LEAP magazine, in collaboration with the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, proudly presents “The Future Told” Lecture Series: From Utopia to Practopia.

This lecture invites science fiction writer, critic, and professor Wu Yan, together with futurologist Qin Linzheng, to discuss the search for a simultaneously ideal and realistic path towards the future: From Utopia to Practopia.

The pursuit to understand the future is both artistic and scientific. As a broad statement of aesthetic strategy, science fiction is the realm where art and science intersect, resisting the notion that the two are mutually exclusive. In their investigations of the genre, Wu and Qin have discovered that the concept of Utopia has evolved many times in the histories of art and literature. Within Chinese academia, the concept of Practopia has emerged in the field of futures studies.

Wu Yan is a professor at Beijing Normal University and a science fiction author whose major works include Exploring the Deep Soul, In the Sixth Day: Life or Death, and Essentials of Science Fiction. He recently served as editor-in-chief of the special China issue of Science Fiction Studies.

Qin Linzheng is a scholar, a professor of futures studies, and a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Center for Documentation and Information. He currently acts as Secretary-General and Standing Vice President of the Chinese Society for Futures Studies, of which he is the founder.

LEAP LABS act as a laboratory, a generator, and a catalyst for artistic endeavor. LEAP LABS contextualize the discourse of LEAP magazine through lectures, forums, workshops, film screenings, and even curatorial strategy.