We recognise future design to be almost exclusively in the hands of academia, corporations and other power- ful entities. The scenarios envisioned are therefore often elitist, subject to an uncomfortable compromise be- tween user-centred insights and profit-targeted dynamics, or purely theoretical and art-oriented.
We believe that futures explored by critical/speculative design should be of public domain, discussed at dinners among friends as well as conferences like this one. Speculative design, although it aims to spark a conversation through mediums interlocutors can relate to, is still working on a design”er”-centered axis. We are used to being shown the way by successful designers (critical or not) who inevitably retain the responsibility of designing our future (or the conversations we should have on such).
Trying to address this, we opened a fictional online department store. There we display the results of the workshops we conduct with various communities - our participants take an active role in designing objects from futures related to their community, utilising their expertise to illustrate rich scenarios and spark debate.
In this talk, we want to share the work we have done with the citizens of Wroclaw, a Polish city with an extreme air pollution problem. Come shopping with us!
