Uvod u spekulativnu

dizajnersku praksu
Eutropija, studija slučaja

Introduction to Speculative
Design Practice
Eutropia, a Case Study

pos
sib
l e/
wild card scenarij
vatljivo
mo

p rih
guć
le /

e
plausab

• today ——— time → probable / vjerojatno

preferable / preferirano
scenarij

HDD & DVK UMAS

Zagreb/Split, 2015
Ivica Mitrović je edukator i istraživač.
Od 2001. godine radi na promociji dizajna
interakcija i kritičkih dizajnerskih prak-
si te posebno na razvoju nove dizajnerske
edukacije kroz seriju radionica pod nazi-
vom Interakcije. Svojim radom neprestano
propituje definiciju i današnju ulogu di-
zajna u društvu.
Oleg Šuran je freelance dizajner. Za njega
je dizajn jezik. Kroz umjetničku organiza-
ciju Fazan bavi se lokalnom zajednicom i
edukacijom. Suosnivač je časopisa za poe-
ziju Polet i portala nakonjusmo.net.
Marko Golub je likovni kritičar, kustos
galerije Hrvatskog dizajnerskog društva,
urednik je različitih publikacija o dizajnu,
su-urednik tv emisije Transfer i scenarist
emisije Trikultura Hrvatske radiotelevizije.
Bio je član uredništava stručnih časopisa
kao što su Čovjek i prostor i Oris.
Ilustracija korica i naslovnice:
Stožac budućnosti (Voros via Dunne
and Raby, via Revell ) – vidi str. 18.
Ivica Mitrović is an educator and research-
er. Since 2001, he has been working on the
promotion of interaction design and criti-
cal designer practices, and especially on the
development of a new design education
with a series of workshops under the name
Interactions. Through his work, he constant-
ly questions the definition and today’s role
of design in society.
Oleg Šuran is a freelance designer. For
him, design is a language. Through Fazan
artistic organisation, he deals with the lo-
cal community and education. He is the
co-founder of Polet poetry magazine and
nakonjusmo.net web portal.
Marko Golub is an art critic, curator of the
Croatian Designers Association Gallery and
editor of various design-related publications.
He is currently co-editor for the tv show
Transfer and screenwriter for Trikultura, both
produced by the Croatian radiotelevision. He
was a member of the editorial boards of
magazines Man and Space and Oris.
Front page and cover illustration:
The Future Cone ( Voros via Dunne
and Raby, via Revell ) – see page 19.
 8–23
— Ivica Mitrović —
Uvod u spekulativnu dizajnersku praksu
Introduction to Speculative Design Practice

26–33
— Marko Golub —
“Što ako?” – dvije-tri bilješke o spekulaciji
“What if?” – Two or Three Notes on Speculation

36–49
intervjui / Interviews

52–55
— Ivica Mitrović —
Hrvatski kontekst / Croatian Context

58–65
— Ivica Mitrović, Oleg Šuran —
Eutropija – studija slučaja / Eutropia – a Case Study

ISBN 978-953-6778-10-2
“Spekulativnost je jedan kraj
dizajnerskog spektra”
Anthony Dunne

“Speculative is at one end

of the design spectrum”
Anthony Dunne
One of critiques of this approach is that you get a very
particular kind of people that go to galleries anyway.
Of course that is an issue but we don't just stop at the
gallery, we are often using the media as a gallery space
as well, and a lot of these ideas are quite interesting, as
is the way we present them, like through photography,
video scenarios and a range of other techniques, and they
are all good for dissemination, either though web blogs,
video materials, newspapers, or magazines. Suddenly,
all of these media spheres become a gallery space.

—— James Auger: Galleries

 Introduction to Speculative
Design Practice
—— Ivica Mitrović

— — Discursive and Critical Design Practice

ce cri
c ti t
tional design

ica
e design pr

l design prac
speculative design practice
v
tradi

rsi

tic
cu e
dis

9
fig. 1 Traditional design vs Speculative design.

From the modernist perspective, design has been primarily regarded as a prob-
lem-solving practice, and usually those aimed at problems detected by other
professions ( such as economics, sociology, philosophy, etc. ). In this sense, the
mission of design is closely related to the needs of the industry or, in a broader
sense, the creation of a better living standard. Through a modernist perspective,
design is viewed as a service industry that primarily addresses clients' needs.
However, as the graphic designer and publicist Dejan Kršić points out, design
has always been a signifying practice that generates, analyses, distributes, me-
diates and reproduces social meaning, especially today, in the context of the
new social, technological, media and economic conditions.1
The relation between design and art ( and other related disciplines ) can be
observed in several stages. From the high modernist synthesis of applied arts,
visual arts and design in the 1950s, the scientification of design throughout the
1960s and the emphasis of its rationality and the postmodernist position in which
it is once again positioned at the centre of the interrelations of various disciplines,
no longer through a complete synthesis, but, above all, through their interaction.
It is no surprise, therefore, that an increasing number of designers is taking upon
some new approaches to design. These “new designers” are acting on the borders
of traditionally defined disciplines, removing the borders between them.2
In their research, these new designers relate to diverse fields of science, primar-
ily computer sciences and engineering, sociology, psychology, architecture, and,
in the recent times, increasingly to biotechnology, all with the goal of critically
reflecting on the development and role of technology in society. Designers re-
think the role of technology in everyday life, not dealing with the applications
of technology, but with its implications. Turning away from the commercial
aspects of design with the focus on the demands of the market, they are now
engaged with a broader social context. The new designers use design as a me-
dium and focus on concepts and artefacts, which, rather than solving problems,
ask questions and open issues to discussion.
The researcher and educator Ramia Mazé says there are three different
approaches to critical design practice: the first sees designers reflecting on
and critically questioning their own design practice; the second approach
is based on a macro-perspective, re-thinking the design discipline as such;
and in the third approach the design discourse is directed towards broader
social and political phenomena.3 Mazé points out that these approaches are
not mutually exclusive, as they most often intertwine and supplement each
other in practice.
Historical references of critical design practice point to Italian radical archi-
tecture of the 1960s, and partially to the critical practice of avant-garde and neo-
avant-garde art. It is particularly inspired by a narrative quality and the imaginary 11
worlds of literature and film. Design and critical practice established more intense
connections through interaction design, a design specialisation that emerged in
the early 1990s as a result of the accelerated development of digital technologies.
The classical definition of interaction design describes it as a practice dealing with
the ways in which people connect via the products and technologies they use, i.e.
with the design of our everyday lives via digital artefacts. Today it is most commonly
associated with the design of digital products, applications or services.
In this context, through his own personal design practice, and later
through the establishment of a novel educational approach as Head of the De-
sign Interactions Department at the Royal College of Art ( RCA ), Anthony Dunne,
through an approach he termed “critical design”, dealt with the aesthetics of
the use of new technologies in the context of electronics products.4 However,
with time, in collaboration with Fiona Raby, he expanded the focus of his ac-
tivities to the cultural, social and ethical implications of new technologies, and
most recently on speculations on wider social, economic and political issues.5

— — Speculating through Design

Speculative design is a critical design practice that comprises or is in relation to

a series of similar practices known under the following names: critical design,
design fiction, future design, anti-design, radical design, interrogative design,
discursive design, adversarial design, futurescape, design art, etc. For instance,
 design fiction is a potential genre of speculative design practice, and “critical
design”, as defined by Dunne, is a possible approach.
Speculative design is a discursive practice, based on critical thinking and
dialogue, which questions the practice of design ( and its modernist definition ).
However, the speculative design approach extends its critical practice one step
further, towards imagination and visions of possible scenarios. Speculative de-
sign is also one of the most representative examples of the new interaction
of disciplines. It is therefore interesting to see how new designers view their
practice: they call themselves trans-disciplinary, post-disciplinary or even
post-designers, quite often even simply – designers. However, occasionally
they do not even indicate that their perspective is design at all.
By speculating, designers re-think alternative products, systems and worlds.
Designer and teacher at the RCA James Auger says that this design( i ) moves away
from the constraints of commercial practice ( directed by the market );( ii ) use fic-
tion and speculates on future products, services, systems and worlds, thus re-
flectively examining the role and impact of new technologies on everyday life;( iii )
and initiates a dialogue between experts ( scientists, engineers and designers )
and users of new technologies ( the audience ).6
Whereas traditional design legitimizes the status quo, speculative design
envisages and anticipates the future, at the same time helping us to under-
stand and re-think the world of today. This approach is most often based 13

now
technologies

do
m
es
tic
at
io
n
→

here 1. speculative futures →

2. alternative presents

fig. 2 Alternative presents and speculative futures ( Auger ).

