Breathing Futures.

PROBLEM
Due to the coronavirus everyone is subject to wear masks. As a society America has become conditioned to wearing a mask in public. This begs the question; what does our future look like in 10 years? Is this preferable?

FUTURE SCENARIO
The world will experience epidemics that will lead to pandemics at the rate similar to natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis. We will have to adjust the way we live. Hyper surveillance and the Amazonification of businesses will be in full effect. The wealth gap will have increased severely, and we will be reminded of it wherever we are. Cigarette butts will turn into disposable masks and so will plastic in our oceans. Technology will advance to meet the needs of humans; hybridizing the body so we might breath easy again.

INSPIRATION
The inspiration for the project came out of the everyday. We are currently living in an evolving state. Last semester, I created Airware for runners in polluted environments, but because of its unique function it can also substitute as a traditional mask. The Airware device channels clean filtered air in front of your mouth.

SOLUTION
I created a set of realistic images to build a world as a tool to have a deeper discussion around our future.

PROCESS
I started with re-examining where the device would fit into a new environment. Then here I created a possible future scenario for what it might be like to go to the store in 10 years. I guided myself with the use of a question; What if getting air is as essential as getting eggs?

Before I honed in on this approach I made of a collage of other future environments that my device might fit into. I used these to ask deeper questions about how a viewer might come into the image and why.

david chikowski

Final.

Process.