Day 03. Activating Global Futures
Exploring Possible Cultural Futures Through Speculative Semiotics
Wednesday June 23, 11:00 am EDT
🎧 Talk, 30 minute session
In 2018, Axis Mundi, in collaboration with Louise Jolly, staged a speculative semiotics performance at the ONCA gallery in Brighton, UK as part of their future fictions season. We transported our audience to the year 2030 to take part in the inaugural open day for Triangle, a mental health centre offering psychedelic treatments and experiences for the Brighton community. On both sides of the Atlantic, we’re living through revolutions in cultural and scientific attitudes towards psychedelics (and other alternative) treatments. To provide relief from difficult-to-treat conditions such as depression, addiction and anxiety — but also for people who simply want to cope better in the high-speed drift of modern life. Michael Pollan’s book, “How to Change Your Mind” has punctured some of the lingering, mainstream belief that 20th century counterculture and psychedelics are synonymous. Similarly, the popularity of micro-dosing amongst creative developers in Silicon Valley is by now well-documented evidence of shifting behaviours among a vanguard elite. A host of practitioners, such as Dr Ben Sessa, are driving the change: “[…] psychedelic drugs (unlike cocaine, alcohol and many prescribed drugs) are extremely safe — despite their negative public perception. This widespread societal misjudgement drives me to try and redress the issue, educate people, take on the challenge of changing hearts and minds.” We were inspired to deploy speculative design techniques coupled with semiotic analysis to redress ‘societal misjudgement’ of psychedelics. Given there may still be residual cultural resistance to psychedelics in the year 2030, we set out to explore how a future clinic might communicate the value of treatments sensitively and professionally?
What visual and verbal signifiers would support this? Triangle: Centre for Deep Renewal - a clinic dedicated to psychedelic treatments for mental health challenges was our initial response.
In our talk, we will discuss how designing our speculative clinic cleared space for critical exploration about the future in a public forum, and share the challenges experienced in responding to audience reactions and questions such as: how will Triangle facilitate meaningful and non-hierarchical community participation? Is the branded identity too corporate? What effect will the centre have on its neighbours? We will evaluate the experience of presenting embodied semiotics through diegetic prototypes and how they can help (or hinder) participant play and engagement. We will also explore how Performances — going beyond research reports — invite participants to self-reflect: how does this make me feel? Is this a future I want? If not, how can I prevent it? And how can I shape and calibrate this possible future, so it best reflects me and my community? As these questions show, the value of semiotic performance is that it elicits direct, emotional and unvarnished feedback from participants, opening doors to an honest and shared process of reflection. In effect the power of embodied and speculative semiotics is that the prototype can evolve upon each performance and subsequent feedback, so we also intend to invite reactions from Primer attendees as we embark on Triangle: Phase Two.
Rosamund Picton
Co-Founder and Semiotician, Axis Mundi
Rosamund is a writer and researcher, applying critical theory, human sciences and design to build cultural strategies for commercial and social enterprise. Driven by a deep interest in mainstream culture and social sign-systems, in early 2018 Rosamund co-founded Axis Mundi, a specialist brand studio using semiotics to bridge the gap between research and creative execution. Axis Mundi study communication, experiences and aesthetics to reveal how culture shapes the ways we think, feel, behave and believe. Frequently collaborating with anthropologists, critical theorists and design partners, Rosamund has conducted complex multi-market semiotic studies for major global brands including P&G, QIC GRE, Molson Coors, Mattel, and Duracell and participated in cultural fieldwork around the world, for example, researching alternative approaches to preventative health in India, retail futures in Australia, emergent narratives of artificial intelligence in China and the cultural framing of masculine success in South Africa. Rosamund has written about visual culture, media and spatial design for a range of publications, including TANK, FRAME and LSN Global. Rosamund is a firm believer in combining critical thinking with creative imagination to provoke and challenge conventional wisdom.
Kourosh Newman-Zand
Co-Founder and Semiotician, Axis Mundi
Kourosh Newman-Zand is a semiotician and cultural analyst with experience working at the intersection between culture, politics and branding. He has led many projects across a range of categories - from emerging technology to skincare and drinks. Kourosh is driven by a deep interest in understanding how organisations can navigate the cultural terrain. Using critical and theoretical techniques, he is energised by the possibilities for brands, products and services to not just attach themselves to the cultural zeitgeist, but to actually shape it.
Louise Jolly
Copywriter and Semiotician
Louise has worked as a copywriter, editor and semiotician for over 15 years, providing the cultural context and insight brands need to evolve. As her background spans both semiotics and copywriting, Louise is able to connect in-depth semiotic analysis with practical guidance on language use. Louise has worked for all kinds of organisations, including multinationals, global NGOs, creative agencies and semiotics consultancies. Her work appears in a range of publications including global semiotics blog Semionaut, cult UK blog The Middle-Class Handbook and philosophy and cultural studies university journals.