FUTURE AMULETS
How can textiles become a means of superstitious devotion in our ever-increasing technological age?
When we are asked about superstitions we tend to think of them as something that has to do with ignorance and primitivism more than anything else. We see education, science and technology as the antithesis of belief in the supernatural.
But if superstitions have to do with ignorance and basic understanding of the world why do supernatural beliefs persist in an ever-increasing scientific and technological world?
The answer has to do with a basic human necessity: The need for a sense of control, our natural intolerance to uncertainty and our anxiety to know our own destiny.
Our ultra advanced technological society is taking huge steps that are often difficult to digest as human beings. The implications that this human-built technological world will have on social dynamics are currently unknown but it will have consequences that will change the way we perceive our lives and relationships. I am proposing that new beliefs will arise to adapt, give support and a sense of control towards our future “techno- fears” and uncertainties.
The aim of my project is to explore the concept and apparent contradiction of technological developments giving birth to superstitious beliefs and devotions in our high –tech everyday life.
Through this exploration I intend to develop a collection of conceptual pieces that blend magic and science, rationality and irrationality, the sacred and the profane, and the material and the intangible. I am interested in the contradictions of life and how opposites, such as technology and superstitions interact, coexist and transform each other.
i_pradilla@hotmail.com
+44 (0) 7775694829
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IMMATERIALITY : FUTURE HUMAN
How will we define what it means to be human in a digitalised world ?
“Modern society has distanced itself from authenticity and solidity. Our society has become more complex and layered since the seventeenth century, and can no longer be led by stable principles and clear rationality”.
Eike Bippus and Dorothea Mink
In our ever-evolving, fast-paced, technological world, the fundamentals that make us intrinsically human have altered. As mankind continuously strives to develop new technologies to enhance our physical-self and environment, and society continues to promote the enhancement of our external-selves, our perceptions are being distorted by such perplexing information that we are no longer able to see beyond the material surface.
“…the future of humankind may have less to do with genetics and more to do with upgrades. These could allow tomorrows consumers to revamp their bodies in keeping with their changing lifestyles and lifestages”.
Miriam Rayman
If science and technology provides us with the tools to re-design our human-self, to embody the notion of the perfect being and to obtain capabilities beyond the ‘norm’, what impact will this have on our collective morality? And what will it mean to be ‘human’ in the future?
Will we be living in a future of ‘Digitalised Dystopia’ or ‘Techno-Utopia’?
jbv.lee@gmail.com
+44 (0) 7841597793
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NANO COOKBOOK; New Materials, Forms, Interactions and Meanings.
How can complex emerging technologies like nanotechnology be communicated through a poetic exploration of its concepts and future scenarios ?
Technology shapes, but is also shaped by society. Yet there is very little public awareness about emerging technologies. This book explains concepts of nanotechnology in a visually compelling way. The compilation of recipes although fantastical, aim to communicate very real current research and hope to demystify Nanotechnology. The project aims to engage the audience and spark interest to learn more.
“The greatest discoveries of science have always been those that forced us to rethink our beliefs about the universe and our place in it.” ~Robert L. Park, in The New York Times, 7 December 1999. Nanotechnology with its ability to transform and control matter at the atomic scale appears to be one such discovery of science. Future nanotechnologies are predicted to be a synthesis of biology, robotics, electronics, information technology and psychology that would affect almost every area of human activity like medicine, food, clothing, defence, national security, environmental clean-up, energy generation, electronics, computing and construction, creating millions of complex possibilities.
However, a complication is that a technology can develop in completely unanticipated directions and be applied in ways that no one envisaged. (Davies 2009) The unknown and potentially substantial harms and benefits and the risks and opportunities it represents to social, cultural, and material life require immediate and careful ethical reflection.
gaitonde.priyanka@gmail.com
+44 (0) 7792012343
http://www.priyankagaitonde.com/
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SWITCH BY ORANGE
Can industrial design help young teenagers to save energy with educative elements which are at the same time suitable for their specific needs and values?
I believe industrial design is a way of solving problems. I am very concerned by ethical or social issues and I need to feel I create useful objects rather than just aesthetic or symbolic. My project is about teenagers and energy consumption, I decided to focus on a young audience as I thought it is easier to change the behavior of someone young than someone old as their habits are less fixed. I tried to imagine a project as realistic as possible by making interventions in primary and secondary schools, meeting professionals from the different areas I deal with and by going through all the steps of a product development an industrial designer has to go through.
To summarize my design outcomes, Switch by Orange is a service which help teenagers to save energy at home by turning energy saving into a competition. When a teen and his parents get a contract and a mobile phone at Orange they can receive in the box an energy measurer and start the program. The energy measurer has to be clipped around the cable of the electricity meter of the house to measure the quantity of energy used at home and sends the information via bluetooth to the mobile phone. The mobile phone application tells the user in live how much the house is using and enables him to understand which appliances consume a lot by switching them off one by one and see the number changing. The more watts the teen save the more points he can gain. He has a profile on the website where he can share his score and compare with his friends to evaluate himself. The points can then be changed into free credit for the mobile phone or discounts to be used in Orange stores. This way the users are motivated by the competition and rewarded for their efforts.
This project is an attempt to involve teenagers and brands into climate change responsibility and to show that sustainability could be the source of new kinds of services and networking activities.
m.bachoc@hotmail.fr
+44 (0) 7817617011
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How can design enhance family transmission between the baby-boomers (50-65) and the following generations?
The baby-boomers are the people who were born massively after Worl War II in Europe. Being young in the 60’s and 70’s, they have witnessed and led many political and social changes along their life, and were associated with rebellion, fun and hope. So now they are reaching the age of 50 or 60, they are drawing a new type of seniors, more active and self-accomplished, and they are very keen on sharing their knowledge and memories with their descendants.
My work is about creating tools to facilitate this sharing and passing on with their children and grandchildren, by triggering the conversation, or making it more interactive and playful, etc. Boomers don’t want to be the boring grandparent always telling the same long stories, so they very often do not know how to talk about their past, but reaching mature age makes them wonder what they will leave behind when they won’t be there anymore.
To answer the needs of this target, some of my final propositions will be digital, and other very analog, to offer a broad panel of possibilities.
Lise CARRILLO
contact@lisecarrillo.com.
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CSM DESIGN EXPLORATIONS 