ANAB JAIN (RDI)Co-Founder, Creative Director
About
Founded by Anab Jain and Jon Ardern in 2009, Superflux is a boundary-defying, award-winning design and experiential futures company, as well as a research and art practice. From climate change to algorithmic autonomy, future of work to more-than-human politics, our work aims to confront diverse audiences with the complex and deeply interconnected nature of the challenges we face today. We invite clients, collaborators, communities and wider participants to remain open to multiple possibilities and navigate precarity with active hope. For our 10+ years of contribution to the fields of speculative and futures design with a committed social mission, Superflux received the Design Studio of the Year Award in 2021.
Using design to imagine hypothetical worlds as a critical strategy for businesses, whilst expanding public imagination was not prevalent thirteen years ago. In this space of possibility, Superflux willed itself into existence. Superflux is one of the first studios to pioneer the practices of speculative design, critical foresight, design fiction and experiential futures in business; producing impactful futures work for clients like Google AI, Cabinet Office UK, Anthemis, Suncorp, Sony, Samsung, Gov. of UAE, IKEA, UNDP and DeepMind. Parsing uncertainties, weak signals and wide ranging trends, we work with clients to imagine and build future worlds they could experience in the present moment. Such visceral engagement with multiple possibilities not only opens up undiscovered opportunities and helps identify blindspots, more significantly such imagination-led futures work enables strategic, informed and long term decision-making.
More recently, we introduced the idea of More-than-human Centred Design at the Interaction Design Conference at Lyon, France in February 2018. You can watch Anab Jain’s IXDA Keynote here. This concept of thinking beyond human-centred design has since gained traction with designers, businesses and cultural organisations.
Our business practice remains prescient and innovative because of our active, self-initiated experimental research and art lab; a space where Anab and Jon, with colleagues, have an opportunity to test new ideas and themes. Sometimes these experiments find home in client projects, at other times they take the form of cautionary tales, superfictions, future archaeologies and immersive simulations which have been exhibited at the National Museum of China, MoMA New York, V&A Museum, La Biennale di Venezia, MAK Vienna, Vitra Design Museum, Science Gallery, KUNSTHAUS Graz and more.
Recent Interviews:
Financial Times, ICON, Wallpaper, Offscreen Magazine, STIRworld, Business Insider, NPR Radio
OUR TEAM
The Superflux team includes its Directors and a core group of designers, researchers and technologists, alongside a growing network of multidisciplinary collaborators. Our agile, networked structure offers resilience and diversity, allowing us to produce work that consistently exceeds expectations.
ANAB JAIN (RDI)Co-Founder, Creative Director
Our Network of Domain Experts
Writer and Critical Futures consultant
Expert qualitative researcher in public policy
Expert in Decision Intelligence Futures and Risk Anticipation
Expert in Urban Futures and Experimental Practices
Expert in Climate Risk and Adaptation
Alumni
Nicola Ferrao
Charlotte Hukin
Leanne Fischler
Lizzie Crouch
Jon Flint
Elvira Grob
Daneille Knight
Justin Pickard
Raphael Pluvinage
Jake Charles Rees
Sarah Gold
Eva Tausig
Mael Henaff
Vytautas Jankauskas
Tobias Revell
Patrick Stevenson-Keating
Yosuke Ushigome
Carolina Vallejo
EXHIBITIONS
The Quiet Enchanting
Bush House, Kings College London.
Public Art Installation
Location : LONDON, UK
Date : 2023
SAFE: A COLLECTION OF WORKS EXPLORING SAFER FUTURES
Lloyds Register Foundation, Somerset House
Location : LONDON, UK
Date : 2022
Subject To Change
Droog
Solo exhibition of selected works.
Location : AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS
Date : 2022
Refuge For Resurgence
Our Time on Earth, Barbican
Experiential Installation.
Location : LONDON, UK
Date : 2022
Refuge for Resurgence
Biennale Architettura 2021 – How Will We Live Together?, La Biennale Di Venezia.
Experiential Installation.
Location : VENICE, ITALY
Date : 2021
Invocation for Hope
INVOCATION FOR HOPE, Museum of Applied Arts (MAK).
Experiential Installation.
