Warum zu viel zu viel ist?
In my theoretical work, I began by looking at the concepts of need and desire as well as their meaning and difference. Needs are what is necessary to survive. Desires, on the other hand, refer to what we want in life, even if its non-fulfilment does not endanger our survival. While Karl Marx was concerned with human need in Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Raymond Loewy engaged with the effects of our desire and wishes. These considerations lead to a design ethic that has been charged with different meanings over time. I investigated whether modern descriptions of design ethics can still be equated with those of Marx and Loewy. For designers of the twenty-first century, design ethics is a challenge. I explored the question of how we can design ethically today while maintaining profitability and growth. Although ethical design appears to be a simple concept, we designers are confronted with various questions: how does ethical design function in practice? Who is responsible (designer, manufacturer, customer, society, or politics)? Not all ethical interventions are equal. This question also applies to the relationship between capitalism and ethical approaches to design. Above all, the question remains how to distinguish need from desire in a capitalist society.
Corpus Novum
Through my practical work, I wish to access a future world without limitations. Corpus Novum (new body) is an expanded notion in terms of human motor skills and the possibility of movement. The project is concerned with questions of extension and/or supplementation and restrictions on human movement. The system comprises an open structure that enables human motor skills (in their physiognomic diversity and idiosyncrasy) to be supported in particular tasks. This human suit is intended for a speculative future in which our atmosphere is no longer habitable and our movements are quite different from current ones. As such, Corpus Novum is conceived as a futuristic kind of fashion that facilitates communication, even when we are no longer able to move due to the lack of atmosphere.
While the idea for the suit came about partly through the pandemic context, it also stems from the need for the human body to be able to maintain movement, no matter the circumstances. As a wearable device, the design is an out-of-the-box kind of fashion that represents a unique integration of aesthetics and future technology. The project remains purely speculative for now. The focus is on analysing how this suit can be powered in a place where there may no longer be any electricity available.