Here and now: everyday life and real products available on the market. The higher the line
the more emergent the technology and the longer and less predictable its route to every-
day life. Speculative futures exist as projections of the lineage in future. Alternative presents
step out of the lineage at some time in the past to re-imagine our technological present.
on the question “what if?”, questioning the interrelation between potential
changes in the technological development and social relations. Rather than
engaging only with a future that we desire, this approach also deals with the
future we fear might come true if we fail to critically consider the role of new
technologies in society.
Such an approach to design does not deal with meeting current and future
consumer needs, but with re-thinking a technological future that reflects the
complexity of today's world. Speculative practice opens a space for discussing
and considering alternative possibilities and options, and for imagining and
redefining our relation to reality itself. Through its imagination and radical
approach, by using design as a medium, it propels thinking, raises awareness,
questions, provokes action, opens discussions, and can offer alternatives that
are necessary in today's world.
Speculative design fictions find their inspiration in science fiction, which
has a long history of creating imaginary scenarios, worlds and characters with
which audiences become closely identified. Imaginary worlds are an exception-
al source of inspiration to designers in their re-thinking of the future. However,
such approaches to speculative fiction, as conceptualized, for instance, by the
science fiction author and futurist Bruce Sterling,7 are often part of the tech-
nological paradigm, and, as such, reaffirm the technological progress instead
of questioning or being critical of it. Through the creation of imaginary worlds, 15
and by designing fictions, we actually question the world we live in – its values,
functions, its metabolism, as well as the expectations of its inhabitants.
Dunne and Raby emphasize the potential of speculative design for large-
scale social and political issues, such as democracy or sustainability or for alter-
natives to the existing capitalist model.8 In this context, publicist and activist
Naomi Klein warns us that the present domination of dystopian scenarios in
books and films leads us to view catastrophic scenarios as unavoidable, thus mak-
ing us passive rather than proactive.9 It should be kept in mind, therefore, that
the purpose of speculative design fictions is not be utopian or dystopian science
fiction visions of the future, but to engender dialogue on what the future can be.
For instance, with its explicit focus on the future, the speculative design
approach offers a stimulative framework for re-thinking visions of networked
cities of the future.10 11 Liam Young, a speculative architect who says that his work
lies in “a space between design, fiction and future”,12 sees speculative fictional
cities of the future as a starting point for debate and discussion, scenarios that we
will love or hate, which will “not just anticipate, but actively shape technological
futures through their effects on collective imagination”.13 He points out that “cast
as a provocateur and storyteller, the speculative architect instigates debate, raises
questions and enables the public as active agents in the future of their cities, and
bring us closer to the technologies that are increasingly shaping the urban realm
and the scientific research that is radically changing our world”.14
 — — Methodology?

Although the speculative approach to design can primarily be seen as an atti-

tude or position rather than a traditionally defined methodology15, especially
since many designers practice the approach without using this term for it, we
can still point out some distinctive characteristic of the approach and deter-
mine a basic framework. Since speculative design continuously interacts with
other related practices, fields and disciplines, it uses any methodology that is
accessible and appropriate at any given moment. For instance, it legitimate-
ly uses tools, techniques, instruments, methods, genres and concepts such as
the, fictional narratives, film language, screenplay, storyboard, user testing, in-
terviews / questionnaires, games, but also media and pop culture phenomena,
such as the hidden camera, elevator pitch, observational comedy, stand-up, etc.
Anything considered suitable at a given moment is legitimate.

sible / buildable
po s
slika 3
Possible, Profitable, Desirable
( defining an idea / concept
as a product )
( Near Future Laboratory ).
All product must exist in the
product center in order to be viable in 17
general marketplace. Speculative
products and services ( including
systems and worlds ) can be ficti-
le

desi

onalized as existing in the center.

b
fita

rab
ro

e
l

Design is based on the observation and understanding of the world around

us, and by practicing it we endeavour to articulate our needs, desires and ex-
pectations. The problem arises when we want to expand the horizon of our
observation in order to identify emergent themes. The question is how to be-
gin with the design of concepts when we do not know what the design space
itself will look like, let alone who its users will be. The approach and practice
of speculative design is a particularly stimulative strategy for researching the
‘space’ that lies beyond ‘current’ and the ‘now’.
Speculative practice may seem as a top-down approach at first glance, plac-
ing the designer at the centre of the process, offering her personal vision, without
involving the target audience. However, let's keep in mind that one of the main
goals of speculation is the inclusion of the public in the re-thinking and dialogue
on new technological realities and new social relations. Also, a successful specu-
lative project is necessarily connected to the research of a social context, and is
fundamentally directed towards the individual needs and desires.
 pos
sib
l e
wild card scenario

le
plausab
• today ——— time → probable

preferable
scenario

fig. 4 The Future Cone ( Voros via Dunne and Raby, via Revell ).
A diagram of potential futures ( PPPP ). Probable: traditional design space. Plausibile:
alternative futures, linked with the today’s world. Possible: includes all extreme scien-
tifically possible scenarios. Preferable: using speculative design to debate and discuss
what is the preferable future. Beyond cone: fantasy. Wild card scenarios: low-probabi-
lity and high-impact – to think about and discuss a much wider set of possibilities.

The practice demonstrates that the speculative approach has potential in multi-
disciplinary teams, where it initiates dialogue and generates a context in which 19
the participants can simultaneously re-examine the boundaries of their disci-
plines and discover links with other disciplines.16 The process can be split in a
few steps: the first one implies critical design research to define a design space.
After this, speculative concepts and ideas are generated and further developed
to finally articulate forms which are suitable for communication.
The speculative approach also uses methods of contemporary art, but as
opposed to art, is closely related to the real world that we live in, and is not sepa-
rated from reality. Publicist and critic Rick Poynor points out that, as opposed
to artistic practices, design is not declared an artistic fantasy out of hand, and
ignored by companies, institutions and policymakers.17 It is also significant that,
as opposed to artistic practice, design uses a language recognizable to a wider au-
dience, and is not confined to galleries and salons. Design is also in close contact
with new technologies and the consumer society, popular media and pop culture,
which is why today it boasts a significant media and social impact.
Speculative practice is related to two basic concepts: speculation on possi-
ble futures and the design of an alternative present. Speculation on the future
generates scenarios of the future that critically question the concept of develop-
ment, the implementation and use of new technologies and their wider social
implications. The concept of an alternative present refers to the creation of par-
allel urban technological realities. These specific methods offer a rich narrative
potential for the questioning and criticism of technological development, but
also of contemporary society as such. The issues dealt with can be exceptionally
broad, from big socio-political topics to ordinary everyday activities.
Speculative fictions do not exist solely in a futurist vacuum, because the
past ( i.e. the present we live in ) fundamentally impacts our designed vision of
the future. As opposed to the open form of science fiction, in speculative fiction
there is a link between the present and the imaginary future.18 Therefore, when
re-thinking the future we must think about technologies and social relations
that can emerge from the current world we live in. We must bring into question
the assumptions and prejudice we have about the role of products and services
in everyday life. The extension of the everyday into the future is what makes
speculative design fiction powerful and profoundly intriguing.
Dunne emphasizes that these design processes primarily deal with design-
ing relations, rather then objects themselves.19 This is why speculative design
can, as a result of such processes, offer new speculative products and services,
even new social and political systems ( worlds ). However, the success and im-
pact of a speculative approach, as perceived by the target audience, primarily
depends on the believability of the designed artefacts and potential scenarios
of the future. The concepts materialize and communicate in the form of nar-
rative or documentary video and film fictions, products ( prototypes ), software
applications, instructional videos, user manuals, graphs / diagrams, TV news
reports, fashion accessories, etc. 21
Speculative practice draws inspiration from the poetics of literature, music,
visual arts, film, computer graphics and architecture, especially in their avant-gar-
de forms. Storytelling has considerable power and a deep-running tradition in
human history in stimulating discussions and critical thinking. Speculative sce-
narios are open-ended and offer the audience the possibility of personal inter-
pretation. They frequently include humour, often of the dark variety, close to
satire, which activates the audience on an emotional and intellectual level, in a
way similar to literature and film. Speculative scenarios are often unusual, cu-
rious, occasionally even disturbing, but desirable and attractive to the audience.
However, only concepts that successfully communicate with the suspension of
disbelief, actually provoke attention, emotions, and stimulate thinking and dis-
cussion, which, after all, is the main goal of speculative practice.
A B

Affirmative Critical

Problem solving Problem finding

Provides answers Ask questions

Design for production Design for debate

Design as solution Design as medium

In the service of industry In the service of society

Fictional functions Functional fictions

For how the world is For how the world could be

Change the world to suit us Change us to suit the world

Science Fiction Social fiction

Futures Parallel worlds

The “real” real The “unreal” real

Narratives of production Narratives of consumption

Applications Implications

Fun Humor

Innovation Provocation

Concept design Conceptual design

Consumer Citizen

Makes us buy Makes us think

Ergonomics Rhetoric

User-friendliness Ethics

Process Authorship

fig. 6 A / B , A Manifesto ( Dunne and Raby ).

