Join Archive Manifesto About

Physical Futures

// Bridging the gap between artists & engineers shifting the culture.

Physical Futures is a initiative of high-agency artists who design future-forward objects that center the physical body.

  • Physical Futures is not a spectator sport. Every attendee contributes and is actively creating.
  • All Physical Futures projects must be material objects and revolve around the human body.
  • Physical Futures is for engineers wanting to imbue more craftsmanship into their work, and artists who want to refine their technique.
  • Physical Futures is a VC & scout-free space. Absolutely no VCs.
  • Bring a material project you've made, or a project you want feedback on–– we love supporting WIPs. We're here for all of it as long as it's physically futuristic.
  • Not sure if your work counts? Message one of us!
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> Received. We'll be in touch before the lineup drops.

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Our Members Have Worked With:

NASA Vogue Apple TED Lady Gaga MIT Media Lab Harper's Bazaar Google Paris Fashion Week Autodesk Lucasfilm Stanford University MTV Video Music Awards Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Meow Wolf Los Alamos National Laboratory PlayStation Virgin Galactic MML
Next Salon: April 9 • San Francisco • Physical Futures convenes every 2nd Thursday of the month. Next Salon: April 9 • San Francisco • Physical Futures convenes every 2nd Thursday of the month. Next Salon: April 9 • San Francisco • Physical Futures convenes every 2nd Thursday of the month. Next Salon: April 9 • San Francisco • Physical Futures convenes every 2nd Thursday of the month.
Archive

Physical Futures v.iii · Upcoming

Cerebral

Physical Futures v.iii: Cerebral

Featured cover futurist: Ninon Lizé-Masclef

This Physical Futures will revolve around the mind, human head, brain, consciousness, and thought. The artist lineup includes fashion designers, architects, jewelers, sculptors, furniture designers, and industrial designers. The STEM lineup includes neuroscientists, biologists, various engineers (MechE, electrical, optical), material scientists, and computational designers.

SPONSOR: RAVEN RESONANCE

Presenters

Physical Futures v.2

Automechanica

Physical Futures v.2: Automechanica

Featured cover futurist: Sebastián Vogelmann

This physical futures featured a lineup of artists & engineers interested in automatons, cybernetics, robotics, prosthetics, and automotives. The throughline was a focus on expanding, augmenting and redefining the human form; with many utilizing metal, carbon fiber, and resin in their works.

SPONSOR: ITEMFARM

Presenters

Physical Futures · Kickoff

Photoreactive

Physical Futures: Photoreactive (kickoff)

Our inaugural salon revolving around photonics, optics, light and space brought together fashion designers, jewelers, lunar architects, and optical engineers for a night of demos around photoreactive and light-responsive materials.

SPONSOR: ERA LABS, Ben Iserman

Presenters

The Manifesto

// OUR PREROGATIVE

𓏵 ARTGINEERING HAS RESULTED IN
SOME OF HUMANITY'S BEST WORK.
IN AN AGE THAT OFTEN PRIORITIZES DIGITAL ARTIFACTS, IT'S IMPERATIVE PHYSICAL ARTISTS AND STEM DISCIPLES WORK EVEN MORE CLOSELY AS WE DESIGN FUTURE-FORWARD PHYSICAL OBJECTS THAT EXIST BETWEEN THE WORLDS OF ART, MANUFACTURING, FASHION, AND TECHNOLOGY.

WHEN THE ARTS COME UNDER ATTACK,
SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS WILL ALWAYS BE NEXT.

TO CENTER THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY FOR THIS NEW WORLD WE'RE ALL CREATING TOGETHER IS OUR SHARED PREROGATIVE.

⌬ ⌬ ⌬

// About

Founded by Sebastián Vogelmann, this is a community for HCD artists, founders, and engineers who make physical, future-forward work. San Francisco has long been lacking a space that prioritizes the physical body over the digital body. There wasn't an exclusive space for those that designed physical, future-oriented objects. Now there is.
We wanted to create a space for likeminded HCD folks to help advance each others' work to the next level.
No startup pitches. 5 minute demos & presentations of WIPs, projects, research; followed by an evening of talking shop.
Our community is interdisciplinary, and intergenerational. All generations are welcome here.
The lineup for each event is meticulously curated according to theme, referrals, and date of application.
Disciplines collide here. This is where fashion meets optical engineering, and jewelry meets robotics.
The physical body & material reverence is the throughline. Everyone here has a deep reverence for the material process— materials must be coaxed, they don't bend to your every whim like software. We believe this material, physical process teaches a patience that can't be learned any other way.
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