On the Post Apocalyptic World

Follow up on 'A World of Finite Resources"


What concerns me the most about the topics previously discussed is how, as an illustrator, can I highlight or make use of the information given to me on the seminar day. I was considering what I would do if I chose the given topic as my elective, and it struck out to me that communicating the worst case scenario or providing insight into what could happen if nothing is done about changing the linear production loop in our industries. To me, this is a convincing way of creating action to follow through with changes, and as it would be a topic that I would find interesting I can imagine that the same will go for someone else.

As a bit of recreational research I have compiled a few 50's-70's clips/links to series dealing with these topics. Specifically what I find interesting in these clips is that, thought dramatic, the issues are still relevant and should (to an extent) be taken seriously.




The first episode of the series 'Survivors' (1975) in which the 5% of the worlds remaining population try to 'survive', as the title suggests. In the tradition of British television, excessive drama is neatly avoided and it has a fairly serious take on the issues that would ensure if we had to rebuild society (in the 70's).



Though this movie dosn't specifically focus on the topic of resources, this link has a conversation about the last few survivors of the world talking about how the world had been destroyed by the human emotion of fear, also relevant on this topic is one of my faveroite movies, Dr.Stragelove.



And of course, it is impossible to talk about post apocalyptic resource wars without mad max, I chose to link the 2nd movie as it has a much more specific look on oil wars then the first, though there is no attempt to avoid over dramatization.

A World Of Finite Resources

As part of the electives course, we had a day of Seminars and Lectures on the topic of Manufacture And Sustainability. Though this is probably not the elective I am planning on choosing, a few interesting topics came up nonetheless. The topic of how we go on living after we have used up our fossil fuels has always interested me, more often in the genre of 70's post apocalyptic sci fi, so it was insightful to look at this issue from a designers point of view.

Yaniv Peer from Exploration Architecture gave a lecture on Biomimicry, which I would particularily inspiring, both for the reason that it seems a positive direction to take the issues of dependency on finite resources, and an innovative take on problem solving and design.

Definitions:
 
"biomimetics to describe the transfer of ideas from biology to technology."

"a science concerned with the application of data about the functioning of biological systems to the solution of engineering problems" Webster Dictionary 1960


Biomimicry: new science that studies nature's models and then imitates or takes inspiration from these designs and processes to solve human problems". Janine Benyus 1997.
 
The following Video is a TED talk on the topic,




The particular quote "Taking the design genius from nature and learning from it." made me recall Bruno Munari's writings on the replication of nature in art and design. As I cannot locate my book on the topic, I found a quote that probably illustrates this much more effectively;


"When the artist observes nature... it is as if nature communicated, through the sensitivity of the artist at that moment, one of its secrets. (Bruno Munari)"

"In Societies dominated by modern conditions of production, life is presented as immense accumulation of a spectacle of images." Guy Debord