Location : VIENNA, AUSTRIA
Date : 2021
Mitigation of Shock
Showing Styria: what will be
Towards a Plurality of Futures, Kunsthaus Graz.
Experiential Installation.
Location : GRAZ, AUSTRIA
Date : 2021
Trigger Warning
Imagine you Wake up and There is no Internet!, NEON Organisation.
Film.
Location : ATHENS, GREECE
Date : 2020
Song of the Machine, Uninvited Guests, Better Care, Mitigation of Shock
Sens Fiction: When finction foreshadows future usages.
Film.
Location : LILLE, FRANCE
Date : 2020
Mitigation of Shock
What is Nature?, Museum Sinclair-House.
Experiential Installation.
Location : BAD HOMBURG, GERMANY
Date : 2020
Mitigation of Shock, Singapore
2219: Futures Imagines, ArtScience Museum.
Experiential Installation.
Location : SINGAPORE
Date : 2019
Drone Aviary
26th Biennal of Design: Common Knowledge, Museum of Architecture and Design (MAO).
Film and Artefact Installation.
Location : LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA
Date : 2019
Muto Labs
Design Matters, Bildmuseet Umea.
Experiential Installation.
Location : UMEA, SWEDEN
Date : 2019
Our Friends Electric, Uninvited Guests, Trigger Warning
Vienna Biennale 2019, Uncanny Values. Artificial Intelligence & You.
Film and Artefact Installation.
Location : VIENNA, AUSTRIA
Date : 2019
Trigger Warning
Museum of Discovery (MOD), Waging Peace.
Film and Artefact Installation.
Location : ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA
Date : 2019
Everything Connects To Everything, Mangala for All
V&A Museum, The Future Starts Here.
Film.
Location : LONDON, UK
Date : 2018
Our Friends Electric
Film and Artefact Installation.
Location : LONDON, UK
Date : 2018
Drone Aviary
Haifa Museum of Art, Power, Truth, and Post-Truth.
Film.
Location : HAIFA, ISRAEL
Date : 2018
Uninvited Guests
Copernicus Science Centre, Przemiany Festival.
Film and Artefact Installation.
Location : WARSAW, POLAND
Date : 2018
Song of the Machine, Drone Aviary, Uninvited Guests, The Future Energy Lab
Kanselarij at de Turfmarkt, Places of Hope.
Film.
Location : LEEWARDEN, NETHERLANDS
Date : 2018
Our Friends Electric
frei_raum Q21 MuseumsQuartier, Under Pressure – On Forms of Authority and Decision-Making Power.
Film.
Location : VIENNA, AUSTRIA
Date : 2018
Drone Aviary
Patchlab Digital Arts Festival, ARTBOTS.
Film and Artefact Installation.
Location : KRAKOW, POLAND
Date : 2018
Buggy Air
Milan Design Week, Salone Del Mobile, Atmospheric Disturbances.
Experiential Installation.
Location : MILAN, ITALY
Date : 2018
Uninvited Guests
Futurium.
Film.
Location : BERLIN, GERMANY
Date : 2018
Uninvited Guests
Errror. Would you like to continue?.
Film.
Location : GDYNIA, POLAND
Date : 2018
Mitigation of Shock
CCCB, After the End of the World.
Experiential Installation.
Location : BARCELONA, SPAIN
Date : 2017
Mangala for All, Drone Aviary
Powerhouse Museum, Common Good.
Film.
Location : SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
Date : 2017
Buggy Air
Design Frontiers, Somerset House, Moving Mephitic Air.
Film and Model Installation.
Location : LONDON, UK
Date : 2017
Drone Aviary, Uninvited Guests
Vitra Design Museum, Hello, Robot. Design between Human and Machine.
Film and Artefact Installation.
Location : WEIL AM RHEIN, GERMANY
Date : 2017
Our Friends Electric
V&A Museum, London Digital Design Weekend.
Film and Artefact Installation.
Location : LONDON, UK
Date : 2017
Drone Aviary
FACT, How much of this is fiction.
Film and Artefact Installation.
Location : LIVERPOOL, UK
Date : 2017
DRONE AVIARY
Kunstverein Hannover,
Digital Archives Exhibition.
