A tool for speculative storytelling and worldbuilding to design with living materials
MIRACULOUS
FUTURES
of Living
Materials
MIRACULOUS FUTURES OF LIVING MATERIALS toolkit and workshop series is designed in collaboration with Affect Lab and the storytelling expert Sarah Lugthart to trigger imagination on living with living materials and facilitate ideas to design with living materials (e.g. materials from algae, bacteria and fungi) through world-building exercises.
Workshop conducted in Material Incubator, CARADT,
2021
Speculative storytelling can serve as a tool for envisioning alternative realities by challenging existing perspectives, exploring "what if" scenarios, and inspiring new ways of thinking. It encourages critical reflection on societal, technological, and ethical issues, fostering creativity and innovation in how we imagine the present and future.
In the workshops participants perform speculative storytelling and worldbuilding exercises through the MIRACULOUS FUTURES FOR LIVING MATERIALS tool.
This tool and workshop help imagine alternative futures where people are living with living artefacts. It can be used by designers, policymakers, universities and companies to explore and design alternative ways of living for the future.
This card deck was designed based on the MIRACULOUS FUTURES card deck of Affect Lab and Hazal Erturkan's research conducted on understanding unique experiences evoked by living materials. This research was published and presented at the DRS (Design Research Society) Conference in Bilbao, Spain.
This card deck aims to help design researchers, and practitioners:
• To develop an understanding of the unique qualities of living materials and the variables that need to be considered while designing with living materials.
• To broaden the current human-centred perspective and imagining new economic,
social and ecological models.
• To explore complex interrelationships between humans and living artefacts and how
living artefacts could transform our daily practices.
• To speculate on future scenarios and discern potential meaningful applications of
living materials in our daily lives.
ELIA
BIENNIAL
2022, Helsinki
Workshop
for Design Professionals and Small Businesses
by CoE BBE
The project was published at the Design Research Society (DRS) Conference in 2022
and accepted for the ELIA Biennial 2022 and IASDR 2023 Design Conference.
Workshops:
2023 - IASDR (International Association of Societies of Design Research), Milan/ITALY
2022 - Workshop IV - at ELIA Biennial 2022, Helsinki/ Finland
2022 - Workshop III - for VR Developers - at Kaboom Animation Festival, Amsterdam/ The Netherlands
2022 - Workshop II - for ‘Prototyping Futures Minor’ - at AKV/St.Joost, Breda/ The Netherlands
2021 - Workshop I - for Design Professionals and Small Businesses, Den Bosch/ The Netherlands
sponsored by The Centre of Expertise Biobased Economy (CoE BBE)
Interested?
Contact for more information!