R. Buckminster Fuller speaking with students about the model of the dome.

(Top photo) R. Buckminster Fuller meets with SIU Carbondale students in October 1958. He is also pictured (bottom photo) during a “Children and Young People’s Hour with R. Buckminster Fuller,” on campus in 1971. (Photos courtesy of SIU Carbondale Morris Library Special Collections Research Center.)

April 08, 2026

SIU hosts festival, conference honoring R. Buckminster Fuller April 22-26

CARBONDALE, Ill. — A five-day conference this month at Southern Illinois University will feature programming inspired by the vision and legacy of noted futurist, architect and designer R. Buckminster Fuller.

The Fuller Futures Festival “Reimaging Solutions for the World We Share” is April 22-26 on campus and throughout the City of Carbondale. The festival will feature “artists, designers, scientists, students, civic leaders, and global thinkers to practice comprehensive systems thinking and collaborative problem solving.”

Often considered the father of the modern sustainability movement, Fuller (1895-1983) was recruited to SIU by then-President Delyte Morris, and Harold Cohen, a professor in the design department. Fuller joined the university in 1959.

Media availability

Reporters, photographers and news crews are encouraged to cover the festival. To arrange for interviews, contact Elizabeth Donoghue, SIU Carbondale University Honors Program assistant director and president of the Fuller Dome Home Museum, at elizabeth.donoghue@siu.edu or 618-525-3099.

R. Buckminster Fuller speaking to a group of people seated on the grass.“Fuller Futures is a convergence that bridges generations, and it is possible because of the legacy Buckminster Fuller left here at SIU during one of the most prolific periods of his life,” Elizabeth Donoghue, assistant director of SIU Carbondale’s University Honors Program, SIU Sustainability Council chair and president of the Fuller Dome Home Museum, said. “We have the immense privilege of welcoming individuals who worked alongside Fuller, some of them former SIU students, who went on to build remarkable careers and dedicate their lives to advancing his ideas.

Event registration information

Festival registration is required for the World Game and SIM Center event due to limited capacity. Events are free for students, but registration is still required. Single-day and whole event passes are available. A discount code to attend the conference is also available. For more information and discount code requests, email fullerfutures@siu.edu.

The program schedule is available on the festival website.

Festival highlights include:

April 22 — Earth Day: Origins, Values and Livingry

  • 8:30 a.m. Student Center Auditorium. Opening with Gireesh Gupchup, SIU System vice president for academic innovation, planning and partnerships.
  • 9 a.m. Student Center Auditorium. Medard Gabel, History of the World Game at SIU. Gabel, a 1971 SIU Carbondale graduate in design worked on the World Game with Fuller and it became his life’s work. “Livingry” is a term Fuller used to describe using technology and tools to improve human life.
  • 10:30 a.m. Student Center Auditorium. Noted architect Thomas T.K. Zung, president and senior partner of Buckminster Fuller, Sadao, and Zung Architects, is the featured speaker and will present “Surfing Spaceship Earth with Bucky Fuller and landing in his Dome Home.” Zung is the sole remaining architectural partner who worked with Fuller on notable geodesic dome designs.
  • Zung will be available for a meet-and-greet and book signing beginning at 11:30 a.m. in the International Lounge. His book, “Zung’s Anthology for a New Millenium,” published by SIU Press, will be available for purchase.
  • 1:30-2:50 p.m. Student Center, second floor. “Fuller Inspiration: Voices and Legacies.” Individuals who worked with or were profoundly influenced by Fuller share how those encounters shaped their lives and work. A rare opportunity to hear firsthand stories that connect Fuller’s ideas to the present.
  • 3 p.m. Student Center Auditorium. SIU Sustainability Grant winners are announced. There is also a session and exhibit on the “History of Sustainability at SIU.”
  • 5 p.m. All-species puppet procession, starting at the south end of the Student Center.
  • 6-9 p.m. Earth Day Celebration at Campus Lake, with music, activities, speakers, and light art installations.

April 23 — Spaceship Earth: Playing the World Game

  • 9:30 a.m. SIU Recreation Center. Relaunch of Fuller’s World Games will feature a session facilitated by Ben Lowder, a board member with the Buckminster Fuller Dome Home Not-for-Profit organization. Corey Tester, an associate instructor in the School of Art and Design, created an updated version of the dymaxion map that measures over 50 feet wide. People are welcome to view the game if they aren’t participating.
  • 6:30 p.m. Sharp Museum. An exhibition of Fuller artifacts along with Fuller-inspired contemporary art.

April 24 — From Global to Local: World Resource Simulation

  • 9:30 a.m., SIU Carbondale College of Arts and Media. An interactive simulation will explore climate change from global systems to impact, with collaborative work to visualize solutions, test ideas and identify strategies for real-world action. Led by Peter Miesen of the Global Energy Network Institute, the workshop will include SIU faculty, staff, students and community members. Registration is required and lunch is provided.
  • 6:30 p.m. Varsity Center, 418 S. Illinois Ave., Carbondale. The opening night of three performances of “Buckminster Fuller: The History and Mystery of the Universe” by playwright D.W. Jacobs. The play, which will also be performed Saturday night and in a 1 p.m. matinee on Sunday, April 26, explores Fuller’s life, intellectual struggles, and enduring commitment to serving humanity through design science. The ticketed event is separate from the conference. Tickets are available at the theater and online at the Varsity Center.

April 25 — Stewardship, Legacy and Futures

  • 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Fuller Dome Home and Visitor Center, 407 S. Forest Ave., Carbondale. Tours of the dome home and visitor center will be available from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Zung will also be present for a book signing. The day will also feature activities. An art walk starting at 1:30 p.m. will include visiting three locations on and near the Carbondale Strip that features Fuller-inspired art and end at the Varsity Center for a playwright discussion with Jacobs and local playwright Steve Falcone at 3:30 p.m.
  • 6:30 p.m. Varsity Center, Carbondale. “Buckminster Fuller: The History and Mystery of the Universe.”

April 26 — Design Science Studio and Closing Celebration

  • 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., SIU Communications Building, Studio A and other locations on campus. The Design Science Studio will present its showcase and design science challenge. There will be a panel discussion on sacred geometry and other topics inspired by art and Design Science. A schedule will be available for people to view and see other panel discussions happening that day. The showcase will be available via livestream.
  • 1 p.m. Varsity Center, Carbondale. “Buckminster Fuller: The History and Mystery of the Universe”
  • 6 p.m. Location to be determined. Closing ceremonies.

True Town-Gown event 

The festival includes locations in Carbondale and is a significant town-gown collaboration, Donoghue said, noting that the community where Fuller lived “continues to serve as a living laboratory for design science and bold civic imagination.”

Donoghue noted that a number of alumni and people from every discipline “who encountered Fuller’s thinking in their own way and felt changed by it” are expected to attend.

“For many of them, Carbondale and SIU represent a place that has carried this story forward. To finally gather here feels significant,” she said.