Critical design ( b ) vs Traditional design ( a ) .
I call myself a designer. Trans-disciplinary, to denote
that I don’t just produce one thing or type of thing.

—— Liam Healy
“What if?” – Two or Three
Notes on Speculation
—— Marko Golub

27
slika / fig. 7 Splitopia ( Interakcije, 2012 ).
Instrukcijski video kao rezultat dizajnerskog procesa
/ Instructional video as delivery.

Mostly owing to diverse activities organized in the framework of the Visual

Communications Design Department at the Arts Academy in Split ( DVK UMAS ),
terms and methodology related to critical design (in the sense popularized
by Anthony Dunne in the late 90's and early 00's), design fiction and, finally,
speculative design, have appeared in Croatian formal higher education in the
field of design at an appropriate time or, at least, without considerable delay.
Moreover, through a series of workshops named Interactions and, more recently,
also through the international UrbanIxD project, this school managed to net-
work with some of the most important representatives and advocates of the
above mentioned practices from various European and international univer-
sities, indirectly learning from their experience and at the same time persis-
tently updating and modernizing its operating methodologies and discourse.
Therefore, it is no surprise that in a relatively short period of time those terms
have been used alternatively or even simultaneously, despite the fact that it is
not really easy to find linear or one-way hierarchical relations between them.
The term “speculative design” served as the main orientation for this year's
edition of the Interactions workshops. At the same time, it has been used for
slika / fig. 8
The Future Cloud is Burried
( City | Data| Future
Exhibition, 2014 ) .
Maketa kao rezultat
dizajnerskog procesa
/ Model as delivery.

“Spekulativno” doista nosi sa sobom s jedne strane relativno širok spektar konota-
cija, a s druge i određenu preciznost, pa i isključivost u vlastitoj kontekstualizaciji.
Već u svom osnovnom značenju, taj pojam u okviru promišljanja dizajna kao
prakse nedvosmisleno apostrofira njegovu djelatnu propitivalačku, intelektual-
nu, diskurzivnu dimenziju, čime je direktno povezan s pojmom kritičkog dizajna.
Ništa manje važan aspekt je onaj koji proizlazi iz filmske i književne tradicije
tzv. spekulativne fikcije, čiji kapacitet zamišljanja svjetova kakvi bi “mogli biti”,
28 dijeli s idejom takozvanog “dizajna fikcija”. I konačno, sama praksa dizajnerskog
“spekuliranja” gotovo je neizbježno inspirirana mogućnostima određenih otklona,
šumova i stavljanja van ravnoteže dinamičnih relacija između društva, tehnolo-
gije i ljudi, čime dijeli isti fokus s dizajnom interakcija.
Na prvi pogled može se činiti kako je riječ samo o otvaranju još jedne niše
za novu vrstu specijalizacije, ili još gore, o zatvaranju dizajnerske prakse i dis-
kursa o dizajnu u još dublji, hermetičniji, ekskluzivniji dizajnerski meta-jezik,
ali zasad se, srećom, čini da nije tako. Budući da nije usmjeren na masovnu
proizvodnju stvarnih, fizičkih proizvoda, nego tek eventualno na razmatranje
uvjeta u kojima bi takvi proizvodi ušli u našu svakodnevicu i posljedica koje bi
na nju imali, spekulativni dizajn nerijetko se služi narativnim mogućnostima
videa, filma, televizijske reportaže i općenito masovnih medija. Naime, proto-
tipovi spekulativnog dizajna ( ili prototipovi predmeta nastalih spekulativnim
pristupom ) izrazito su međuovisni sa zamišljenim kontekstom za koji su diza-
jnirani, te stoga, da bi bili razumljivi, zahtijevaju da se njihova priča ispriča što
jasnije, što razumljivije, što bliže našem svakodnevnom iskustvu. Samim tim,
spekulativni dizajn u popularnoj kulturi nalazi svoje prirodno okruženje, a jezik
kojim govori nekako nam je čudno blizak, bilo da smo odrastali uz Zonu sumraka
( The Twilight Zone, 1959. – 2003. ) ili uz Crno ogledalo ( Black Mirror, 2011.— ), dva
fenomenalna primjera spekulativne fikcije koji pripadaju čistom mainstreamu.
Black Mirror posebno je zanimljiv utoliko što svoja polazišta u gotovo svakoj
epizodi temelji na potpuno istim principima kao i spekulativni dizajn, štoviše,
the interpretation of the project / installation titled Eutropia, the exhibition of
which at the CDS Gallery lead to publication of this booklet.
On the one hand, “speculative” really implies a relatively broad scope of con-
notations, and on the other, it also implies a kind of precision and even exclusive-
ness of its own contextualisation. In its basic meaning, in the context of analysing
design as a practice, this term unambiguously highlights its active analytical, in-
tellectual and discursive dimension, which is a direct link to the notion of critical
design. Another important aspect results from film and literature traditions of so-
called speculative fiction whose capacity to imagine possible realms is shared with
the idea of so-called design fiction. And finally, the very practice of “speculation” in
design is almost unavoidably inspired by possibilities of certain variance, noise and
unbalance of the dynamic relations between societies, technologies and humans,
where it shares the same focus with interaction design.
At the first glance, one might think that this implies nothing but opening
another niche for a new type of specialization, worse still, binding the design
practice and discourse to an even deeper, more hermetical and exclusive design
meta-language; however, for the time being it seems that this is luckily not the
case. Since it is not oriented only to mass production of real physical products
but rather to an opportunity to re-think conditions in which such products
might become part of our everyday lives and the resulting consequences / im-
plications, speculative design often uses narrative techniques found in video, 29
film, television or the mass media in general. Namely, speculative design pro-
totypes ( or prototypes that emerged as the result of speculative approach ) are
extremely interdependent with the imagined context for which they have been
initially designed, and therefore, to become understandable, they require their
story to be told in a clear and intelligible manner that is closest to our everyday
experience. Consequently, speculative design finds its natural environment
in popular culture, and the language it uses seems to be strangely familiar, no
matter whether we grew up watching The Twilight Zone ( 1959 – 2003 ) or Black
Mirror ( TV series, 2011— ), the two superb examples of speculative fiction that
belong to pure mainstream.
Black Mirror is especially interesting because it bases almost every episode
on the same principles as speculative design; nevertheless, designed fictional
objects for everyday use, interfaces, technical artefacts and scenarios are very
often the central part of the plot, i.e. in the episode titled The Entire History of
You, such object is an implant allowing its user to ‘rewind-fast-forward’ his or her
previous experiences, whereas in White Christmas there is a device providing the
experience of expanded reality where it is possible to ‘block’ certain individuals
from one's environment, similarly to blocking on social networks; in Fifteen Mil-
lion Merits we see a dystopian world where systems of labour and leisure, virtual
economy, social media and reality television as we know today get prearranged in
their creepiest possible perversion. The power of speculative design is very close
 dizajnirani fiktivni upotrebni predmeti, sučelja, tehnološki artefakti i scenariji
u njemu su nerijetko u samom središtu priče. U epizodi The entire history of you,
to je implantat koji omogućava korisniku da po želji ‘premotava’ sve čemu je
prethodno svjedočio; u White Christmas riječ je pak o uređaju koji omogućava
iskustvo proširene stvarnosti u kojoj je određene osobe iz svoje okoline moguće
‘blokirati’ kao na društvenim mrežama; dok smo u Fifteen million Merits suočeni s
distopijskim svijetom u kojem su se sustavi rada i dokolice, virtualne ekonomije,
društvenih mreža i reality televizije kakve već danas poznajemo – prearanžirali
u najjeziviju zamislivu perverziju sebe samih. Snaga spekulativnog dizajna bli-
ska je sugestivnoj moći ovih bizarnih satiričkih pripovijesti utoliko što se bavi
scenarijima koji su, iz današnje perspektive, ne samo zamislivi, nego kao da već
jesu tu. Bez obzira jesu li izmješteni u blisku budućnost ili su tu ‘sa strane’ u alter-
nativnoj sadašnjosti, oni nam govore o nama samima sada i ovdje, o tehnologiji
koju koristimo i načinu na koji ona utječe na društvo i na naš svakodnevni život,
o ulozi koju dizajn može igrati u takvom kontekstu, ne nužno tim redoslijedom.
Od lokalnih referenci, iako ne u području dizajna, nego suvremene um-
jetnosti, ovdje svakako vrijedi izdvojiti tri projekta Andreje Kulunčić nastala
kasnih devedesetih i ranih 2000-ih godina. Kao jedna od prvih autorica koje
su za galerijski i muzejski kontekst realizirale kompleksne online projekte in-
teraktivnog tipa, ova umjetnica je već u svojim prvim zapaženim radovima
30 primijenila upravo spekulativni pristup. Rad Zatvorena zbilja: Embryo20 ( 1998. –
2000. ) oslanjao se na online platformu koja je davala korisnicima u ruke fiktivni
scenarij koji im je omogućavao da zajednički ( u paru ) genetskim inženjeringom
po želji, do u detalje, dizajniraju vlastitog potomka. Iza te naizgled bezazle-
ne igre stajala je, međutim, puno ozbiljnija priča koja se rastvorila naknadno

