Lavin Exclusive Speaker
Designer, entrepreneur, TED Fellow, futurescaper: Anab Jain wears many hats, and brings them all together at her multidisciplinary design studio, Superflux. Both a consultancy and a lab, Superflux operates in the realm of emerging technologies—drones, The Internet of Things, AI—to consider their social, cultural, and business implications. Through Superflux, Jain is able to translate future uncertainty into present-day choices. And in her talks, she shows us that emotionally connecting to future consequences has the power to influence extraordinary change.
We live in extraordinary times, concurrently breathtaking and deeply precarious. As co-founder of the vanguard laboratory, design, and film studio Superflux, Anab Jain parses uncertainties around our shared futures. From climate change and growing inequality, to the emergence of artificial intelligence and the future of work, Jain and her team of designers, researchers, and technologists explore the biggest challenges of our times—and their potential and unintended consequences.
Superflux’s past and current projects include Better Care, a film that reimagines the social care system in a near-technological future; Mitigation of Shock, a design experiment in living with climate change-induced food insecurity; and Trigger Warning, a fast-paced journey through a city of memes that embodies our escalating culture clash in the digital age. These tangible and provocative experiences not only transport people into possible futures—by emotionally connecting to future consequences, they also influence behavior and decision-making in the present. To date, Superflux has worked with some of the biggest brands in the world, including Microsoft Research, Sony, and Samsung, as well as partnered with organizations such as the Government of the United Arab Emirates, Cabinet Office UK, United Nations Development Program, and Forum for the Future.
Jain is also Professor of Design at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, where she is currently curating the “How Will We Work” show for the Vienna Biennale, and a TED Fellow. Her work has won awards at UNESCO, Apple Inc., Geneva Human Rights Film Festival, Innovate UK, and exhibited at MoMA New York, V&A London, National Museum of China, Vitra Design Museum and Tate Modern.