The future is often described as a realm controlled by those who dominate the narratives of the past and the visions of what is to come. The stakes for reclaiming futures are higher than ever amidst the urgency of escalating planetary crises, the rapid global rise of right-wing governance supported by tech moguls and the growing forced migration unfolding under the shadow of space colonization fantasies propagated by the super-rich techno-capitalist elite. Yet the voices of communities most affected by the intersectional disasters of our time; particularly from the Global South, remain largely unheard in these projections. As a queer theater director and writer who migrated from Turkey to Germany, my artistic research explores the possibilities of cultivating queer migrant imagination within theater space through sci-fi and speculative futurism. I name this exploration Lubunya Galaxy, with "Lubunya" rooted in Lubunca—the secret and playful sociolect/slang formed by Turkey’s LGBTQI community—offering a perspective beyond Western queer epistemologies. This exploration aims to reimagine queer people’s forced migration narratives as an expansion of experience--like an ever-growing galaxy--within the theater realm by connecting stories from the home countries, diasporic landscapes and beyond.

 

By challenging linearity in narrative, form and temporality, this project seeks to collaboratively generate content through writing workshops that center queer migrant perspectives. Departing from the conventional director-led model, it envisions a decentralized, community-driven creative process. Combining speculative fiction and science fiction elements, the workshops aim to claim counter-futurities and build a collective vision. By integrating multimedia tools such as video design, these components converge to create a dynamic, multidimensional Lubunya Galaxy on stage. Inspired by counter-futurist movements such as Afrofuturism, the project delves into the imaginations of the communities who are marginalized in increasingly hostile global conditions to challenge dominant narratives and reclaim the past, present and future.

 

In this context, my artistic research employs the following methodologies:

 

Interviews and Oral Histories: Conducting interviews that focus on personal stories, world-building and the visions of participants. This approach challenges the dominant narrative that presents migration solely as a solution, framing the destination as a utopia and the place left behind as a dystopia. I seek to question: is this binary framing accurate? My artistic research aims to illuminate the complexities of this journey—how it affects daily lives, shapes shifting identities and reframes the intersectional experience of being queer in the home country while adding the layered identity of being an immigrant in the destination country, often resulting in double marginalization.

This dual experience of navigating normative structures—such as the nonlinear sense of time as a queer individual or the alienating spatial experiences of immigrants adjusting to unfamiliar systems—resonates strongly with the aesthetics of science fiction, a rarely explored genre on the theater stage.

 

Queering Sci-Fi / Writing Workshops: Facilitating workshops where participants craft speculative stories or fiction to envision their own futures or reimagine historical narratives. This creative writing process helps capture unique aspects of counter-futures and queer futurity, deeply rooted in participants' cultural backgrounds and personal experiences. This approach counters the limited representation of queer migrant individuals, who are often portrayed either as victims or criminals. The fantastical dimensions of this cosmology open new avenues, enabling participants to harness their creativity in humorous and joyful ways.

 

Filming, Video&Sound Design: Utilizing advanced technologies to bring fantasy worlds to life through video art and stage implementation, I aim to integrate stories collected through workshops and interviews by using multimedia tools and digital design technologies. This approach reclaims high-tech staging models, which are often absent in the representation of queer and post-migrant themes, as these narratives frequently lean toward victimized storytelling in naturalistic or conventional monologue forms. Additionally, it critically examines AI technologies from marginalized perspectives, addressing how these tools can both perpetuate existing biases and be reclaimed as instruments for alternative storytelling. By employing sci-fi elements to shape these narratives, integrating visual language becomes the most fitting method for creating immersive world-building.
 

 

On stage, I prefer using fragmented projection curtains and ephemeral effects, such as projecting onto volatile surfaces like fabric or temporary mediums like smoke. Instead of relying on a singular, integral background projection, I disintegrate the visuals into multiple pieces. This approach captures the poetics of queer aesthetics—a constant flow with fleeting moments and layered glimpses of mixed sensations—creating a more dynamic representation.
 

 

In conclusion, this artistic research delves into queer migrant narratives through sci-fi forms by employing a collaborative creative process to envision counter and inclusive futurities. By integrating these narratives on stage using cutting-edge video design projections and reimagined storytelling techniques, the project seeks to challenge the normative conventions of mainstream sci-fi and expand the possibilities of queer representation in theater, ultimately forming a constantly evolving galaxy.