Notes from the sea, 2218

Speculative & critical design, participatory design, environmental futures
2018–present

Notes from the sea, 2218 sparks imagination and inspires debate about human influences on the natural world. The project began at IIT Institute of Design and has continued to evolve* since then. We presented this work at PRIMER 2020 and Anticipation 2019, and it was a featured project at BioDesign Challenge in 2018.

​Did you miss us? Download the slides from our presentation, a read-along script, and the Print & Play version of the game.

​*pun acknowledged, but not intended

Team
Siyuan Ma (research & design)
Sameer Tendolkar (research & design)
Wanying Zhu (research & design)
Renee Albrecht-Mallinger (research & design)
​

Alternative futures

Our team sought ways to challenge an oversimplified, anthropocentric view of the natural world. In this project, nature is presented as an active and dynamic system. Human beings, instead of being elevated or separate from nature, are one species among many. Organisms respond to environmental influences, including those created by humans, by adapting. Those organisms that are successful will thrive in an altered environment, while others will go extinct.

Field notebook

​The team imagined several organisms as they might appear after adapting to a variety of environmental changes and developed a "field notebook" as it might be created by a future biologist. The field notebook was presented as an unfinished journal with hand sketches and notes.

Card game

A card game allowed viewers to engage in the imaginative and creative aspects of the design project. Players drew cards that prompted them to sketch the way that a new organism might respond to human influences in the ecosystem. This participatory design method helped viewers to develop their own insights and perspectives on the problems presented in the research and field journal.

Designing Futures Showcase

At the Designing Futures Showcase, participants browsed the field notebooks and played the card game before engaging in a discussion about the project. More than 60% of the audience contributed sketches using the card game. Several new questions emerged from the discussion that followed, including the moral implications of the project's narrative, the short- and long-term effects of selecting for plasticity, and the impact of anthropogenic influence on the marine ecosystem as a whole.