slika / fig. 9
CUBA ( City | Data| Future
Exhibition, 2014 ) .
Aplikacija kao rezultat
dizajnerskog procesa
/ App as delivery.
to the suggestive power of those bizarre satirical stories in as much as it deals with
scenarios which are, from our perspective, not only imaginable, but they seem to
have already been present. Whether they are displaced in the near future or they
exist on the ‘side’ within an alternate present, they can tell us something about
ourselves here and now, about the technology we use and the way the technology
influences the society and our everyday lives, and about the role that design can
play in that context and not necessarily in this order.
From local reference works, although outside of the scope of design and
rather in the domain of contemporary art, there are three projects by Andreja
Kulunčić dating back to the late 1990s and early 2000s that deserve our atten-
tion. As one of the first Croatian artists to create complex online interactive

slika / fig. 10
It's a plastic world
( Interakcije, 2015 ).
Televizijske vijesti kao
rezultat dizajnerskog procesa
/ TV news report as delivery.

31

projects inside galleries and museums, Kulunčić started using the speculative
approach in some of her earliest works recognized by the public. Her work
titled Closed Reality: Embryo20 ( 1998 – 2000 ) relied on an online platform pro-
viding fictional scenarios allowing joint ( in pairs ) genetic engineering in line
with individual preferences and detailed instructions on how to design a child.
However, behind this seemingly naïve game there was a much more serious
story that opened subsequently: users were able to create the new fictional pop-
ulation based on personal wishes, preferences and projections thus producing
one of the possible samples for a future society, and finally, opening a whole
set of very uncomfortable ethical, political and social issues. Soon after this
project, the author realized the work titled Distributive Justice21 ( 2001 ), which
allowed its user to take a step forward and project what he or she believes is a
just distribution of social goods or a ‘just’ and ‘healthy’ society. Alongside the
artist, there was a multidisciplinary team of experts from social, humanistic
and technical sciences behind both projects, which also included a detailed
programme with many workshops, lectures, discussions, etc.
 Many other activities on the local scene can be retrospectively marked as close
to the speculative approach, such as guest visits and production of works for a
host of various exhibitions, festivals and other similar events organized by the
Bureau of Contemporary Art Practice – Kontejner, or several projects by the
designer Lina Kovačević, such as A Set for Romantic Online Dinner and Future
Artefacts22, which use artefact design to recombine conventional everyday sce-
narios creating a kind of hybrid between the past, present and future. Today's
speculative designers would rightfully, of course, make a reference to the herit-
age of avant-garde and neo-avant-garde of the 20th century, modernism, various
utopian visions and projections of close and usually better future by various
architects, artists and designers. Of course, the context is different, more lim-
ited and cynical and less optimistic, unable to imagine any alternatives to the
existing state of affairs whereas design itself remains almost entirely oriented
to finding pragmatic solutions for a client's requests. This phenomenon was
in the focus of rather recent edition of Zgraf 11 ( 2012 ) following Dejan Kršić's
theoretical guidelines, appropriately titled This used to be the Future.23 It seems
that the speculative design practice for the time being does not have an unre-
served global visionary zest in its core, but it does have a seed of imagining the
alternatives – realities and societies which are different from the existing ones,
for better or worse. It allows designers, or rather, in line with its speculative log-
ic, it forces them to look at the broader picture or to get a broader perspective 33
of their profession than they usually tend to do. On the other hand, ‘users’ or
‘the public’ gets an opportunity to ‘taste’ that kind of reality before embracing
it as their own or deciding to renounce it to their dismay.
There are seemingly two major approaches in which the
field of speculative design could potentially lead in the
context of making a living. The first would be to apply
speculative design with an up to date understanding of
technology, social impacts and near future applications
and work with a large technology company, or think tank
agency. Within this field of work there is currently a
drive to help visualise, imagine, and convey the potential
of future tech to a wider audience – and to advertise
specific ways of thinking about how “the future” may
look, feel or operate. The other route, and the route that
I have chosen, is to use a similar interest and output to
form artworks, interventions and educational projects
that seek to question and debate, without ultimately
trying to promote any company, brand or ideology.

—— Nicholas Mortimer: Making a living out of speculative design

Interviews
Anthony Dunne is Head of the Design Interactions programme at the Royal Col-
lege of Art. He is a partner in the Dunne & Raby design practice. He uses design
as a medium to stimulate discussion and debate about the social, cultural, and
ethical implications of existing and emerging technologies.

James Auger is a designer, educator and researcher. The main focus of his re-
search is a design-based investigation into technology-mediated human in-
teraction. Since 2005, he has been teaching and continuing his research in the
Design Interactions programme at the Royal College of Art.

Nicolas Nova is a writer, ethnographer, and consultant at the Near Future Labo-
ratory. He is the curator for Lift Conference, a series of international events about
digital culture and innovation.

Tobias Revell is an artist, designer and educator. His work looks at systems
around technological change as well as the future of economics and politics.
37
Dionysia Mylonaki is a designer and artist that explores the optimisation of
the human as a social species through technology and the role of the popular
technologies in the development of social systems.

Liam Healy is a freelance trans-disciplinary designer. He uses design for a wide range
of projects and outcomes. He is currently researching design for the end of the world.

Tuur van Balen works with Revital Cohen. Their work is preoccupied with
broad meanings of materials and production. Their practice experiments with
the use of design as a medium, reconfiguring processes, systems, and organisms
in order to question the context in which they operate.

Nicholas Mortimer brings together cultural studies of media and technolo-

gy, historical research, and theory to explore relations between perceptions
of reality, systems of control, and the blurred boundaries of fact and fiction.

Michael Smyth is a researcher and educator, working on the development of

urban interaction design. He has been active in the fields of human computer
interaction and interaction design since 1987. He is the co-editor of the book
entitled Digital Blur: Creative Practice at the Boundaries of Architecture, Design and Art.
—— How would you place your work in the context of contemporary design
and art practice?

JA: Today, there is an emergence of slightly different forms of design, a lit-

tle bit more conceptual and a bit more experimental. Design stepping out of
the commercial world, so we are not constrained to the rules, regulations and
conservative nature of mainstream design thinking. Breaking those contextual
chains allows us to free our imagination and challenge how things are and to
re-imagine they could be. I practice very much within that framework, this
newish form of conceptual design.

NN: My interest in design fictions makes me interested in the intersections

between design and art. In other words, I'm intrigued by how creative practic-
es enable speculating about new ideas through prototyping and storytelling,
how they can help designing, challenging, and understanding speculative
future realities.

TR: I work primarily in futures across a variety of disciplines. I work in aca-

demia, design, corporate foresight, and as a practicing artist with the ‘public’.
These are four very different outlets with a diaspora of output forms, media
and audiences but a unified input, often building on the same ideas, theories, 39
design, and personalities. I do try and cross over between them all. This means
using a wide variety of media and thinking about how techniques that may
work really well in one field could be linked across to all other fields.

DM: I call myself, for the lack of a better term, an artist and designer, although
none of these roles really feels comfortable. Through my work, I explore the
role of popular technologies in the development of our social systems. To do
so, I create participatory experiences aiming to provoke a sort of behavioural
or verbal ‘confession’ by the side of the participants. I see my practice as a tool
to make us reveal an aspect of the self, one we wouldn't normally see, because
of our tendency to adhere to social norms and dominant moral codes.

TVB: We are starting to realize that for a lot of our projects we are not worried
much about labels, whether it is design or art. We are both designers but we
are starting to realize that our work operates in the context of art and it is pre-
sented in exhibitions, collections and museums. Even though we borrow a lot
from art, we are sort of in between at the moment.
—— How do you see the current relation between design and art?

AD: I don't think it is such an important distinction, work is work. It impacts

people and it makes them think or it doesn't. Generally, I think it is more of a
practical issue than a philosophical one. But for someone who teaches, I think
it is very important that design can expand beyond utility and be more exper-
imental. Traditionally design operates on a practical level, whereas art can be
imaginative and speculative or provocative. For me it is important that design
can do this work as well.

