glasgow school of art student, hardy wong, presents a bleak, dystopian future for life after coronavirus. contextualized by the current social circumstances amid the pandemic, the research project makes reference to diverse reading materials and various case analyses. the alternative reality makes particular reference to the totalitarian society portrayed in george orwell’s novel, 1984, to create a place where people sacrifice individual freedom for public health and consequently live in a permanent state of fear and insecurity.
the slogan
all images courtesy of hardy wong
the research centers on the biopolitical philosophy studied by both michel foucault and giorgio agamben. the latter mentions ‘naked life’, in which survival becomes the only human raison d’être, and the state of exception becomes the new normal. extracting two keywords of ‘biopolitics’ and ‘biopower’, mentioned by michel foucault (1979), hardy wong explores a speculative society and its collective ideology.
the ministry of love
to create this alternative world, hardy wong has conceived four ‘ministries’: the ministry of love, the ministry of media, the ministry of peace, and the ministry of plenty. wong has also reinterpreted the COVID-19 signage from the UK government to produce a set of graphics employed in the spatial design. through the four ministries, the project imagines a grim and depressing alternative world of totalitarian control, where social interaction is effectively eliminated.
the ministry of media
workplace in the ministry of media
the ministry of peace
self-isolation unit at the ministry of peace
the eat-out units at the ministry of plenty
food collection at the ministry of plenty
contact-free food distribution machines
the graphic language
theory: biopolitics
the narrative
project info:
project name: the postpandemic landscape
design: hardy wong
designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.
edited by: lynne myers | designboom
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Hi Mr Hardy! What an excellent treatise on the topic! Any thinking person HAS to make the link between the dystopian future envisaged by George Orwell and the current regime incorporating lack of freedom epitomised by ‘house arrests’ (AKA lockdowns) , major mental health issues and skyrocketing suicide rates all in the name of health and freedom!! In Australia we are seeing unprecedented levels of state sanctioned violence against ‘the people’. Just finished my Bachelor of Psychological Science (NSW, Australia) where I focussed on these issues and the ‘zombiefication’ of us!! Thanks for sharing your art in the hope of ‘waking people up’! It is no longer an issue of the left and right. This has been superceded by emerging totalitarian CONTROL.