The playground is committed to teaching and practicing design research methods, which include speculative design. To further this mission, we have held several workshops in the past, and more recently, introduced the course Speculative & Critical Design. This transdisciplinary studio-based course allows students to gain hands-on experience in forecasting methods. We felt that now it was important to start collaborating with organizations that share our core values.
Design Futures Initiative (https://www.futures.design/) is a global community that strives to bring together designers, strategists, artists and futurists to explore and advance the practice of speculative design. We are proud to announce that we are officially collaborating with Speculative Futures to open a chapter in Karachi, with the goal of curating events that will lead us to question and discuss the various ethical, cultural, economic and political challenges of our time, that ultimately, lead towards designing products and services that will consider our impact on humans and other life forms.
On the 12th of February, 2020, the playground launched this collaboration at the screening of Shehr-e-Tabassum (City of Smiles), which is a first-of-its-kind animated cyberpunk Urdu short film that is set in a dystopian future, in a Pakistan that is free from terrorism, violence and human emotions. It depicts a Pakistan that has criminalized the expression of any emotion that is not a smile, and as a result, is one of the happiest nations in the world, with countries across the world striving to follow in its footsteps.
Rasti Farooq, actor, co-writer and co-producer of the film, Haseeb Rehman, the lead animator, and Arafat Mazhar, the director, writer, composer and executive producer, spoke about how the themes of imposed conformity and excessive surveillance are explored. It also questions the idea of how, amidst so much outward advancement and progress, there can be a lot of negatives simmering underneath.
The audience was unanimous in their praise for the film, and thought that it was an important subject that was brought to light in a unique way. The visuals involved the use of neon lights and digital screens, which ultimately left the audience feeling simultaneously uneasy and enraptured. The discussion afterwards gave the audience a much-needed historical background context, which allowed them to really engage with the content and understand it more thoroughly. The students also appreciated the animation format, and felt that, by creating an entire typeform, the team had uplifted the native Urdu language. The first person perspective made the audience feel as though they were experiencing the events first hand, and on the whole, the powerful and insightful message was much appreciated.
Kudos to Team Shehr-e-Tabassum for an incredibly thought-provoking and impactful film. Prior to the lockdown, the team was holding screenings around the city. The film is currently available on Youtube. (https://youtu.be/Guio-TOXFoo)
