ABSTRACT

My thesis is about imagining a Positive Apocalypse. Not a utopic version of the end times, but one that sees hope in the end of our current systems and ways of thinking;  a future where at the end of the world, instead of reaching for your gun, you reach out to your neighbors. Most renderings of the apocalypse we see in popular culture stem from patriarchal fears of loss of control, chaos. Most narratives depicting the end of the world devolve into inevitable violence and extreme isolationism. 

In the industrial design world, narratives are used as a way to sell products to consumers. My research has been exploring how to subvert the same principles used in capitalist design methods to create a personal practice of anti-capitalist, abolitionist design. What would objects look like from a future free of western patriarchal exploitation?

Last semester, I experimented with different ways of using narrative as a designer to create an immersive experience, viewing the experience as the consumable “product”. I created a fictitious radio show set in a post-apocalyptic future where others were invited to create segments and worldbuild alongside me.