Imagining Possible Futures

In a talk hosted by the Industrial Design department last Monday, ethnographic filmmaker Ruth Dessault shared images from two current projects – one about visionaries attempting to build off-the-grid ecotopias and another about paintball enthusiasts conducting their own, very different design-build experiments.

After interviewing devotees of both fringe cultures from a maker’s point of view, Dessault marvels at their resourcefulness and their ability to repurpose existing materials and develop unique workarounds. “While politically antithetical,” she notes, “both expressions reflect the ironies and aspirations of our cultural imagination in the face of an incomprehensible future.”