GALLERY 2012

Description of campaign/project

In our current media society particularly those religions bound by tradition, like Catholicism or Islam, have failed to adapt to a modern understanding. Despite of the observed secularisation, there seems to be a general urge to individually define religion. Hence, we are not facing the extinction of religion, but its transformation.
Fascinated by technological reproduction of the religious phenomenon of an 'out-of-body'-experience, I developed a series of perception-experiments using head-mounted video glasses and cameras. The initial aim was the manipulation of human self-perception by blurring the boundaries between the real and a virtual body. Derived from these experiments, I created new scenarios for a disembodied sense.

Todays‘ technologies tend to convey security and confidence rather than functional transparency. In order to its illusional potential, technology is strongly connected to mechanisms of faith and religion.
Based on this awareness, I created a fictional scenario for faith-conditioning objects. The first object is a camera device which is pulled by an attached cord. It addresses the personal demand of an objective view in a world scattered with digital artefacts and acts as constant reminder of technological dependence. The user connects the device to a pedestal that invites you to kneel down - a faith-based interaction manifests itself in a technological ritual.

Considering me as a subversive product-based designer, I use conceptional products to question the impact of technology on human perception and behaviour from within. My approach is informed by ideas that challenge the autonomy of design to extend it to its broadest contexts. Rather than providing functional solutions, scenarios embedded in our everyday life allow complex interactions between reality and imagination.

My work seeks to explore and examine the possibilities of design to encourage people to take a stand on their relationships to objects, products and technology. Design needs to expand its scope to include speculation on how we want to life. By showing a vision of speculative objects I aim to make people realise and form an opinion about what we could be faced with. I try not just to visualize an better world but arouse the desire for one.

During my Industrial Design studies I came to the point where the functional, problem-solving design approach became more and more obsolete. Considering the fact that technological developments have overcome our awareness of its implications, we have to rethink the responsibility of design. Critical design allows me to see my environment from a different point of view. Working on this project challenged how I think about technological development and their potential to transform our perception and consciousness rather than conforming it.