JA: Our methodology, if you look at how we behave and what we do, the kind
of techniques we use, to a large degree it is pure design. Of course, then, the
artefacts that come about as a result of this process often end up in a gallery,
which is where the confusion largely comes from. But we make it clear that
the design that comes from our practice is not art and it has so much closer
relationship with everyday life, in the domestic landscape, with people. The
connection between the object and everyday life (even if it is imaginary) is the
main difference why I would argue it would be purely design practice.

NN: They both correspond to a creative practice that operates with different
constraints. It's curious to see how some people are concerned with being on 41
one side or another. I think both are important and can benefit from one an-
other, especially because of the different ways they operate and the type of
outcome they produce.

TR: In the area that I work in, they are interchangeable. The delineation I draw
between practices comes more in the form of who it's for and why I'm doing it.
Thinking about someone else's brief or researching for someone else's benefit
falls into design. If it's exploring my own interests or talking about things I want
to talk about, it's art. The form of the end product is largely irrelevant as much
as the reason for doing it in the first place.

TVB: I think the dividing line between art, what art is, and what design is, is sort
of a blurry line and in a way it is becoming more blurry as designers are moving
to territories that are less applied and more conceptual and more theoretical
perhaps. I am reluctant to just refer to myself as an artist, because I think the
field of design should be broad enough to also incorporate this sort of work.
So, in that sense, I am kind of affiliated to the field of design enough to say that
this should also be these things but I am also pragmatic enough to realize that
some of the work cannot be classified as design anymore.
—— What is the role of speculative ( critical ) design approach today and how
important is it in your work?

NN: Unlike foresight-related tools ( opportunity maps, scenarios, etc. ), design

fiction uses standard objects and media conventions as a way to express ideas
about the future: a fake product catalogue, a map of a fictional area, a news-
paper, a short video showing a day in the life of a person, etc. To some extent,
design fiction is like science fiction in that the stories bring into focus certain
matters-of-concern, such as how life is lived, questioning how technology is
used and its implications, speculating about the course of events.

TR: I find that design and market techniques are more and more aimed at
obfuscating ideologies and motivations, often even to their creators. In a world
that is so complex and so multidimensional, a critical approach gives the op-
portunity to unpick, dissect and try to understand the mechanisms that drive
and control the world. Through my various practices, the aim is ultimately to
expose, explain, and consider what these might mean.

DM: In my work, speculation is where I start from; observing reality can give
you evidence, but to enable an observation of a parallel reality that lies beyond
our social norms, you can only start with pure speculation. Then, I design a re- 43
search process that involves people and helps collect the necessary evidence to
better understand humans, our social interactions and their intersection with
technology. However, I always avoid taking a clear position when I document
my work, in order to let the viewers make their own speculations and give their
interpretation of what they actually see.

LH: Designing in a speculative space allows you to embrace the fact that we
live in a complex, messy world, which we don't always understand. Fictional
worlds allow us to be open and experimental, to discover how we might deal
with new and existing issues, outside practical constraints. In my view, specu-
lative design is all design – a drawing is a piece of speculative design. In some
ways I don't like separating the terms – I prefer just design!

NM: It is a way to take new or different ideas seriously – and to let the ideas
be at the forefront of the design process. By thinking of the product as an idea,
and the user as an audience – the goal is to engage people with opinions, pos-
sibilities, and knowledge to offer a starting point of a conversation or a train of
thought. Physical objects, products, films, colour, or any element of a physical
design language are secondary. Don't start by designing a function, but instead
design a reason.
—— Why do you think it is important to question current scientific and
technological development?

AD: Most technological developments are driven by the economy which is

not necessarily going to lead to the most human, profound, and meaningful
existence. As designers, we can question the forces shaping technological de-
velopments and suggest alternatives that are not driven purely by economics.
Science research, is developed in a very pure academic environment but once
it travels into everyday life via the market place it becomes distorted and driven
by irrationality. As designers, we can raise some of these issues before they hap-
pen. Designers can visualize potential problems that might occur in everyday
life and provide platforms for discussion.

JA: The goal is to impact or influence scientific research at a very early point.
Traditionally the designer becomes involved at the end of the development pro-
cess (of technology) – making it easier to use, more attractive. But the designer
can also operate upstream, introducing human aspects such as desire, complex
behaviour and real-life application / implications much sooner. It is not about
the market, or about making money – following normative assumptions and
narratives about progress and the better life. It is about challenging these as-
sumptions and asking what is a ‘better’ life? If we can get this kind of thinking 45
to impact the research at a much earlier stage, perhaps the type of products and
the impact that technology has will be much more considered in the future.

NN: Having a background in life sciences, cognitive sciences, and human-com-

puter interaction, I have always been amazed by the lack of consideration given
to “why” questions in scientific and technological development. Why are we do-
ing this? Why are we developing this piece of genomic sequencing? Why is this
bit of geopositioning device relevant to our society as a whole? Assumptions
are rarely questioned, and scientists or engineers' preconceptions about life,
cognition, society, etc. are scarcely challenged. There's a need to think about
these differently, to at least have a conversation about them and avoid taking
very new possibilities for granted.

TR: I think that if we're not critical, then we just accept the major consensus
narrative, as so many do. The world is divided and divisive and it's easy to look
for easy answers or a sense of solidarity – to turn to an established narrative
that best aligns with how you think you should feel or what you think you
should believe. A critical approach gives us the opportunity to read the past and
read into the obfuscating effects of technology. We may not be able to propose
alternatives. But being aware of them might allow us to steer better.
TVB: We did a lot of work with synthetics biology and we are in collaboration
with scientists. It is really about the future and possibility space. I think the
most interesting sort of work is the one that questions if this sort of stuff is
what we want, if this is the kind of social futures, the kind of world that we
want to live in. I think this kind of work is like a vehicle to ask these questions.
I think it is important to do, because scientist don't have time to and we cannot
expect the industry to do it, because they have their own motivation such as
incentives and the question is who will benefit from these developments.

—— How can design help society to address these issues?

AD: By offering more idealistic alternatives showing how the world could be ,
making many alternatives. One thing is missing at the moment – social dreams.
I was born in the 1960s, and during my childhood we embraced the dream of
space travel, for example. If I think of children today, what are their dreams?
One of the things I am interested in at the moment is whether designers can
help to spark social dreaming. Not to give people dreams but to somehow ac-
tivate new dreams. I think this is an important role for designers, but we need
to make more use of our imagination.

TR: New funding and production streams like crowd-funding and 3D printing 47
have the potential to offer a way out of this, where support for an idea can be
built at a base by the people who genuinely need it most and who previously
would not have been able to act on it. Critical design also plays a role in aware-
ness and engagement. If we can help people to read the world in a critical way
and to move away from the major consensus narrative, then the commons can
become a mobilised polity that can make things happen.

slika / fig. 11 Candid Camera

( Interakcije at Magdalena, Maribor, 2010 ).
“Skrivena kamera” kao dizajnerski alat
/ “Candid Camera” as design tool.
—— What skills would a young designer or researcher need to work in this
field in the future?

AD: I think you have to question everything, including design. And imagination,
although not exactly a skill is extremely important. We have a lot of rationality,
a lot of analysis and a lot of reason, but we are missing the ability to dream in a
very powerful way. I would encourage young designers to let their imagination
flow and then to experiment with how to direct that into design ideas that excite
other people. It is also important to use design as a catalyst for encouraging other
experts to dream, no matter if they are economists or philosophers.

JA: Critique. Imagination. To be capable of thinking not about their products in a

vacuum but as part of an infinitely complex system of things and factors – political,
economical, ecological, behavioural, cultural each overlapping and interacting, for
both good and bad. The designer should be able to challenge these systems – as
they are old and conservative and not necessarily optimal. Perhaps (this is a wild
guess) 99% of the World’s designers develop products that are on a fast-track to
landfill sites. This of course helps the economies of developed nations and the
value of large corporations – but benefits elsewhere are at best spurious at worst
destructive. The point is that we do have an enormous responsibility and a good
designer of tomorrow will acknowledge it and embrace the challenge. 49

TR: Desperate enthusiasm and a confident critical mind. You need to spread your
mind far and wide to understand the connections and implications that go into
building the world. Every designed thing is the product of hundreds of years of
history and will result in hundreds more. The better this is understood by a young
designer the more consciously they will design. Talk to everyone, read everything,
see everything, learn all you can about everything you're not doing. And, cheesy
though it is, you have to be determined not to “sell out” – not to turn your idea into
another corporate cash cow that reinforces the status quo. This is getting easier and
easier to do, which is why I think it's a great time to have great ideas.

