The Future In Black

#flip-target

Where imagination, play, and storytelling shape what comes next.

‘

A cultural intelligence studio.

Cultural Positioning

02

A cultural intelligence studio. Where imagination, play, and storytelling shape what comes next.

We create artworks exhibited at international exhibitions. We build immersive experiences and installations. We guide brands through the intersection of culture and technology. We produce media across different mediums. We facilitate workshops and retreats for corporations and communities. We gather people around intimate dinners, salons, and curated gatherings.

A person with a serious expression in a pink, fluffy, cloud-like costume, wearing a black hat, with a green landscape background featuring two birds flying.
A person with a serious expression in a pink, fluffy, cloud-like costume, wearing a black hat, with a green landscape background featuring two birds flying.
A note with the message: 'For brands, from reflecting culture to shaping it.'
Text on a beige background reading, 'For institutions, from singular narratives to expansive new visual languages.'
A quote written on a beige background that says, "Imagination isn't reacting to the future. It's building it."
Text on beige background reads: 'For creatives, from self-doubt to creative sovereignty.'
Text on beige background reading, 'Play from "nice to have" to essential.'

Play from "nice to have" to essential.

For brands, from reflecting culture to shaping it.

For institutions, from singular narratives to expansive new visual languages.

Imagination isn't reacting to the future. It's building it.

For creatives, from self-doubt to creative sovereignty.

Scroll

The Nine Practices

03

Nine interconnected practices.

Shaping culture through systems, stories, and shared experiences.

  • Four large mannequins with stylized features and fashion-forward clothing, including two dressed in pink fluffy coats, one in a black dress, and one in a green patterned dress, are displayed in an art gallery with a dinosaur painting in the background.

    Editions

    Publications, research, cultural intelligence

  • People dressed in colorful, artistic clothing sitting and standing around a table with food and drinks, with a green background.

    Frequencies

    Podcasts, broadcasts, transmissions

  • Two African-American mannequins, one female and one male, dressed in elaborate clothing, with a green curtain background. The female mannequin wears a pink feathered coat, pearl jewelry, and has a headband with pearls. The male mannequin has dreadlocks, a floral jacket, and holds a paper bird in his right hand.

    Assemblies

    Dinners, salons, convenings

  • Two models standing in front of a jungle-themed backdrop, wearing colorful and eclectic clothing. The female model is dressed in a blue and white patterned top, a brown skirt, bright pink fluffy jacket, and fuzzy slippers. She holds a large umbrella with a cartoon face design. The male model is wearing a green textured sweater with animal patches, striped pants, and black shoes, and holds a large umbrella with a pink and beige pattern.

    Residencies

    Workshops, intensives, Play as Practice™

  • Group of five diverse people sitting at a dinner table with plates of food and drinks, in front of a green wall, with a person in an owl costume standing behind them.

    Partnerships

    Strategic brand collaborations

  • Two women in colorful outfits sitting at a table against a green background, holding makeup brushes and wearing quirky, oversized shoes and accessories.

    Exhibitions

    Gallery shows, film screenings, installations

  • Two women sitting at a table with odd, extra eyes on their faces, wearing colorful, textured clothing with exaggerated textures, in a room with green walls and a hanging lamp above them.

    Commissions

    Bespoke creative work

  • A group of people and puppet characters sitting in a row during a show or event, including women in fashionable outfits and large colorful puppet costumes of birds and a person in overalls with a paint palette.

    Archives

    Case studies, documentation, research

  • A group of six mannequins dressed in colorful clothing inside a room with a green wall, a large window, and a striped umbrella. One mannequin has pink angel wings and an owl lamp on its shoulder. A woman in a peach sweater and black shorts stands next to a yellow bicycle, and a woman in a blue dress sits at a table. Another woman in a dark green dress and a woman in a patterned dress stand nearby.

