BARCA / Futopia
Speculative Design Capstone Projects Exhibition
June 13 - June 18, 2023
Reception: June 16, 4:00 - 7:00 p.m.
SME Gallery, Structural & Materials Engineering, UC San Diego
Two group shows:
Futopia
Designs for the nomadic life in the climate endgame by Speculative Design seniors led by Prof. Kyong Park
BARCA
Bioarchitecture + Art Revitalization + Chamorro Assemblages, a commission from the University of California Kendall-Frost Marsh Reserve by Speculative Design seniors led by master boatwright Mario Borja, Sherry Borja Miller (Keyshot), and Prof. Lisa Cartwright
The role of designers in imagining alternative futures for a world in crisis has never been more important. Speculative Design is an artistic approach that emphasizes new ideas and solutions for the present that involve thinking through the future, putting design questions like “what if?” and “for whom?” ahead of market and industry imperatives. The Speculative Design Major prepares students for creative arts-based design practices fueled by critical speculative thinking and consideration of people, beings, and ideas usually marginalized by design. Situated in a visual arts department, we engage in research-based art practice, interdisciplinary writing, and design for social change. The major bridges computing in the arts, film and photography, digital media, studio art, public culture and community-based practice, and history, criticism, and theory. We encourage students to engage in the transformation of communities, ecologies, technology, and geopolitics through design. Debate about design values, possibilities, and outcomes is encouraged in a curriculum that offers a mix of studio, laboratory, lecture, and seminar classes. Each student in the major builds a portfolio that reflects aesthetic, social, and critical design thinking. Through project-based learning, we prepare aspiring design artists, graphic designers, urban designers, and design critics and scholars to imagine possible futures for our diverse and more than human world.