TVB: I teach a little bit as a visiting teacher at the Goldsmith College and we
designed this programme not towards a specific set of design skills, so it is
not organized to graphic design or interaction design or product design. It is
just called design and it is quite broad and all of these are idea driven. So stu-
dents have to engage in projects on the conceptual level, but they can choose
themselves which medium they use. This is an important aspect of developing
attitude rather than teaching skills, developing curiosity and openness, and
also keeping it open and being able to spot interesting things and behaviours,
practices and rituals.
The biggest contribution of speculative design
workshops is that they have opened new ways of
thinking and perception of the educational process for
a significant number of participants. For some of the
participants this resulted in continuing their studies
in international institutions that practice similar
educational concepts. Methods, tools, techniques, i.e. the
approach we practice, has a very practical application
in everyday design practice, be it in commercial works
or self-initiated projects. For me personally, workshops
are a pleasure because we can engage in topics that
worry us or make us happy in a critical, amusing, and
satiric manner, completely freely, in accordance
with the best practices of academic institutions.

—— Ivica Mitrović: Speculative design as an educational approach

Croatian Context
—— Ivica Mitrović

In the Croatian context, the primary institution for practice and education
regarding speculative design is the Department of Visual Communications Design
at the Arts Academy in Split. Since 2004, the Department has been organizing
the so-called Interakcije24, international workshops in the field of interaction
design that initially was focused on the user centered design practice, and
subsequently on critical design practice. For that reason, this year's workshop
changed its name into Speculative Design Workshop25. Over time, the speculative
approach has been integrated into various teaching processes at the masters
level. Some examples of such works were presented at a mini-retrospective
held at the Croatian Designers' Society Gallery titled Interakcije 2004 – 201226.
The activities have been additionally internationalized and developed through
the European project UrbanIxD27 and the summer school and exhibition titled
City | Data | Future – Interactions in the Hybrid Urban Space28.
The development of this speculative approach is primarily linked to the
critical methodology developed at the Design Interactions Programme of the 53
Royal College of Art ( RCA ), lead by Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby. This is why
the greatest number of workshop leaders comes from this institution. James
Auger held a particularly interesting lecture on speculative methodology at the
opening of the City | Data | Future exhibition in July 2014. It would be very hard
to take no account of the impact of Tomislav Lerotić's work and the critical
approach he has been continuously practising through design activism; e.g. in
the projects involving leaflets and posters for fictional genetically modified
animals for use as food29, in the framework of the educational project titled
The New Academy ( fictional architectural illustrations and scenarios )30. Works
that emerged through the platform named Interakcije also show the influence
of the new manifest art movements from the 1980s, the Neue Slowenische
Kunst art collective, or, in the Croatian context, the corresponding appearance
of the New Europe ( the NEP ).
There are only a few recent examples of speculative design practice in this
region. Nevertheless, it is possible to list several relevant works that, although
their authors would not use this term, fall within the scope of speculative design.
In 2013, the Croatian Designers' Society Gallery hosted an exhibition by Lina
Kovačević titled Future Artefacts. The author presented an installation together
with a performance, developed during her MA studies at the St. Martin's School
of Art in London, which speculate on “artefacts of the near future”. The fictional
artefacts, derived from specific scenarios as the kinds of objects used for the
performance named A Set for an Online Romantic Dinner, deal with the patterns
of digital communication and investigate fetishes in the virtual landscape rep-
resent critical artefacts of the media landscape that we inhabit.31
Robert Čanak encountered speculative practice in the course of his mas-
ter's degree programme at the international Virginia Commonwealth University
in Qatar. Through design fictions, his master's thesis titled Hybrid Gulf deals
with hybrid culture and coexistence of diverse cultures in Qatar and the Per-
sian Gulf. By designing hybrid objects of the future, which come into being
after the destruction of the Earth, i.e. after a new beginning and the complete
hybridization of cultures, and especially through their archaeology, the project
actually deals with the present identity of the Gulf.
At the 49th Zagreb Salon, Anselmo Tumpić exhibited ironic objects ( sports
shoes, children's toys and a piggy bank ). Although the author himself never
uses the term, the objects represent conceptual critical objects that appear in
the “near future of hypercapitalism”, and as the author indicates, they will never
become real products, but have the function of “arts objects”.32
Nikola Bojić has been developing his speculative practice, starting with a
provocative virtual project named Glass Peristyle, in the course of his master's
degree programme at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. In the framework
of his project titled Felton Street Emptiness, in a small street in the technologically
advanced environment of Harvard University and MIT he found a space that is 55
completely devoid of wireless connection. He generated a three-dimensional
model of the space, which he later materialized into an object of desire coated
with 24-carat gold.33 In collaboration with Damir Prizmić, for the forthcoming
exhibition at the Gallery of the Croatian Designers Society, he is working on
the project named Objects of Dangerous Intentions in which, by hacking everyday
objects, he questions today's manufacturing and consumer processes.
Ivana Fabrio wrote about critical design in the special edition of the Život
umjetnosti – Magazine for Contemporary Visual Arts, published by the Institute
of Art History in 2009 and dedicated to the topic of Design and Applied Arts.34 The
same issue also brought Maroje Mrduljaš's interview with Tomislav Lerotić,
Ivica Mitrović and Marcell Mars. Activities of Kontejner, the bureau of con-
temporary arts practice, are also worth mentioning, especially in the context of
the Device_art and Touch Me festivals. Kontejner has been continuously present-
ing works that have a speculative approach, gathering relevant authors. In 2008
Tobie Kerridge and Jimmy Loizeau gave a particularly important lecture ( and
introductory text ) titled Material Beliefs – Open Laboratories, Speculative Design,
Science and Society at the Touch Me Festival.35 Kontejner occasionally organises
production of local designs that can be partially classified under the category
of speculative practice.
Design not only holds a mirror up to the human
condition, but it also points ahead to how things
could be. So I felt that the intentionally forward-
looking stance of speculative design was a natural
method for exploring and describing the emergent
research topic of urban interaction design. Speculative
design is emerging as a new strategy for examining
the space that lies tantalisingly beyond the ‘current’
and the ‘now’. Through the creation of design fictions
the approach attempts to challenge assumptions
and preconceptions about the role that products
and services play in everyday life. These fictions
can create stories that unpack and humanise the
future, to act as catalysts for reflection and discussion
around shared conceptual visions. Speculative design
offers a method for researchers in urban interaction
design to investigate how we experience urban living
and what that might be like in the near future.

—— Michael Smyth: Speculative approach in Urban interaction design

Eutropia – a Case Study
—— Ivica Mitrović i Oleg Šuran

Eutropia was inspired by the work titled Čekingrad ( Check-In City ) which result-
ed from an interaction design workshop named A Hybrid City and organized
by the Arts Academy at the University of Split in 2011.36 Workshop participants
questioned various technological impacts of an technologically augmented, hy-
brid city of the future, including changes to the infrastructure conditioned by
technology, on various aspects of its citizens' everyday. In that fictional future
city named Čekingrad or Check-In City – information is everything. The econo-
my of the city is based on accumulation and trade of information collected from
locals and tourists at control points ( city cafes ). In a satirical way, this project
deals with certain habits characteristic for the locals who spend their free time
in cafes exchanging information ( ranging from pure gossip to personal DNA ).
Eutropia was produced for the exhibition titled City | Data | Future. The City
| Data | Future exhibition shows nine works, where five works have been initiated
during the UrbanIxD summer school, two have been curated for the exhibition
purposes and the remaining two have been directly commissionedfor the exhibi- 59
tion. The exhibited projects emerged from critical design practice and represent
fictions speculating about possible future scenarios that we, as citizens living in
technologically expanded hybrid cities of the future, can expect.
Whether we are talking about complex infrastructural changers or simply
about certain instances of urban life, the cities of the future presented at the City
| Data | Future exhibition are entirely technologically augmented and saturated
by ubiquitous technology. Immersed in a continuous flow of information with
an urban system, a person disappears as an individual / creature / being. However,
although those fictional cities are projected as planned systems, the scenarios in-
dicate the the shortcomings of top-down approach in future developments and
technology implementation in the real world. The exhibition shows that planning
such cities also implies foreseeing possible scenarios with reactions on that very
system, whether we are talking about hacking or abuse, or modification and appro-
priation of the system and its segments ( depending on the observer's position ).37
In this design fiction, Eutropia is a city expanded by a series of sensors
that completely interfere with private / intimate spaces, collecting and storing
almost all information about its citizens and their habits. With citizens' approv-
al, the city sells the collected data to corporations thus ensuring continuous
welfare to everyone. This scenario questions whether privacy within such a
system remains an ideological misconception from previous times or an in-
dividual's human need.
— — EUTROPIA

Eutropia is a Mediterranean city with more than 300,000 inhabitants located

on the northern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The very mention of its name
inspires jealousy in an average post-neoliberal European. Namely, due to top-
notch entrepreneurial and political capabilities of the city government that is
in power for 40 years already, for over 30 years this city-state lives in complete
material security and social wellbeing.
Back in the times of the great global recession of the 21st century, the city
government signed a contract with an international consortium regulating
trade of information generated by the city. After a decade of investments, Eu-
tropia developed a state-of-the-art infrastructure for collecting data generated
by its citizens ( from privately-owned apartments, public institutions, leisure
and entertainment facilities to public urban areas ). First-rate city services are
all put in function of the system, i.e. they assist in data-collection together
with citizens who cooperate in order to assure a constant flow of information.
The new information-based economy, or rather the export of data, guar-
antees independence and welfare to all citizens. In this city there is no unem-
ployment and work belongs to the sphere of leisure.

