Speculative Design #2
- Alice
- Jul 23, 2021
- 3 min read
Case study 2: ‘Space Sweepers (승리호)’
Find an example of speculative design that was not discussed in class today that you think is more successful (or interesting to you) and apply the same analytic framework to it you used in class to construct your argument:
Describe the issues it examined and the methods it used to communicate them.
What was the overall goal of the design?
During the session when the lecturers were discussing the various case studies that we could look into for the speculative design topic, the first example I thought of was Space Sweepers. Other examples that lecturers had discussed were films like “Her” or “Minority Report” and from this, I decided to do my case study on the film that I had recently watched and enjoyed - Space Sweepers.
Space sweepers are also known as 승리호 (Spaceship Victory) is Netflix original film that is set in a dystopian world. Kind of like the infamous film Wall-E, the earth has turned into a place where it is no longer inhabitable by humans. The high-ranked human species would live up at a utopian piece of land out of space where other humans would be living off collecting trash floating around space.
The issue addressed in this film is the current problem with space debris as well as the harm that humans are doing to nature. The whole film is set on the possibility that the earth will turn into a dystopian place if the current circumstance continues, hence emphasising the idea of protecting nature. Although the plot itself does not hugely focus on the environmental impact, the setting of the film as well as the visual of future-earth shows the possible aftermath of the current situation.
“Each tension is illustrated first with a short description and by identifying its scope as the extent to which the tension manifests itself within the context of a particular design. We then provide three case studies as examples where the tension manifests differently.
These tensions and their accompanying scopes offer a substitute for rethinking what function might be in a “traditional design object”. They function as a tool for reflecting on a (normative) design process and a mechanism for “staying with the trouble” through the duration of the design process and a design object’s lifespan.”
- Encinas, Bozanic and Suran.
Image screenshot myself
Why did you find it a more successful example of speculative design than the other cases your group analysed?
How did it better achieve its goal?
The speculative design looks at the current problem, situation, or technology and acts as a tool for the further possible outcomes of the design. The film Space Sweepers looks at the problem of global warming and the harm that nature is receiving. The ‘tension’ which in this case is the environmental concern as well as the space debris problem acts as a setting of the film and brings in the idea of humans “cleaning space”. According to the report by NASA, there are more than 27,000 pieces of debris orbiting the earth which can hugely cause collisions to space aircraft around the earth. The ‘scope’ of this situation is that in the future if our earth becomes a non-livable place and everyone eventually moves on to live in outer space, we would clean the space debris ourselves.
The reason why this case has shown to be a more successful speculative design is the visual that interprets the tension and the scope of the problem in the present. Although addressing the problem would be crucial, the method of how it is delivered is important as well. The amount of visuals in this film shows the size of the problem as well as entertain the viewers of the film.
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