Virtual heterotopias: Mirroring reality through speculative art practice

One of the major cultural shifts of the last decades has been the redirection of our culture towards the past. Facing the environmental crisis it has become increasingly harder to dream of the future. How to dream of the future when ‘futuristic’ has become a style rather than a proposition? This thesis examines imagination from the spatial perspective. In the first part, it explores theoretical concepts that can be used in the artistic practice of creating fictional spaces. Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopia is applied to non-physical spaces created in artworks and the method is examined through a comparative thought experiment on cinematic examples. The second part of the thesis examines the potential ability of fictional spaces to affect reality and revolves around the issue of their mediation. It introduces the concept of virtual heterotopia and uses its lens to examine the field of critical art practice using speculative methods. Finally, the thesis positiones the practice of creating virtual heterotopias, or ‘fictioning’, into political and activist context. The thesis uses an interpretivist approach based mainly on literary review and analysis of case studies of literature, film and design fiction. Keywords: heterotopia, utopia, island, critical, speculative, Michel Foucault, imaginary space, spaceship, future