Accidental Geopoetics

2019
Performative Design Intervention Embracing the Complexity of Revealing Rather than Hiding.

Uncovering the hidden layers of planetary apparatuses of extraction and exploitation could be a way to theorise about design and also to reinvent the paths of its execution and the potential to provide new perspectives on the political responsibilities related to our planetary embeddedness. To visually support such a narrative, we designed geo-ponchos—costumes for roleplay—through which human bodies connect to the planetary one. Performers were carrying ‘geoglyps’—signs inspired by mining infrastructures mingled into a unique navigation system guiding the museum visitors.

  • Accidental Geopoetics: performers in pink and blue geo-ponchos pose on a white museum staircase, orange geoglyps held high
  • Accidental Geopoetics: two performers in geo-ponchos parade red and orange geoglyps, an oval reads 'Multiple Nowwheres'
  • Accidental Geopoetics: a performer kneels in a yellow geo-poncho, a striped pole lifts the geoglyp 'Semantic Camouflage'
  • Accidental Geopoetics: a hot pink geo-poncho hangs on its rod, aerial terrain and contours map a costume for roleplay
  • Accidental Geopoetics: pink contours loop a lilac blob on a grey geo-poncho, two aerial rock circles, costume for roleplay
  • Accidental Geopoetics: a white geo-poncho, gold contours wind past blue blobs, an aerial city circle, costume for roleplay
  • Accidental Geopoetics: a cream geo-poncho, orange contours ring an aerial ridge and a geoglyp, green letters read 'Haikou'
  • Accidental Geopoetics: performers in geo-ponchos raise orange ovals 'Techno Occult' and 'Intimacy' in a white museum hall
  • Accidental Geopoetics: a performer walks the museum, a grey geoglyp on the geo-poncho reads 'Planetary Apparatuses'
  • Accidental Geopoetics: an orchid geo-poncho reveals an aerial swirl of earth under yellow contours, lettered 'Pudozhsky'
  • Accidental Geopoetics: a blue geo-poncho, blue contours cross an aerial mining pit beside a lilac circle, orange '60'
  • Accidental Geopoetics: a brown geo-poncho, blue contours cross an aerial open-pit mine, a pink circle, 'Xinguang' in blue
  • Accidental Geopoetics: performers in geo-ponchos hoist 'Sensitive Geopoetics' and 'Geo Chat' before a giant 'Please'
  • Accidental Geopoetics: two performers in geo-ponchos raise the oval 'Unsurprisingly Warm' before a giant 'Please Cry'
  • Accidental Geopoetics: three geo-poncho prints, aerial mining sites and geoglyps for 'Zapolyarny', 'Xinguang', 'Haikou'