The Black Maker explores the intersection of blackness and technology, through the afrofuturist gaze. From uncovering technologies of pre-colonial Africa, to exploring future Mathematics and scientific discovery, the Black Maker is an interdisciplinary conference which will include screenings and art exhibits, celebrating black achievement and creativity.









Schedule

10:15-10:45

Doors open to the public







10:45-11:00

Introduction and Talk: Does Africa Dream of Androids? - Florence Okoye





11:00-11:20

Moss Code: at the intersection of blackness and computer science - Ikem Nzeribe





11:20-11:50

The Future of Black Mathematics - Dr Nira Chamberlain

Where are our Black Newtons and Hawkings. Will ever the next Einstein be Black? Can I name the world's greatest black mathematician who lived in the 20th Century? What is Mathematics anyway and what is it relevance to our community? In this talk, Dr Chamberlain will discuss the obstacles and the opportunities for the Black community within the world of mathematics...





12:00-15:00

Workshops

Comics making workshops (Charlotte)

Coding workshop (Olu)

15:10-15:30

A talk on my work and exhibition - Alex Hutchinson





15:30-15:50

Return of the Grior/t - Christopher Lutterodt-Quarcoo

Talking about his newest work Griot/t, Christopher officially introduces his new organisation ‘Archive of Unmaterialised History’ explaining it’s roots in ancient technology problematising the ideas of truth and fact.

16:00-16:20

Designing for Virtual Reality - Clorama Dorvilias

Currently, the tech industry lacks the diversity needed to address and understand the experiences of marginalised groups and struggles to retain and harness inclusive input due to factors that contribute to the unconscious biases/disenfranchisement of people of colour and women. With resources now accessible for creating and contributing to this growing field, we are given the opportunity to take initiative to experiment and solve problems that can improve our experiences as people of colour with the newly accessible technology.

Specifically, I will be focussing on Virtual Reality, a medium with a profound capability to tap into shaping and developing emotions and empathy.

In this session, I will go over how to get started using the free and affordable tools available to start building your own virtual reality game without any coding required! I will also talk about the methods and factors you can use that will help to (secretly) help develop empathy for your users!





16:25-16:45

Performance by Velvet Bacchus

The Velvet Bacchus is the brainchild of London-based songwriter and bassist Joan Okoye. With influences ranging from Nina Simone to Black Sabbath, The Velvet Bacchus plays an wide range of music based around the blues and rock.





16:50-17:25

Panel

An open panel with a live twitter conversation, join us as we come together to discuss and debate the topics raised throughout the day.





17:25

Plenary and closing words - Nikky Norton Shafau

17:30

Close

Guest Speakers:

Dr Nira Chamberlain - The Future of Black Mathematics

Dr Nira Chamberlain is listed by the Science Council as ‘one of the UK’s top 100 Scientist’. Furthermore in 2015, Nira became the first Black mathematician to join the exclusive list of distinguish living British mathematicians who feature in the biographical reference book Who’s Who.

Clorama Dorvilias - Designing for Virtual Reality

Clorama is a UX Generalist, Interaction designer and digital marketing consultant from San Jose, CA. Through her love for design and community building, she is focused in helping women entrepreneurs, nonprofit organizations; start-ups to help create their personal brand development. Past clients include: Pink Creative Studio and Issa Rae. In her spare time, she currently volunteers as a website development and social media consultant for HERA UK and HERA France, an NGO that helps survivors of trafficking become Entrepreneurs.

Ikem Nzeribe - Moss Code: at the intersection of Blackness and Computer Science

Designer, programmer, visionary and artist, Ikem Nzeribe is a co-founder and tutor at MossCode, a community Computer science lab where the future is coded…

Florence Okoye - An Afrofuturist perspective on black philosophy of technology

Drawing on her research in pre-colonial technology, Florence will be looking at common threads uniting black perspectives on science and technology from past to present.

Christopher Lutterodt-Quarcoo - Return of the Grior/t

Christopher Lutterodt-Quarcoo’s work takes form as installations and film, using sound as a device to blur the line between fact and fiction. Research based, intricate narratives explore lost and unusual accounts. Materialised using cinematic devices and religious conventions provoking an inquisition of actuality.

Alex Hutchinson

Alex Hutchiwood Los Angeles-based Photographer + Art Director specializing in content creation for social media and brand developement. Graduated from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising with a focus in youth trend forecasting.

Performers

Joan Okoye (Velvet Bacchus)

The Velvet Bacchus is the brainchild of London-based songwriter and bassist Joan Okoye. With influences ranging from Nina Simone to Black Sabbath, The Velvet Bacchus plays an wide range of music based around the blues and rock.

WORKSHOPS

Starting from 12

Comics Workshop with Charlotte Bailey

Like film, music or prose, comics are another unique medium for self-expression. In this workshop we’ll have some fun developing a communication tool which can be understood universally. All we’ll need is paper, ink and something to say. No artistic skills required, as anybody can draw, and I’ll teach you the basics to help you better get what you want to say across.

In three hours we’ll touch on the hidden language in comics, the basics of expression, how to tell a story in 4 panels or less and we’ll get you drafting your first comic. If you know you’ll be joining us, your homework is to think about something you want to say. It might be a question, an experience, something you’ve learnt recently, or an opinion. It could be based on a memory, a story you’ve heard or a dream. Have that ready so that we can focus on getting it across in this workshop.





Coding Workshop with Olu Niyi Awosusi

Ideal for beginners to intermediate coders, you will learn the fundamentals of web development at our coding workshop, which will also be a space for working on any projects. Get one to one advice with our resident programmer, Olu Niyi Awosusi, an experienced full stack developer who works on some of the most innovative and exciting projects in tech!









About Us

AfroFutures_UK is a UK based AfroFuturist collective interested in exploring and discovering the black identity of the future. We co-host and produce events where we encourage multidisciplinary connections and social justice tech activist dissension!