Location : HANNOVER, GERMANY
Date : 2016
DRONE AVIARY
ZKM, Globale Infosphere.
Film and Model Installation.
Location : KARSRUHE, GERMANY
Date : 2015
DRONE AVIARY
Ram house, museo d’arte contemporanea villa Croce.
Film and Magazine Launch.
Location : GENOVA, ITALY
Date : 2015
SONG OF THE MACHINE
Cité du Design St Etienne, Culture Interface.
Film.
Location : ST.ETIENNE, FRANCE
Date : 2015
DRONE AVIARY
Victoria And Albert Museum. All of This Belongs to You.
Film and Model Installation.
Location : LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Date : 2015
5TH DIMENSIONAL CAMERA
Cité du Design St Etienne, Hypervital.
Mixed Media Installation.
Location : ST.ETIENNE, FRANCE
Date : 2015
DRONE AVIARY
21_21 Design Sight, The Fab Mind.
Film and Model Installation.
Location : TOKYO, JAPAN
Date : 2014 - 2015
SYNBIO TAROT CARDS
Victoria And Albert Museum, V&A Friday Late.
Interactive Workshop.
Location : LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Date : 2014
DYNAMIC GENETICS VS. MANN
Mixed Media Installation.
Location : HASSELT, BELGIUM
Date : 2014
5TH DIMENSIONAL CAMERA
Mixed Media Installation.
Location : MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM
Date : 2014
DYNAMIC GENETICS VS. MANN
Mixed Media Installation.
Location : LINZ, AUSTRIA
Date : 2013
5TH DIMENSIONAL CAMERA
Mixed Media Installation.
Location : NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
Date : 2011
SONG OF THE MACHINE
Film and Model Installation.
Location : DUBLIN, IRELAND
Date : 2011
5TH DIMENSIONAL CAMERA
Royal College of Art, EPSRC Impact! Exhibition.
Mixed Media Installation.
Location : LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Date : 2010
5TH DIMENSIONAL CAMERA
The Cheltenham Science Festival.
Mixed Media Installation.
Location : CHELTENHAM, UNITED KINGDOM
Date : 2010
AWARDS
Royal Designers for Industry (RDI) award.
Awarded to Anab Jain and Jon Ardern by the RSA.
Location : UNITED KINGDOM
Date : 2022
Design Studio of the Year
Winner. Dezeen, UK.
Location : UNITED KINGDOM
Date : 2021
Horizon 2020
Grant Winner. Horizon 2020, EU.
Location : EU
Date : 2020
IoT Launchpad Competition.
Winner. Superflux, IoTA, Sciencescope and Virtual Technologies. Innovate UK.
Location : UNITED KINGDOM
Date : 2014
Social Tech Social Change Competition
Winner. Nominee Trust, UK.
Location : UNITED KINGDOM
Date : 2014
Grants for the Arts Awards
Winner. Arts Council England. UK.
Location : UNITED KINGDOM
Date : 2013
TED Conferences
Ted Fellow. Anab Jain. New York. USA.
Location : NEW YORK, US
Date : 2009
UNESCO Digital Arts Award
2nd Prize. Project ‘Yellow Chair Stories’.
Location : UNITED KINGDOM
Date : 2005
Michael Moore Award
Best Documentary. Film ‘Journeys’ (Producer). 42nd Ann Arbor International Film Festival.
Location : US
Date : 2005
Geneva International Film Festival for Human Rights
Grand Prix. OMCT Film ‘Journeys’ (Producer).
Location : GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
Date : 2005
Design for our Future Selves Awards
First Prize. Helen Hamlyn Centre, Royal College of Art.
Location : LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Date : 2005
INNOVATION AWARD
Film ‘Journeys’, Chicago International Documentary Festival.
Location : CHICAGO, US
Date : 2005
Award of Excellence
Project ‘Mandala’ World Design Congress, International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) and DuPont Inc.
Location : TORONTO, CANADA
Date : 1999
International Design Competition
Highly Recommended. Project ‘Mandala’ (National Institute of Design, India), Apple Computers Inc.
Location : CUPERTINO, US
Date : 1998
PRESS
Icon: A future in flux 
Der Spiegel: Fear Can Release Large Amounts of Energy 
