Callum Copley

Callum Copley

Writer, researcher and editor in Amsterdam

About

I am an Amsterdam-based researcher, writer and editor, currently working as a Senior Creative Copywriter at the technology-driven design studio Bakken & Bæck. In the past, I have taught at the Critical Inquiry lab (MA) at Design Academy Eindhoven and the Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam, where I also graduated from the Critical Studies masters program in 2018.

Projects

2023

I worked extensively with Carbo Culture to develop the brand language, tone of voice and communication strategy for their rapidly growing biochar carbon removal company. This included a website, press releases, white papers, decks and social media content, all created after conducting in-depth interviews with stakeholders, engineers and other technical staff.

2022

I worked with our brand team to develop the communications strategy of Studio, a spatial computing application that turns your smartphone into an interior design tool. I worked closely with external partners to write and direct the short film that unpacks the product and its features, liaising with CG artists, art directors and sound designers.

2022

Everyday Experiments was a speculative design platform by SPACE10 and IKEA, which partnered with some of the most innovative design and technology studios worldwide to ask them: how can we work with emerging technologies to improve everyday life at home? Working on this project for several years, I produced dozens of editorials profiling each studio and its experiments, alongside conducting countless interviews and writing a short live-action promotional film.

2021

AION offers manufacturers a network of partners to provide detailed traceability and emissions reporting for the plastic used in their products. I worked on the UX/UI for the digital tool that was a part of this process and in developing a short CG film and marketing strategy.

2021

Lord of the Harvest is a browser-based "idle game" developed as a promotional tool for Peter Talisman's debut album. I worked on the game's narrative design, as well as the story, characters and dialogue, building off concepts created with the artists themselves.

2020

På(fyll) is a circular service that uses smart logistics and refillable packaging to deliver everyday household items directly to people’s doorsteps. Working closely with the design team, I developed the tone of voice, brand guidelines, website copy and social media content.

2019

I was commissioned to help a Tokyo-based auto manufacturer imagine a more sustainable and visionary future of mobility. I developed an immersive, live-action role-playing game exploring different speculative scenarios centred around transportation. Individuals were given different personas that forced the player to confront new subject positions and raise questions about climate change and the impact of new technologies.

Side Projects

Ongoing

Soft Earth is an independent video game design studio I founded with Joesph Pleass and Ben West in 2021. We are currently working on our second game, Fishing at the End, a browser-based open-world RPG that explores a post-apocalyptic Earth through the discarded objects that remain after the catastrophe. As Narrative Director and Lead Writer, I developed the initial concept, characters, dialogue, story and missions, working closely with the game designers to co-create the overall experience. Release is expected in early 2024.

Ongoing

Green Screens is an ongoing research project that explores the relationship between ecology, environment and cinema. Through screenings and discussions, we explore the intersection of ecological concepts and science-fiction tropes. The series has thus far been hosted by the Sandberg Institute, where events have bee open to all students, staff and graduates of the Sandberg and Rietveld. The latest series, 'Green Screens: Animal Anxieties' will begin in January.

Ongoing

*Schemas of Uncertainty* is a research project on the relation between prediction and prescription within current socio-political structures. The project examines the risks and possibilities emerging technologies pose to the imagination of other possible futures or realities. From divination to machine learning, the project looks at the potentials and problematics that exist at the limits of knowability. It considers uncertainty as a generative condition upon which other forms of sociability can be imagined.

Initially starting as a cross-departmental research group at the Sandberg Instituut in 2018, the project has taken multiple formats, including a publication, a symposium and various workshop series. *Schemas of Uncertainty* is initiated by Callum Copley and Danae Io and has involved a number of contributors without which it could not exist.

2020
Hydrofutures: Marrocco

As part of the QANAT initiative at LE18 Gallery, Marrakech, I was invited to organise a series of workshops that used science fiction as a way to think through the politics and poetics of water. Over three weeks, I led a group of local artists through a series of readings, discussions, screenings and collaborative games that explored sci-fi as a methodology to approach questions of water-justice past, present and future.

2019

With collaborator Ben West, I created a tool which automatically crawls Wikipedia articles at random, pulling images and links and arranging the resulting collage into a 'starter pack' tweeted every two hours. We satirised the meme's formulaic nature, which highlights the formulaic nature of subcultures themselves. The meme format becomes the object of humour rather than the individual contents of the specific variants. Amidst discussions of the impact of automation on creativity, we thought it interesting to comment on the format of memes as appearing so algorithmic already.

2019

Over several months of working with three different groups, Students from Birzeit University, teaching staff from the Ramallah Municipality, and a Palestinian Youth Club from Beit Safafa, I conducted a series of writing workshops that explored science fiction as a methodology for political and social change.

2018

Working with web developer Ben West, we created an interactive experience that unpacked the content of my essay 'A Friend is Writing'. The text explores the professionalisation of social media, the politics of group chats and the broader attention economy online.

2015

Registration School was a three-day, free alternative education program at the Old Tide Mill School in Deptford, London, that I co-organised with Ross Bennett and Andrew Thorpe. The event hosted 50+ workshop attendees, with visiting practitioners such as designer Anthony Burrill, illustrator Jiro Bevis, and digital creative Mark Kremers.

2021
The Waning Immortality of Ms. Amy Avery, e-flux
2019
Twitchers, Ace & Tate / Dutch Design Week

Work Experience

2022 — Now

As the Senior Creative Copywriter, I manage large-scale communication projects for clients in climate technology and circular services, collaborating closely with diverse disciplines, including product design, branding, and art direction.

2020 — 2022

In my role, I collaborated with clients like IKEA and SPACE10, focusing on projects in their research and innovation labs that explored the impact of AI, XR, and other emerging technologies on everyday home life.

2020 — 2022

As a core tutor on the Critical Inquiry Lab Masters programme, I designed a curriculum and lesson plans encouraging critical thinking and hands-on experimentation, emphasising design research and its broader socio-cultural and technological implications.

2012 — 2017
Graphic Designer at Freelance

Education

2016 — 2018
M.A Critical Studies at Sandberg Institute
2010 — 2014
B.A. Graphic & Media Design at London College of Communication
2012 — 2014
Diploma in Professional Studies at London College of Communication
2009 — 2010
Diploma in Art & Design at Hull School of Art and Design