The Garden of Speculative Design
How do spaces of unbelonging appear in society? Let us count the ways. In an exercise titled "Speculative Design", the program lead of OUaT, Dr. Nishant Shah, gave our narrative experts a prompt. Two spaces emerged from two groups of experts.
Prompt:
"A life-changing event takes place in a public space. But it can't be accessible to everybody, because every time somebody interacts with it, its power diminishes. Your job is to create an inhospitable space. A space that is not welcome to everybody. It is a public space so it can't be protected through barriers of force. Design signs, symbols, patterns, and practices that will stop 'everybody' from approaching it. This is a world-building exercise, where we imagine who the 'everybody' is and we draw from our experiences, to make explicit, the tacit barriers we otherwise experience."Two spaces emerged from two groups of experts.
Group 1
The first offered people the chance to acquire an elixir of life, a miracle serum of sorts that worked like a fountain of youth. But they placed the following conditions on a potential public:
Host the event in a remote location at an unstable structure such as a dilapidated building.
The information regarding the event is accessible only through the latest technology, often supported be very expensive gadgets.
Ticketing and queuing is uncomfortable.
The venue either has too many doors, causing confusion; or to few entry points causing frustration.
The pathways are dark with bad odours and disturbing sounds.
Creating decoys or misleading signs that cause delay.
There are symbols indicating that not all castes, creed, and religions are welcome.
Environmental barriers are at work: it is either too hot or too cold.
There is a lack of basic facilities: no toilets, no access to food or water, no availability of phone signal.
A hall of mirrors will challenge perception and there will be spaces where the gravitational centre of people and objects will be challenged.
If you make it to the object, your time there is extremely limited.
The first offered people the chance to acquire an elixir of life, a miracle serum of sorts that worked like a fountain of youth. But they placed the following conditions on a potential public:
Host the event in a remote location at an unstable structure such as a dilapidated building.
The information regarding the event is accessible only through the latest technology, often supported be very expensive gadgets.
Ticketing and queuing is uncomfortable.
The venue either has too many doors, causing confusion; or to few entry points causing frustration.
The pathways are dark with bad odours and disturbing sounds.
Creating decoys or misleading signs that cause delay.
There are symbols indicating that not all castes, creed, and religions are welcome.
Environmental barriers are at work: it is either too hot or too cold.
There is a lack of basic facilities: no toilets, no access to food or water, no availability of phone signal.
A hall of mirrors will challenge perception and there will be spaces where the gravitational centre of people and objects will be challenged.
If you make it to the object, your time there is extremely limited.
Group 2
The second group came up with an event so exclusive and exclusionary that it was almost out of this world.
Eklavya Space Tours and Travels Company offers a 20-minute-long ride in outer space. Invite only, the ticket is not for sale.
The rocket will be launched from the Dharavi slum in Mumbai.
Interested parties must have a visible disability.
They must never have travelled by air.
They must never have eaten chocolate.
If they make it so far, they will have to fill up a form that is not in English.
Entry now is only permitted if one has only signed official documents with their thumb.
The final step: participant must willingly sacrifice the thumb of their choice to enter the rocket.
The second group came up with an event so exclusive and exclusionary that it was almost out of this world.
Eklavya Space Tours and Travels Company offers a 20-minute-long ride in outer space. Invite only, the ticket is not for sale.
The rocket will be launched from the Dharavi slum in Mumbai.
Interested parties must have a visible disability.
They must never have travelled by air.
They must never have eaten chocolate.
If they make it so far, they will have to fill up a form that is not in English.
Entry now is only permitted if one has only signed official documents with their thumb.
The final step: participant must willingly sacrifice the thumb of their choice to enter the rocket.