beyondblueprints.se
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LumenMind And A Wild New Year
Hey there, fellow wanderers of the digital cosmos and this planet we call Earth!
2024, I will be diving into the depths of my creative journey with LumenMind, and I am expecting and adventurous Wild Ride of art and innovation.
Picture this: me, surrounded by the lush greenery, or snowy white, of the forest, with LumenMind perched atop my head like a crown of light. I have started to explore with this illumine device at Selva Studio’s indoor and outdoor art happenings. A DJ was spinning beats, and as the music pulsed through the trees- LumenMind synced with the rhythm, casting an ethereal glow (see image above or more on my instagram).
There’s something truly other-worldly about watching LumenMind weave its magic among the crowd. It’s like a silent storyteller, translating the language of emotions into a pulsating symphony of light and color. This little beacon of creativity perched on my head has a way of breaking down barriers and inviting people into a space of sensory interaction. It’s a reminder that art isn’t just about what you see; it’s about what you feel, what you experience, and the connections you make along the way.
LumenMind is in its beginning of being created and is a collaboration with designer Olle Bjerkås. It’s more than just a piece of technology; it’s a portal to a world of possibilities. It’s a reminder to embrace the unknown.
In my ongoing exploration, I’ve embarked on collaborations with designers and programmers to create more-than-human add-ons, gadgets, and wearables. These prototypes aim to prototype benign forms of technology, augmenting our waning human capabilities. LumenMind facilitates the tuning into and re-experiencing of our senses, prompting us to reconnect with our corporeal selves. It serves as a reminder that we are not merely beings of the mind but also of the body, where our senses are intricately interwoven with our environment.
As neural networks manifest in our nervous system, they find resonance in the reimagination within AI machines. My artwork is a testament to the exploration and practical experimentation of human-machine mirroring, envisioning a future where this symbiotic relationship births extraordinary new entities.
As I wrap up this little diary entry, I invite you to join me on this journey. Strap on a LumenMind, and let’s illuminate the world together, as pulsating light entangled in an embrace of multi-colored realities.
Until next time, keep shining bright, my friends!
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Artificial Nature Transposium
Me with my poster after presenting my lightning talk at the Artificial Nature Symposium at The House of Music in Aalborg, Denmark. This inspiring event was orchestrated by Elizabeth Jochum and life science/robotics artist Cody Lukas.
My talk focused on my artistic research, where I explore how humans attribute agency and project life onto objects—from ancient ritual artifacts, as studied by Durkheim and Turner, to contemporary social robots and AI agents.
Through my performances, I aim to redefine agency and collaboration within human-machine ecosystems. By activating sensory awareness and imagination, I explore how we can bridge life-as-we-know-it with life-as-it-could-be, envisioning new pathways for collaboration between humanity, AI, and the natural world.
What do you imagine these pathways could look like?
More about ANT: https://www.anthub.dk/
ANT brings together researchers working within the emerging areas of Artificial Life and Complex Systems, aiming to understand and synthesize life-like systems and apply bio-inspired synthetic methods to other science/engineering disciplines, including AI, Robotics, Computer Modelling, Synthetic Biology, Bio-Materials, and Bio-Architecture, among others. Sustainable development of technologically-mediated complex systems is at the core of ANT, and for this discussion, we bring a transdisciplinary group of innovators, boundary-pushing companies, and creatives in the room. The symposium creates opportunities for experts from diverse fields and sectors to come together to further our understanding of how sciences and technologies of Artificial Nature can advance human–society–nature interactions.
Last week at The Conference Media Evolution,
I came away with new powerful insights about the concept of “wild” becomings. While I’ve long understood the importance of rewilding both nature and ourselves, I was excited to see this topic take center stage at The Conference. It felt like FINALLY , ‘wild’ is not just a buzzword, but a vital focus of discussion.
Artist Jemma Foster opened with her sound experiments in nature, engaging with stones, plants, and other non-human elements through her Wild Alchemy Lab. Her work highlighted the deep connection between art, nature, and rewilding.
Giulia Testa, in her talk “Rewilding Us”, introduced Rewilding Europe’s project, focusing on methods for reintroducing wild species, like the endangered Przewalski’s horses, back into their natural habitats, and how that can help restore ecological balance. I see this also as a metafor for restoring inner balance through the way of the horse. 🐴
A standout was the keynote on “Rewilding Our Imaginations”, which explored how rewilding isn’t just ecological but also a shift in mindset and creativity.
The Conference summarized this approach with a thought-provoking quote from the program:
“Rewilding pays attention to the emergent properties of interactions between ‘things’ in ecosystems … a move from linear to systems thinking.”
—Paul Jepson & Cain Blythe, Rewilding: The Radical New Science of Ecological Recovery
As someone whose company, Wild Ride, resonates with the theme of “wild,” this focus on rewilding struck a personal chord. I believe these ideas will increasingly shape my future work. However, I also sensed frustration with outdated systems that restrict the “wild” — whether in workspaces, everyday life, or nature itself.
As change-makers, how can we integrate this wild energy into our daily lives and work environments? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please share with comments if you like.
Let’s start the shift together!
Wild Ride AB and Karin Victorin, in the role of artist and AI expert, have been selected by Media Evolution for a major research project funded by Smart Built Environment and Formas. Vanessa Ware, is the brilliant mind behind the application and she will be leading the team and joining Wild Ride’s journey in the fall.
Dream team! This fall, this incredible interdisciplinary team (composed of innovative urban developers, socially driven advanced digitization strategists, an artist working with collective imagination and AI, and a systems-thinking process leader) will create a future vision, 🍃 Beyond Blueprints 🍃, about how residents can live in and influence their city in a safe, meaningful, and joyful way.
The vision will aim to enhance the understanding of how stakeholders—particularly those shaping the conditions for life between buildings—can achieve their sustainability goals, especially the social ones, with the help of advanced digitalization. These are critical paths of societal development today that we hope will become a natural combination in the future. But what will that look like?!
🌿 Can residents experience, engage with, and help develop their city in a safe and joyful way? 🌿 Can we make informed (and improvised) decisions about sustainable life choices in a daily life where circumstances can change rapidly? 🌿 How, through new ways of being connected (and disconnected), can we be part of a resilient city?
Smart Built Environment is a strategic innovation program focused on how the community building sector can contribute to Sweden’s journey towards becoming a global leader in realizing the new opportunities brought by digitalization.
The Beyond Blueprint team: Malin Lampa, advanced digital stategist at TechSeed/Karin Victorin, CEO Wild Ride/Katrin Behdjou Arshi, Director of Urban Development at Fastighetsägarna/Vanessa Ware, Process Leader with expertise in sustainable impact innovation/
