PROTOPIAN WORLD DESIGN
During COVID19 complete lockdown in Spain, I started collaborating with Monika Bielskyte on a couple of protopian science fiction scenes and here is the result. Our aim was to depict a more inclusive future world, far from the worn-out western scenario and eschewing the oppressive patriarchal western culture lens, where BIPOC people representative of diverse cultural backgrounds and gender expressions have a central role. One of our main goals was to challenge ageism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia and the resulting erasure's in Sci Fi concept design. Hence, our characters are strong, powerful women and non-binary people, and our depictions focus on care, radical tenderness and celebration of life rather than violence, conflict and isolation like traditional Sci Fi.
A key thing was to show that bleeding edge technology can also be used for purposes other than warfare and surveillance, but rather as a form of self-expression, art or to help both humans and the planet we inhabit. Instead, we wanted to encourage people to connect technology with tattoos, fashion, music, parades and dances. Prosthetics that are not militarised but rather enhancing our human and artistic abilities, and drones that are not meant to surveil citizens but to interact both with humans and genetically modified and improved bioluminescent plant life in the city. The bodies of our characters are adorned with animated tattoos and wearable devices that do not encode workings of a police state but are the extensions of their selfhood, cultural and gender expressions.
