PREAGRICULTURAL FUTURES -SPECULATIVE DESIGN
Year: 2025
Format: Thesis project / speculative design installation
Medium: 3D Wearable artifacts, digital illustrations, speculative scenarios
Role: Research, concept development, prototyping, storytelling, exhibition design
Keywords: Speculative design, post-agriculture, ruminants, human futures
Supervisors: Prof. Emily Smith, Régis Lemberthe
Pre-Agricultural Futures (2025) is a speculative futures thesis project that explores the possibility of a world without agriculture, through the lens of hunter-gatherer communities. Based on the work of anthropologist Marshall Sahlins and inspired by existing hunter and gatherers tribes and the ruminant digestive systems, the project imagines a civilization that, after the collapse of industrial agriculture, is forced to live as nomadic communities. Rather than a return to the past, it envisions hunter-gatherer societies as a leap toward ecological consciousness, reconnection with nature, and the rebuilding of communal life.
The work challenges linear notions of progress and proposes a cyclical understanding of human evolution as a critique of modern societies. At its center is PANZA — the Post-Agricultural, Nomadic, Zymotechnic Apparatus — a speculative wearable digestive system passed down through generations, repaired with organic materials, and designed to transform foraged vegetation into nutritious paste, powered not by industry but by rhythmic walks, care, and collective motion.
"THE CARRIER" TATTOO: The carrier is the woman in charge of PANZA - she walks, feeds, maintains, and protects it. The tattoo marks the beginning of this lifelong role.
TASTING PANZA’S PASTE: Fermented plant-based protein, freshly extracted from PANZA. Nutritionally dense, consumed by hand for rapid absorption and energy
BACK MARKS OF THE CARRIER: Daily use of PANZA leaves deep marks on the back. Over time, these pressure traces become symbols of commitment
The mouths are provocative, almost sensual, and grotesque. The action is explicit; there is no modesty in the act. This passionate relationship with food aims to portray a bond that is far from conventional. The image is designed to attract attention, to unsettle, and to seduce, opening space for reflection on the visceral and emotional dimensions of eating
PROJECT DOCUMENTATION & WORDBUILDING
INSTALLATION AT UNIVERISTY OF EUROPE BERLIN
