Speculating on Nature, Technology and Finance. Geomerce as a Case Study for Research through Design

DS 116: Proceedings of the DESIGN2022 17th International Design Conference

Year: 2022
Editor: Mario Štorga, Stanko Škec, Tomislav Martinec, Dorian Marjanović
Author: Giovanni Innella (1), Gionata Gatto (2)
Series: DESIGN
Institution: 1: Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar, Qatar; 2: Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation, United Arab Emirates
Section: Industrial Design
Page(s): 2097-2106
DOI number: https://doi.org/10.1017/pds.2022.212
ISSN: 2732-527X (Online)

Abstract

This paper chronicles and reflects on the processes and the meanings of a project of speculative design that creates a narrative based on the scientific notion of phytomining, the activity of extracting metals from the soil using plants. The paper reflects on the ability of the project of bringing together people from different expertise, as a successful case study of Speculative Design and Research through Practice. Besides the scientific and technical challenges posed by GeoMerce, the authors of this paper reflect on the critical framework that set the basis for such a complex project.

Keywords: multi-/cross-/trans-disciplinary approaches, biologically inspired design, experimentation, data mining