Can we change the way we imagine and relate to the risks of our common world, such as plastic pollution, nuclear threats, climate change or economic crisis? With this question at heart, this thesis discusses our interaction with the mediated, and often distant, global complexities and risks.

Following the perspective of the spectator and consumer, this study weaves together literature with stories from culture, media, design and entertainment. It examines the relationship of the personal to the global by outlining five critical looking lenses focused on distance, emission, contact, disruption and invisibility.

The resulting project articulates speculative design strategies for reconfiguring our relation to two select global risks; the nuclear contamination threat and plastic pollution. What if these scenarios were real, what if we felt these values, how would the world be different? By questioning the rational, these narratives aim to trigger the imagination of alternative possibilities, and requestion our current global dilemmas.

In the pre-study project Man-Machine Affairs, Nina Bačun and Anders Mellbratt question the world of existing and emerging technologies and their impact (mainly of the computer) on people's lives.

While aiming to locate themselves in a technologically-driven society and using their personal technophobia and technophilia as a starting point, Bačun and Mellbratt are investigating the man-machine relationships in order to gain insight into how to design for new roles and metaphors within this context. This is done by collecting stories through interviews, discussions and a survey, and applying a process of idea generation, synthesis and practice-based case studies.

After the first stage of research, subjects for two case studies were selected, further investigated through designing a bespoke experience over the course of a week, towards the goal of enabling co-creation of fictional scenarios with the help of the objects and scripts.

In the first case studey, the subject unknowingly faces the embodimet of the concept of singularity. In the second case study,  Bačun and Mellbratt play the role of matchmakers in an engagement proposal etween the subject and her personal computer. The authors' prediction is that if these experiences are well designed and delivered in the proper manner, they might prompt the subjects to renegotiate their relationship  towards technology.

To further expand the platform for discussion around the topics explored in their work,  Bačun and Mellbratt employ tactics from theatre in designing a pseudo-consultancy office setting for ten days, where they attempt to create a suspension of disbelief in order to create a dialogue otherwise unapproachable. Putting themselves into the characters of consultants, performing as consulting staff or extras, and leaving the role of the protagonist to the visitor, they weave performance and visual identity together with scenography to attract visitors into this dialogue.

An early conclusion of the pre-study research based on two cases is that there is a potential for this type of approach and that this potential needs to be further explored.

This project started with my naive and utopian hypothesis: 'Is there any one experience, equally memorable for everybody, that affects people‘s ordinary lives in a meaningful way afterward?‘ To explore this matter from multiple angles, I needed a research location that already had strongly staged experiences with a clear theme, diverse actors, and its own narratives. And I hit upon the right place: Disneyland Paris.

To discuss 'the experience‘, I categorized peoples‘ different impressions of their experiences at Disneyland Paris. When I interviewed staff and visitors on their way out of Disneyland Paris, some people said that their experience had been awful, while others said it had been fantastic. What makes for such different responses to the same place? Two theorists declare, 'Experiences are inherently personal and no two people can have the same experience, because each experience derives from the interaction between the staged event (like a theatrical play) and the individual‘s state of mind‘ (Pine Ⅱand Gilmore, 1998). Since the individual‘s state of mind cannot be grasped and is a broad research term, in this thesis I am mostly concerned with the key experience-generating elements: age and social role.

The ultimate purpose of this project is to investigate the pre-and post-experience at the entrance and exit of a given venue for a special experience with a clear theme, that bridge connecting visitors‘ and staff‘s everyday experiences to the staged experience. The practical outcome of this research-led project consists mainly of various trials of a procession that engages visitors at the borders of the venue. This research will consist of the following: 1) Analytical reflection upon visitors‘ and staff‘s one-day experience in a Disney theme park, based on narrative structure and perception of time, 2) Observations of different time perceptions in adults and children, 3) Definition of flow of experience (pre-experience / main experience / post-experience), and 4) Presentation of a new model of participatory stories in a given theme¹ to smooth the flow of experience.

¹Disneyland Paris was my chosen site for the theoretical background, and the practical methodologies are developed through Konstfack‘s 2011 spring exhibition. What this project intends to do, however, is not to upgrade the experiences in both, but rather to focus on the experiments in order to vary the existing definitions of the flow of experience. The final outcome is intended to be applied to the diverse venues that aim to offer their visitors special experiences with a clear theme.

This has been an in-depth exploration of how experience design can be applied as a renewing force, or 'twist‘, to help people experience immersive moments and to gain unforgettable memories which, in turn, influence their future experiences.

