In our latest reading list, discover more about the ideas and inspiration behind branch, a digital artwork inviting creative responses to our futures, alternatives and possibilities.

Reflected in the below array of books, articles, games and talks, branch draws from a fascinatingly wide range of subjects, from interactive storytelling and game design, to speculative fiction and citizen science. The below list was created by digital storyteller, game designer and branch creator Mel Frances. branch is an artwork by Mel Frances, made in collaboration with a group of Creative Consultants aged between 18-25.

Play and watch

Congee, by Becci
A short story about food, belonging, and seeking home. Text your friend, call your mum, and search for congee on this rainy night.
Click here to play.

c ya laterrrr, by Dan Hett
C ya laterrrr is a hypertext game based on a real experience. This piece contains some distressing material, and I’d definitely recommend reading the content warnings, and the description below the game before deciding to play.
Click here to play.

Depression Quest, by Zoe Quinn, Patrick Lindsey and Isaac Schankler
Depression Quest is an interactive fiction game where you play as someone living with depression.
Click here to play

Queers in love at the end of the world, by Anna Anthropy
Click here to play

Talk – Rewriting the Future: Science Fiction and Contemporary Art
Sophia Al-Maria, Rasheedah Phillips and Mónica Bello in conversation at Art Basel
Watch the talk below and on YouTube

In Case You Need it Today, by Hien Pham
An interactive comic prototype of a choose-your-own hug.
Click here to play

Marina Diez
Click here to discover works by Marina Diez

Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley
Click here to discover works by Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley

Talk – Making Possible Futures Tangible: Ming
Watch the talk below and on YouTube

Read

Napkin Futures: Fragments of Future Worlds
Nik Baerten, Pantopicon, Belgium, 2018
Journal of Futures Studies, December 2018, 23(2): 29–44
Click here to read the free pdf online
Click here to follow Napkin Futures on Instagram

The Order of Time, (L’ordine del tempo) by Carlo Rovelli, 2017
Click here to discover this book

Storytelling Shapes the Future by Alex McDowell, 2019
University of Southern California USA, Journal of Futures Studies, March 2019, 23(3): 105–112
Click here to read the free pdf online

Your Move: Lessons Learned at The Interstices of Design, Gaming, And Futures
Aaron Rosa Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research, Germany John A. Sweeney Narxoz University Kazakhstan, 2019. Journal of Futures Studies, June 2019, 23(4): 137–142
Click here to read the free pdf online

Future of Nostalgia by Svetlana Boym, 2002
Click here to discover more about this book
Click here to read an extract from this book

Nostalgia by Svetlana Boym, 2010
Featured in the book Atlas of Transformation, edited by Vít Havránek, Zbynek Baladran
Click here to read the free chapter online

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado, 2019
Click here to discover more about this book

Stories of your life and others by Ted Chiang, 2002
Click here to discover more about this book

Exhalation by Ted Chiang, 2019
Click here to discover more about this book

An Old New World: when one people’s sci-fi is another people’s past, Abaki Beck
Click here to read the free article online

Rise of the Videogame Zinesters: How Freaks, Normals, Amateurs, Artists, Dreamers, Drop-outs, Queers, Housewives, and People Like You Are Taking Back an Art Form
Click here to read more about this book

branch is online from 10 February – 13 March 2022. Click here to discover more about this digital participatory artwork.

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