    Instruments

    Methodologies, frameworks, tools

A woman riding a yellow bicycle with a large, pink fluffy costume shaped like an owl on her back. The woman has dark skin, bold makeup with blue eyeshadow, and her hair styled in high puffs.

Experience The Play Play, our monthly virtual workshops where play becomes practice.

A woman riding a bicycle, wearing a butterfly wing cape, with a bird mask on her head and a small puppet with big eyes on the handlebar, in a stylized and surreal fashion.

Play Is Essential

04

Play As Practice

05

Selected Works

The work speaks.

A selection of projects across art, culture, and technology—spanning exhibitions, collaborations, and experimental work.

Partnerships:

Collaboration

in motion.

OpenAI Artist
Runway Creative Partner
Adobe Express Ambassador

Recognition

Recognized

For Impact.

Acknowledged by globally respected institutions, platforms, and creative organizations for innovation in storytelling, design, and AI-driven experiences.

Book titled 'Chanel Culture Fund Visual Culture Contributor' featuring a sculpture bust wearing sunglasses with the Chanel logo, set against a yellow and green background.
The Future in Black at the Museum of Artificial Intelligence
A green poster with white text recognizing MIT at the 2026 Reality Hack event, highlighting immersive AI-powered creative experiences merging storytelling, technology, and cultural design.

06

For You

For You

  • For Brands

    A selection of projects across art, culture, and technology—spanning exhibitions, collaborations, and experimental work.

    Begin a partnership
    Person wearing glasses, a black sweater with patterned sleeves, green pants, and sneakers, standing in front of a digital illustration of large angel wings.

  • For Institutions

    New visual languages resisting singular narratives. We collaborate with curators, museums, and galleries expanding what AI artistry and representation can be.

    Commission a work
    A woman in a patterned black outfit with large sleeves poses on a large beige ball, wearing pink and black high-heeled shoes and socks with abstract designs. Her hair is styled in two large buns.

  • For Your Team

    Bring Play as Practice™ to your organization. We facilitate workshops and retreats for corporations and creative teams ready to unlock imagination and innovation.

    Book a workshop
    A woman with dark skin and braided hair, wearing a pink sweater decorated with various cartoonish owls, green wide-leg pants with pink knee patches, and matching owl-patterned shoes.

  • For Creatives

    Play as serious practice. We work with individual creatives and cultural practitioners ready to reconnect with imagination, innovation, and creative sovereignty.

    Explore workshops
    A woman wearing oversized pink fur coat with black tips, green jacket underneath, yellow crop top, wide-leg dark jeans, patterned shoes, large headphones, and holding a small colorful handbag.

  • hidden item

    Description goes here
    Click Here
    Adobe logo

JOY FENNELL

07

Joy Fennell Founder & Creative Director

A woman with blonde short curly hair, wearing glasses, large hoop earrings, red lipstick, and a black top, smiling against a black background.
A woman sitting on a pink crescent moon prop, wearing a black top with red and white embellishments, green pleated skirt, white socks, and pink shoes with floral decorations, against a black background.
A brown, three-dimensional star-shaped object, possibly made of wood or metal.

Joy Fennell founded The Future in Black™ to ensure Black creatives don't just participate in the future—they build it.

With twenty years in luxury fashion and beauty, she brings deep cultural fluency to her work at the intersection of AI artistry, brand strategy, and cultural intelligence. Her Afro-Surrealist practice has been exhibited internationally and featured in Chanel Arts & Culture magazine.

Her work resists singular narratives. She creates images of Black futures that make space for softness, fantasy, joy, and emotional range—expanding what representation looks like.

At the center of her practice is Play as Practice™: the belief that play is not frivolous, but essential.

She is represented by the Museum of Artificial Art, with exhibitions in Florence and Miami, and partnerships with Adobe, OpenAI, and Runway Creative Partner.

CONNECT

08

Let’s Shape What Comes Next

We partner with brands, cultural institutions, and visionary creatives shaping what comes next.

Begin a partnership
Commission a work
Book a workshop
Join a workshop