We were commissioned by curator Zoe Ryan to develop elements of the United Micro Kingdoms project for the 2nd Istanbul Design Biennial - The future is not what it used to be. We worked closely with illustrator Miguel Angel Valdiva to develop 20 scenes depicting the lives and landscapes of the UmK. They included:
Bioliberals showing Digitarians biocar skins growing in a field factory: The Bioliberal landscape is visually hellish by today’s standards, but sustainable, symbiotic, beautifully functional and effective.
Digitarians visiting one of Bioland’s more extreme attractions: Decay is everywhere. 'Beautiful Rotting' is an important concept for Bioliberals.
Anarcho-Evolutionist Experiments: Since there is little or no regulation of self-experimentation things can, and do go wrong. Mishaps are publicly shared and celebrated to maintain support for the practice.
Anarcho-Evolutionist Greetings: Balloonists
Greetings are an opportunity to measure evolutionary progress. When members of the same clan greet one another, they compare the physical attributes that they have evolved to accommodate their method of transportation: for the Balloonists, a tall, lean frame, and for the Cyclists, well-developed thighs. Those who are evolutionarily “older” have inherited the most adapted features.
Balloonists compare the size of their feet by placing them side by side. Men touch the outside of their feet together, women the inside, and men and women simply touch toes, as sexual dimorphism removes the need for direct comparison. Foot size, as an indicator of height, reveals the evolutionary age of the individual. (Observed by Lana Z Porter)
Communo-Nuclearist: No body on the train speaks about the future, just as no one speaks about growth. They live in a perpetual present. If you asked about their hopes for the future they would probably say: “like now, but better”. The concept of better exists but has been dissociated from notions of progress and growth.
A Here-and-Now protest in Digiland: This group places an enormous emphasis on fully engaging with the present, the place you are in, and the people you are with, now. They rip their ‘wearable' gadget sleeves off in protest.
The Communo-nuclearists’ famous Lending Library of Things: The train inhabitants do not own anything, and consequently, they don’t inherit anything. Everything is shared and used as needed. The number of things needed is carefully calculated for the number of people on board. Obviously there is limited space, but then that only helps to prioritise what things should exist, what is valuable, and deemed worthy of a place in their great lending library of things.
Thanks to:
Zoe Ryan, Deniz Ova, Meredith Carruthers, Miguel Angel Valdiva and Lana Z Porter.
Bioliberals showing Digitarians biocar skins growing in a field factory: The Bioliberal landscape is visually hellish by today’s standards, but sustainable, symbiotic, beautifully functional and effective.
Digitarians visiting one of Bioland’s more extreme attractions: Decay is everywhere. 'Beautiful Rotting' is an important concept for Bioliberals.
Anarcho-Evolutionist Experiments: Since there is little or no regulation of self-experimentation things can, and do go wrong. Mishaps are publicly shared and celebrated to maintain support for the practice.
Anarcho-Evolutionist Greetings: Balloonists
Greetings are an opportunity to measure evolutionary progress. When members of the same clan greet one another, they compare the physical attributes that they have evolved to accommodate their method of transportation: for the Balloonists, a tall, lean frame, and for the Cyclists, well-developed thighs. Those who are evolutionarily “older” have inherited the most adapted features.
Balloonists compare the size of their feet by placing them side by side. Men touch the outside of their feet together, women the inside, and men and women simply touch toes, as sexual dimorphism removes the need for direct comparison. Foot size, as an indicator of height, reveals the evolutionary age of the individual. (Observed by Lana Z Porter)
Communo-Nuclearist: No body on the train speaks about the future, just as no one speaks about growth. They live in a perpetual present. If you asked about their hopes for the future they would probably say: “like now, but better”. The concept of better exists but has been dissociated from notions of progress and growth.
A Here-and-Now protest in Digiland: This group places an enormous emphasis on fully engaging with the present, the place you are in, and the people you are with, now. They rip their ‘wearable' gadget sleeves off in protest.
The Communo-nuclearists’ famous Lending Library of Things: The train inhabitants do not own anything, and consequently, they don’t inherit anything. Everything is shared and used as needed. The number of things needed is carefully calculated for the number of people on board. Obviously there is limited space, but then that only helps to prioritise what things should exist, what is valuable, and deemed worthy of a place in their great lending library of things.
Thanks to:
Zoe Ryan, Deniz Ova, Meredith Carruthers, Miguel Angel Valdiva and Lana Z Porter.