In Eutropia, a consumerist welfare oasis, privacy is 61

nothing but an ideological misconception.
Eutropia ( 2014 )
63
— — PRESENTATION

The concept of the fictional city of the future named Eutropia is presented
in a video, introductory text and corresponding objects. The text introduces
the audience to the story linking the present time with the near future. The
video follows a citizen and shows how this city of the future impacts him and
his everyday life. By highlighting some conventional moments from everyday
life, it aims to persuade, convince and immerse ( to suspend disbelief ). The
designed objects used in the video are displayed next to the projected video in
order to create a far-reaching experience, following the tendency of exhibition
practices, conditionally speaking, in the form of the archaeology of the future.
In collaboration with the authors, the video production was created by
students of the Film and Video Department at the Arts Academy in Split. The initial
concept, in the form of a script, was turned into a director's concept and then
in a shooting script. Special artefacts were designed for the video and its pres-
entation. Those artefacts are not only stage props designed only the authentic
video purposes, but also they are design products, or speculative objects that
contribute to believability, inspire discussion and question the context. Ad-
ditional attention was paid to the city's visual identity and the protagonists'
dress code in line with the presupposed aesthetic of the near future. This type
of work can be presented as an individual online or offline video project, or in 65
the context of a gallery as a projection with complementary objects.

CREDITS: Autori / Authors – Ivica Mitrović, Oleg Šuran; Režija i montaža

/ Directed and edited by – Glorija Lizde; Kamera / Camera – Andrea Kaštelan;
Glumci / Sound – Marko Jukić; Actors – Oleg Šuran, Matko Elezović, Nikola
Marangunić, Maja Petrić, Mario Raguž, Ivana Kevo, Ivica Mitrović, Nikša Vukša;
VFX – Jakov Šuran; Kostimografija / Costume Design – Margita Videtić, Katarina
Bilan; Dizajn objekata / Objects designed by – Oleg Šuran, Ivica Mitrović;
Temeljen na / Based on – Čekingrad ( Check-In City ) ( Oleg Šuran, Nera Nejašmić,
Jernej Kejžar / Nelly Ben Hayoun / Ivica Mitrović, Interakcije, Arts Academy,
Split, 2011 ); Interiors – Design Hostel Goli ± Bosi, Split; Zahvale /Special
thanks to – Luciana Škabar, Saša Milanović, Andi Pekica, Noel Mirković, Darko
Kokić, Maks Škabar; Dizajn opreme izložbe / Exhibition Equipment Design –
Studio Manufakturist; Produkcija /Production – UrbanIxD ( EU FP7 FET ), 2014;
Podržano od / Support – Grad Split / City of Split, Umjetnička akademija, Split
/ Arts Academy, Split.

Eutropija na City | Data | Future izložbi

/ Eutropia at City | Data | Future Exhibition ( 2014 ).
I spend a lot of time thinking about the term “prop”
– a physical object that becomes a focus for a design,
story, or conversation. Creating props or artefacts as
fictional elements is something that I really enjoy doing,
as well as finding and referencing other examples in
projects, films, and artworks. The power of these items
is that they can help to signify a larger element in a
project or narrative – they help to provoke mystery,
or open up layers of fiction that would otherwise
remain hidden or unexplored. The process of creating
a prop can help in developing the project itself, as
well as force you or the viewer to approach the prop
as a fictional object expected to be taken seriously.

—— Nicholas Mortimer: Props as design artefacts

Reference / References
1 Marko Golub, “Dejan Kršić: Dizajn je oduvijek
bio značenjska praksa”, In: Dan D: Dizajn
na rubu, HDD, Zagreb, 2014, 20–26.
2 Paul Rodgers and Michael Smyth, Digital Blur:
Creative Practice at the Boundaries of Architecture,
Design and Art, Libri, Faringdon, 2010.
3 Ramia Mazé, “Critical of What?”,
In: Ericson et al. ( ed. ), Iaspis Forum on
Design and Critical Practice: The Reader,
Iaspis i Sternberg Press, Stockholm, 2009.
4 Anthony Dunne, Hertzian Tales,
MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2005.
5 Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby, Speculative
Everything, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2013.
6 James Auger, “Speculative design: crafting the
speculation”, In: Digital Creativity, Vol. 24, Iss. 1,
2013, http://augerloizeau.tumblr.com/post
/53524176947/definition-of-speculative-design
( 1. 2. 2015. ) .
7 Torie Bosch, “Sci-Fi Writer Bruce Sterling Explains
the Intriguing New Concept of Design Fiction”,
In: Slate, 2012, http://www.slate.com/blogs
/future_tense/2012/03/02/bruce_sterling_on
_design_fictions_.html ( 1. 2. 2015. ) .
8 Dunne and Raby, Speculative Everything, p. 12.
9 Geek's Guide to the Galaxy, “Dystopian Fiction’s
Popularity Is a Warning Sign for the Future”,
In: Wired, 2014, http://www.wired.com/2014/12
/geeks-guide-naomi-klein ( 1. 2. 2015. ) .
10 Ingi Helgason, Michael Smyth, Søren Rosenbak,
Ivica Mitrović, “Discourse, Speculation And
Multidisciplinarity: Designing Urban Futures”.
In: NorDes 2015, Design Ecologies, Challenging
anthropocentrism in the design of sustainable
futures, Nordic Design Research, Stockholm, 2015.
11 http://www.ipu.hr/aktualno/188/zivot-umjetnosti
-od-teritorija-do-specificnog-mjesta-poziv-na-prijavu
-radova-za-ljetni-broj-96-2015 ( forthcoming ) .
12 Yunus Emre Duyar and Alessia Andreotti.
“Liam Young on Speculative Architecture and
Engineering the Future”, In: NextNature.net,
2015, http://www.nextnature.net/2015/03
/interview-liam-young-on-speculative
-architecture-and-engineering-the-future
( 20. 4. 2015. ) .
13 Liam Young ( ed. ), Brave New Now, Lisbon
Architecture Triennale, Ebook, 2014, loc 37.
14 Young, Brave New Now, loc 50.
15 Dunne, Hertzian Tales.
16 Helgason, Smyth, Rosenbak, Mitrović,
“Discourse, Speculation and Multidisciplinarity:
Designing Urban Futures”.
17 Rick Poynor, “Art's little brother”, In: Icon Magazine
(023), 2005, http://www.iconeye.com/404/item
/2628-arts-little-brother-%7C-icon-023-%7C-may
-2005 ( 20. 4. 2015. ) .
18 Dunne and Raby, Speculative Everything, p. 100.
19 Daniel West, Digital poets, In: Icon Magazine (043).
2007, http://www.iconeye.com/read
-previous-issues/icon-043-|-january-2007
/digital-poets-|-icon-043-|-january-2007 ( 5. 6. 2009. ) .
20 http://embryo.inet.hr
21 http://www.distributive-justice.com
22 http://stari.dizajn.hr/#1318-lina-kovacevic
-future-artefacts-28-5-11-6-2013
23 http://www.zgraf.hr/wp-content
/uploads/2011/11/Tema-HR.pdf
24 http://dvk.com.hr/interakcije
25 http://dvk.com.hr/interakcije/2015/03/02
/speculative-design-workshop-interakcije
-2015-alternative-present
26 http://dvk.com.hr/interakcije/2012/09/16
/interakcije-2004-2012-izlozba-exhibition
27 http://urbanixd.eu
28 http://www.citydatafuture.eu
29 http://lerotic.de
30 http://umas.hr/nova_akademija
31 http://stari.dizajn.hr/#1318-lina-kovacevic
-future-artefacts-28-5-11-6-2013
32 http://www.49zagrebackisalon.com
/#!anselmo/c1tl
33 http://nikolabojic.com/art-design
/felton-street-emptiness
34 http://www.ipu.hr/izdanja/zivot-umjetnosti
/66/zivot-umjetnosti-dizajn-i-primijenjena
-umjetnost-design-and-applied-arts
35 http://www.kontejner.org
/material-beliefs-symp
36 http://dvk.com.hr/interactions
/workshop2011/projects3.htm
37 Ivica Mitrovic, Michael Smyth, Ingi Helgason,
City | data | future – Interactions in Hybrid Urban
Space: The UrbanIxD Exhibition, UrbanIxD,
Split / Edinburgh, 2014, p. 29.
Ilustracije / Illustrations
1 Inspirirano / inspired by: Bruno Latour
“How to Better Register the Agency of Things:
Semiotics”, The Tanner Lectures in Human Values,
Yale, 2014. 5:12, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=18pYfcbBRL8 ( 10.5.2015. ) ( via Nikola Bojić ) .
2 Auger, “Speculative design:
crafting the speculation”.
3 Julian Bleecker ( ed ), TBF Catalog,
Near Future Laboratory, 2014, p. 107.
4 Joseph Voros, “A Primer on Futures Studies,
Foresight and the Use of Scenarios”, Prospect,
the Foresight Bulletin, № 6. Swinburne University
of Technology, 2001, http://thinkingfutures.net
/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/A_Primer_on
_Futures_Studies1.pdf ( 8. 5. 2015. ) ;
Dunne and Raby, Speculative Everything, p. 5;
Tobias Revell, “Critical Design / Design Fiction
lecture finally written up”, blog.tobiasrevell.com,
2013, http://blog.tobiasrevell.com/2013/12/critical
-design-design-fiction-lecture.html ( 8. 5. 2015. ) .
5 Aural Fixation, Bronwyn Cumbo, Mads Hobye
/ Chris Hand, Hrvoje Živčić / Daria Casciani,
Oleg Šuran ( City | Data | Future Exhibition, 2014 ) .
6 Dunne and Raby, Speculative Everything, p. vii.
7 Splitopia, Marina Jukić, Ivor Vrbos, Ivona Mi-
hajlović, Nada Maleš, Mia Vučemilović, Alma
Topalović, Marina Bošković, Milica Golubović,
Josip Kaloper, Luka Bekavac / Dash Macdonald,
Demitrios Kargotis ( Interakcije 2012, Split ) .
8 The Future Cloud is Buried, Søeren Rosenbak,
Andreas Foerster, Leyla Nasibova / Gordan Savičić,
Hrvoje Kedžo / Oleg Šuran ( City | Data | Future
Exhibition, 2014 ) .
9 Coordination of Urban Busy Areas ( CUBA ),
Luis Veracruz, Jona Dajçi / Chris Hand, Hrvoje Živčić
/ Ivo Holanec ( City | Data | Future Exhibition, 2014 ) .
10 It's a plastic world Aleksandra Tomc,
Ivan Kunjašić / Liam Healy ( Interakcije, 2015 ) .
11 Candid Camera, Jan Foraus, Matija Raos,
Ana Bekš , Hristina Papadopulos, Koraljka
Jukić / Dash Macdonald, Demitrios Kargotis
( Interakcije at Magdalena, Maribor, 2010 ) .
12 Helgason, Smyth, Rosenbak, Mitrović,
“Discourse, Speculation And Multidisciplinarity:
Designing Urban Futures”;
The Design Council ( UK ) , The Double Diamond
model, 2005, http://www.thecreativeindustries
.co.uk/uk-creative- overview/news-and-views/view
-what-is-design- and-why-it-matters ( 8. 5. 2015. ) .
Intervjui / Interviews
Intervjui su prikupljeni tijekom UrbanIxD
projekta ( Resonate festival, Beograd 2013;
UrbanIxD ljetna škola, Split 2013; UrbanIxD
radionica “Moguće Pule”, Pula 2014 )
te na radionici Interakcije, Split 2015.
Interviews were collected during UrbanIxD
project ( Resonate festival, Belgrade 2013;
UrbanIxD Summer School, Split 2013;
UrbanIxD workshop “Possible Pulas”, Pula 2014 )
and at the Interakcije workshop, Split 2015.
 Uvod u spekulativnu dizajnersku praksu
Eutropija, studija slučaja

