At 10:00 AM on April 7, 2026, Professor Joanna Page, Fellow of the British Academy and current Director of the Centre of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) at the University of Cambridge, was invited to deliver a special lecture titled “Speculative Ecology: Interpreting Latin American Contemporary Art from a Science Fiction Perspective” in the Large Conference Room of the School of Humanities, Shenzhen University. This lecture was the 215th session of the Shenzhen University Forum, the highest-level comprehensive academic and cultural lecture series at the university. The event was jointly organized by the Social Science Department of Shenzhen University, the School of Humanities, and the Digital Humanities Research Center of the School of Humanities, and was moderated by Professor Jiang Yuqin, Director of the Digital Humanities Research Center. Faculty and students from the School of Humanities, the Faculty of Arts, the Institute of Cultural Industries at Shenzhen University, as well as from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and other institutions, attended the lecture.
Before the lecture began, Professor Jiang Yuqin gave a grand introduction to Professor Joanna Page’s academic achievements and professional background, and on behalf of the Social Science Department, presented Professor Page with the honorary certificate of the Shenzhen University Forum.
At the beginning of the lecture, Professor Joanna Page posed several questions: “What happens when science fiction appears not as a narrative but as a method of artistic practice? What does it mean for a work of art to function like science fiction? Does this point toward world-building and the imagination of alternative ecologies?” Building on these questions, Professor Page introduced five of the most representative Latin American artists and their signature works, demonstrating how Latin American artists conduct ecological “experiments” from a science fiction perspective.
Professor Joanna Page first introduced the work of Argentine artist Tomás Saraceno. Saraceno focuses on speculative architecture, having spent over a decade designing airborne dwellings that float solely on solar energy and air currents. He proposes the future vision of the “Aerosene,” advocating for human coexistence with the natural forces of the atmosphere. His works are not airborne fortresses that escape Earth as seen in science fiction films; rather, they are habitats that invite humans to learn to coexist symbiotically with natural forces such as wind and the atmosphere. He even uses discarded plastic bags to create collective hot air balloons equipped with sensors to monitor meteorological changes, turning art into a collective practice accessible to ordinary people, while also breaking the ingrained notion that “architecture must be rooted in the ground.” Another Argentine artist, Joaquín Fargas, uses works with an ironic twist to puncture technological myths. His solar-powered small robot moves slowly across the Antarctic snowfield, compacting snow into ice with its rollers to slow glacier melting. He also designed wind-powered cooling devices specifically for Antarctica. These seemingly clumsy designs actually achieve an ironic critique of techno-solutionism.
The Mexican artist collective Interspecifics turns its gaze to the microscopic world, invisible to the naked eye. They build specialized devices to capture the bioelectrical activity of bacteria and slime molds, then convert these signals into audiovisual language for live performances, effectively creating a “translator” for microbial communication that allows audiences to “hear” and “see” the activities of tiny life forms, prompting reflection on the intelligence and communicative possibilities of non-human life. Another Mexican artist, Gilberto Esparza, created the “Plantas Nómadas” (Nomadic Plants) robots. These robots are powered by the electricity generated from the decomposition of toxins by microorganisms in polluted water. They autonomously search for contaminated water to purify while sustaining the plants growing within their bodies. By embracing the concept of “slow robotics,” Esparza resists technological accelerationism and aligns technology with the rhythms of nature.
Brazilian artist Ivan Henriques has designed both symbiotic machines that clean algae from waterways and plant-seeding devices intended for Mars. Rather than romanticizing the sense of conquest in interstellar colonization, his works remind viewers that even when traveling to alien planets, humans remain entirely dependent on plants for survival. He also draws a comparison between the red, polluted river channels following a mining disaster in Brazil and the Martian landscape, revealing the internal contradiction of humanity—destroying the Earth while fantasizing about escaping from it.
Finally, Professor Joanna Page concluded that Latin American ecological art works argue that the future should not be designed by us on a blank slate, but should emerge through negotiation with other life forms. These works demonstrate how science fiction aesthetics can serve as a decolonial environmental thought, challenging hierarchies between nature and technology, and between the human and non-human, while becoming laboratories for ecological thinking where we can test or imagine other forms of coexistence. Moreover, these projects commonly employ DIY technology, open-source coding, and community workshops, striving to share technology as public knowledge, reflecting Latin America’s technological conditions and grassroots creativity as part of the Global South.
After the lecture, Professor Jiang Yuqin spoke highly of Professor Joanna Page’s talk, noting that it introduced how Latin American visual artists respond to the ecological crisis from a science-fictional perspective. She pointed out that these artists integrate the macro and the micro, technology and organic life, in order to reconceptualize the relationships among humans, non-humans, and nature. Professor Jiang also drew connections to the relevant discourses of posthumanist theorists Rosi Braidotti and N. Katherine Hayles (author of From Bacteria to AI), emphasizing the importance of stepping outside an anthropocentric framework.
During the Q&A session, faculty and students engaged in a lively discussion. The key exchanges can be summarized in four points. First, Professor Page defined the meaning of “speculative,” noting that it is broader than Donna Haraway’s related concept. Its core lies in a responsible, ethical imagination oriented toward the future, encompassing both representational and performative/productive value. Second, she explained the regional uniqueness of Latin American ecological art, which is rooted in a decolonial context, maintains a critical reflection on technology, and emphasizes community participation and grassroots practices. Third, in response to the relationship between AI and the ecological crisis, she proposed that AI is not a solution to the ecological crisis; its core value lies in breaking the anthropocentric hegemony of intelligence. Fourth, she offered a pathway for cultivating science-fictional thinking, centered on breaking down disciplinary boundaries and textual limitations and engaging in interdisciplinary practice.
Finally, the lecture came to a successful close amid warm applause!
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