Read about the experiences of our inaugural cohort below:
“Honestly, I feel like the mentorship opportunity was one of the best things that happened to me in 2021. I had also tried to personally reach out to some practitioners, but I feel that this platform that you've created and so generously put your time in to host, has formalised this sort of connection and brought in commitment to the whole equation.
I was super grateful when I found out about Radha, since I could connect with her on multiple aspects. I've been able to ask her a lot of questions pertaining to my generalist practice and my cultural values integrated with design to which her answers have been very insightful.”
Swarna Manjari, 2021
"The Experimental Realism mentorship program is a great way to work with leaders in all fields of Futures, get intimate guidance and perspectives, and help shape new projects and initiative for those who are either just discovering the field or want to hone their practice. Gem Barton has done an excellent job of selecting some of the most creative and progressive minds in the business so you are really getting exposure to leaders in the field.”
Phil Balagatas, 2021
“Phoebe wanted to start her own speculative design studio within specific conditions, and it was really interesting to explore the steps to take together. I used my experience in both design and setting up and helping starting entrepreneurs. It worked really well and I learned a lot too. We met monthly online, sometimes even after two weeks to discuss the steps. We talked for multiple hours each sessions. The outcome is really cool: a blueprint of Phoebe’s (and Gabriel, the partner that she is setting up her business with) studio/businesss. Quite detailed and ready to start.”
Theo Ploeg, 2021
"ExRe mentorship program was vital in the development of Lifecode Project's narrative and concept. Lifecode has now taken a more global outlook and my mentor helped me to put together a kick-ass proposal for potential investors and collaborators”
Francesca Coppola, 2021
“The ExRe mentorship scheme triangulated by our active mentees ‘Unsee the Known’, our ongoing research project on indie-futurisms and Gem Barton’s ethos of care, has been a space for contemplation, reflection and solidarity for us, almost like a dipping well, an immersion from where we could find much strength + curiosity to pursue our own speculative work.”
Ankita Trivedi & Ishita Jain, 2021
“The #ExRe2021 program was one of the best opportunities I had this year. I was very happy with my match with Lydia Caldana, she and I worked incredibly well together. We both had interests in related fields of online identity, identity politics, queerness, and digital spheres. We set up bi-weekly meetings to develop my thesis project, Lydia would help bring up relevant pieces of writing, project references and provided helpful new outlooks and questions to further my topic. I was even able to meet Lydia in person in New York at one point to chat and draw and write things out together.
My expectation from the program was to define my thesis proposal into a strong and clear topic, which is what we were able to do together. Moreso, I found new interesting points of discussion and new fields of interest that pushed my topic into a new and better area. I am overall extremely grateful and happy with the program and really appreciative of the mentorship platform, Lydia is someone who I know I can continue to speak to in the future as a mentor and colleague.”
Marisa Musing, 2021
“ExRe was a fantastic way for me to be a part of a global speculative design community! The chats I had were all thought provoking and helped push my thinking in alternative tangents – a must have for speculative design.”
Viraj Joshi, 2021
“Martin [Perez Comisso] and I really enjoyed our chats. We managed to meet every once a month, and sometimes slightly more frequently, they were fruitful, engaging, and thought provoking. We also managed to write some fiction together - ‘Postcard from the Future'. Martin invited me to be at a panel discussion at 4S (Society for Social Studies of Science) on 8th of October, for "Situating, transforming, and decentering images of futures" with him as the host.”