An Introduction to Speculative Design Practice

Eutropia, a case study

Nakladnici / Publishers – Hrvatsko dizajnersko društvo / Croatian Designers Association,

Odsjek za dizajn vizualnih komunikacija Umjetničke akademije Sveučilišta u Splitu
/ Department for Visual Communications Design, Arts Academy, University of Split;
Urednici / Editors – Ivica Mitrović, Marko Golub, Oleg Šuran; Tekstovi / Texts – Ivica
Mitrović, Marko Golub; uz sudjelovanje / with contributions from – Anthony Dunne,
James Auger, Nicolas Nova, Tobias Revell, Dionysia Mylonaki, Liam Healy, Tuur van
Balen, Nicholas Mortimer, Michael Smyth; Prijevod / Translation – Mirna Herman
Baletić ( Language Lab ); ZAHVALE – Dejan Kršić, Mirjana Jakušić, Gwyan Rhabyt, Luciana
Škabar; Dizajn / Design – Oleg Šuran; Tipografsko Pismo / typeface – Thema & Thema
Moderato ( Typonine.com ); Tisak / Print – Tiskara Zelina; Naklada / Circulation – 250;
ISBN 978-953-6778-10-2; CIP zapis je dostupan u računalnome katalogu Nacionalne i sveu-
čilišne knjižnice u Zagrebu pod brojem 000905820.

Exhibition / Izložba ( 15. 5. – 29. 5. 2015 )

Dizajn fikcija: Eutropija

Uvod u spekulativnu dizajnersku praksu

Design fiction: Eutropia

An Introduction to Speculative Design Practice

Koncepcija izložbe / Exhibition concept – Ivica Mitrović, Oleg Šuran; Organizator

/ Organised by – Hrvatsko dizajnersko društvo / Croatian Designers Association,
HDD galerija / HDD gallery; Kustos HDD galerije / Curator – Marko Golub; Dizajn
elemenata postava / Installation design – Manufakturist; Grafički dizajn / Graphic
design – Oleg Šuran; Sponzori / Sponsored by – Cerovski Print Boutique, Ars kopija.

Program HDD galerije podržavaju Ministarstvo kulture RH i Grad Zagreb. Program je su-
financiran sredstvima zaklade Kultura nova. / The HDD gallery program is supported by
The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia and the Zagreb City Council. The program
is co-funded by the Kultura nova foundation.
Ilustracija stražnje korice: Back cover illustration:
slika 12 Spekulativna dizajnerksa praksa slika 12 Speculative design practice mapped
mapirana kroz tradicionalni dizajnerski proces. through traditional design process.

FAZA OTKRIVANJA I DEFINIRANJA: odnosi se na Discover and define phase: refers to

generiranje ideja / koncepata / dizajnerskog prostora, generation of ideas / concepts / design space
tj. apstraktnih spekulacija, s pripadajućim pristupima ( abstract speculations ), together with related
( označenim u dijagramu ) . approaches ( mapped in the diagram ) .

Faza razrade: odnosi se na razradu develop phase: refers to concept development,

koncepata, s pripadajućim alatima, tehnikama, together with related tools, techniques,
instrumentima, metodama, žanrovima, instruments, methods, genres, concepts
konceptima ( označenim u dijagramu ) . ( mapped in the diagram ) .

faza isporuke: odnosi se na materijalizaciju Deliver phase: refers to materialization / explication

/ ekspliciranje / komunikaciju / prezentiranje / communication / presentation in various formats
u različitim formatima ( označenim u dijagramu ) . ( mapped in the diagram ) .
 ist
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“kritički dizajn” / “critical design”
spekulativne budućnosti / speculative futures
alternativne sadašnjosti / alternative presents

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fi
no
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tio
fin

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ISBN 978-953-6778-10-2
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definiranje problema problem definition

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Alati / tools: dizajn fikcija ( fikcijski narativi ) / design fiction ( fictional

ep
ve

at
de

narratives ), film language / filmski jezik, screenplay / scenarij, storyboard,

a/
a/

co
ad

nc

testiranje korisnika / user testing, intervjui i upitnici / interviews and

ep
zr

t
ra

de

questionaries, igra / game, fenomeni medijske i pop kulture / media and

ve
lop

pop culture phenomena, …

m
en
t

Materijalizacija / materialization: fiktivni proizvod / fictional product,

katalog proizvoda / product catalogue, prototip ( dijegetski prototip )
/ prototype ( diegetic prototype ), grafovi i dijagrami / graphs and
diagrams, korisnički priručnik / product manuals, video i film ( nara-
n
io
at

tivni i dokumentarni ) / video and film ( narrative and documentary ),

liz
ia
isp

er

software ( apps ), usluge / services, instrukcijski video / instructio-

or

at
uk

/m

nal video, modni dodaci / fashion accesories, karte / maps, novinski

a/

ija
de

ac
liv

tekst i televizijske vijesti / newspapper article & TV news report, web

liz
er

ija

sjedište / web site, “skrivena kamera” / candid camera, elevator pitch,

er
at
m

observational comedy, stand-up, …

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