the postpandemic landscape is a 1984-inspired dystopian reality envisioned by hardy wong

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.