Sunday, March 10, 2013

UNITED MICRO KINGDOMS

(...) “The United Micro Kingdoms presents a nation devolved into four self-governing counties, free to experiment with governance, economy and lifestyle. (...) We’ve focused on four very different transportation systems presented as scale models, each based on a different combination of political ideology and technology. None of our scenarios are simply utopian or dystopian. We have tried to design them to expose trade-offs: convenience versus control, individual freedom versus hardship, unlimited energy versus a limited population…" (...)
Ces quelques lignes sont extraite d'un interview du designer Anthony Dune (agence Dune & Raby) à propos de la très stimulante exposition The United Micro Kingdoms qui a lieu actuellement au Design Musem.

Une exposition  qui envisage l'évolution de l'Angleterre sous l'angle de quatre petits royaumes organisés autour de système politiques et de mobilités bien spécifiques. "The exhibition sees England devolved into four self-contained counties, each free to experiment with governance, economy and lifestyle. These 'live laboratories' interrogate the cultural and ethical impact of existing and new technologies and how they alter the way we live.Les images sont des illustrations de certains de ces choix et de ce qui a nourri et alimenté les pistes explorée dans l'expo. Cela va de la voiture automatique sous toutes ces formes (infra) au royaume entièrement mobile et monté sur rail (supra)


A la fin de l'interview de Dune, on peut lire 
"I enjoy travelling to remote places where bleak landscapes and strange technologies meet, places like demilitarised zones, research stations and the remnants of experimental utopias. One of my favourite recent trips was to the Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico. Another was to Wonder Valley in the Mojave Desert. I guess deserts feature a lot, they’re places where it still feels like anything is possible, where it just might be feasible to do a large scale experiment, or to just live differently."
Ça renvoie très directement à Burning Man As Urban Model ?