This project was done in collaboration with peer and friend Katelyn Sipek while we completed our final semester of the Bachelors of Fine Arts program at CSULB. We conceptualized and designed a system of devices and user interfaces that could accompany this story. The core of the story involves the candidates surface which focuses on a timeline to look back at history. The examiners also each have a surface to interact with while documenting the examination. There are some other smaller interfaces created which appear within the story such as a gun-targeting system and and interface to navigate the settings of an AI android. 

Genesis is a future dystopian novel by Bernard Beckett. The entire story takes place in an exam room as a young candidate who takes an examination to qualify for admittance into the future society’s ruling body, The Academy. Young Anaximander, a brilliant student, must face a trio of examiners for a four-hour exam divided into one-hour intervals. Anaximander has chosen to discuss Adam Forde, who lived from 2058 to 2077 and was a central figure in the nation’s history. Adam worked closely with artificial intelligence. Various conversations she recites illustrate Adam’s reluctance to develop and converse with artificial intelligence, as he believes it lacks personhood. In an effort to not give away too much of the plot (it is a must-read if you enjoy dystopian future novels), a twist happens during the examination.