Science fiction as public research.
Artifice documents how experimental work moves from signal to artifact to cultural record.
Artifice is a post-digital cultural institution that uses science fiction as a method to build new ways of sensing, understanding, and interacting with the world. Through exhibitions, research gatherings, residencies, and community labs, Artifice turns speculative ideas into tangible artifacts, experiences, and shared cultural intelligence.
What we do
We show the artifacts of science fiction across Chapters and nodes, and keep a public record of their making in the Artifact Index.
The Index
The Artifact Index is where that research is kept. It holds the making, not only the finished piece: who was in the room, where, with what, in which format. Most work loses the memory of its own making the moment it's finished. The Index is the deliberate exception.
Format
Two ways to show a work, whatever its medium. Format is how a work is shown, not what it's made of.
WHITEBOX
Process visible. The work shown while it's still being made, how it works in plain view. The public format is the Open House.
Download SVG ↓
BLACKBOX
Finished experience. The work presented to be felt before it's explained, the process held back. The public format is the Showcase.
Download SVG ↓The names come from computing. A black box returns an answer without showing how it got there; a white box is the open machine, every step in view. An artifact develops as a WHITEBOX and matures into a BLACKBOX: the same work, two stages.
Schema
Every artifact carries the same open schema: full provenance and a link back to its makers. The changelog is public too.
- id
- code
- title
- type
- format
- entity
- source
- authors
- description
- event
- venue
- location
- duration
- rights
- status
- date_added
Support
The Index is free to read and kept in the open. Membership keeps it that way.