Suspended Spaces is an exploration of new territories for architecture practice, using an experiential approach in creating a tool for spatial awareness. The first part of the research brakes down the experiencescape by exploring the space of the sensorial, concepts on time behavior and the role that language plays in objectifying our experienced worlds. Through my experiments, I look at the ineffable properties of architectural experience while describing a practice that doesn’t see the building as the soul expression, and where purpose is not just about learned procedures. The second part of the research analyses the potential of critical play in exposing aspects of spatial experience that otherwise remain imperceptible in day-to-day life. Through experience prototypes and system design, I describe the process of creating an experimental board game that would enable players to construct spatial narratives using senses, emotions and irregular timelines. Architecture becomes nothing less than a way to reimagine how we could inhabit the world.

When outdoor recreational activities are restricted, where can we find solitude, exploration and self-reliance? Endangered Experiences in Nature is a project that creates disruptive scenarios to question the relationship we have now with landscapes. A forecast in which stargazing is replaced by watching cyborg fireflies in the sky, food is genetically engineered and getting lost can only happen with the aid of special devices.

The thesis uses the tools of experience design and future studies to explore the meanings and values of nature. I analyze the experiential perspective of access to nature and outdoor recreation by focusing on experiences that will likely become inaccessible in the near future. This thesis is not about preservation but stands aspiring for recreating values humans got until now from the close relationship with natural settings. In doing so, I aspire to generate new experiences. My work therefore focuses not on what nature is but what it means to perceive something as being natural, wild, unexplored, in an age where every part of nature has been explored and exploited. My original contribution focuses on using nostalgia as an active method to create new relationships with our environment. Certain things will need to be “artificial” in order to achieve “real” experiences.

The project will focus on three scenarios placed in the near future (2040). Each case study extrapolates on a particular endangered experience in wilderness (solitude, exploration and self-reliance) and is set in 3 distinct landscapes located in The Netherlands, Sweden and Romania. By doing so, I touch upon different cultural and natural influences on my design process. All scenarios encompass artificial (engineered) surrogates that question the inaccessibility to experiences in natural landscapes. With the goal to create counter-experiences in the future and therefore formulate a new way to deal with our relationship with nature conceptually and physically.

This paper examines the phenomenon flashbacks, often named the Proust phenomenon, through the lens of experience design. The research question is Can flashbacks be triggered through experience design? It would then be possible to call flashbacks memories recycled memories. To answer the question former studies were researched, mainly from the standpoint of cognitive psychology. The thesis discusses how different senses produce flashbacks and how they can be used as triggers. The difference between the connection of sight, sound, touch, taste and smell to experiences and flashbacks are examined, especially the extraordinary connection between flashbacks and the olfactory sense.

This topic can not be completed without looking into Marcel Proust‘s texts in À la recherche du temps perdu and his poetic description on how flashbacks work. Through the lens of Proust, flashbacks are discussed as narratives and the thesis looks into the significance of the memories as a building block for our sense of ourselves.

Several Icelandic storytellers are interviewed about their memories. Through their interviews the storytelling aspect of sharing memories becomes prominent, leading to a discussion on the social aspect of memory sharing.

The thesis ends with a study in triggering flashbacks through an experience. An exhibition presenting memories of others through sensory stimuli is used to see the effects of memory sharing through appealing to our senses.

What would happen if, the systems we deal with everyday, and the situations we find ourselves in, could trigger us to give something to someone else? This work started by exploring the theme of  money systems and social structures and the ambition to find alternatives for our current economic system, which has failed in several ways. People all over the world are already coming up with alternatives that can supplement and stabilize our money-monoculture and that give new meaning to currency.This research investigates a particular alternative economic system called the gift economy, which has great potential to build meaningful relations and re-establish a sense of  community. Since the gift economy has been mainly researched by anthropologists and ethnographers in the last century, my focus is on implementing its principles in society today. Through literature review, case studies and a series of  design projects, this thesis articulates possible ways of  triggering a gift economy. With a special coin, a concept for a bar and by linking the local bakery to Konstfack, we may start to understand what giving really means, how it can benefit us, in what way it can build more meaningful relationships and how it can offer an alternative way of  thinking than what currently drives our economic system

In Chapter 4, “MODERN 2.0 – Post-Criticality & Transdisciplinarity”, Rolf Hughes and Ronald Jones give an account of a graduate seminar on transdisciplinarity they led in December 2009, for the Experience Design Group at Konstfack University College of Arts Crafts and Design, Stockholm. Rather than deliver a pair of prepared monologues, they decided on a more dialogic mode of presentation. This chapter is the record of their conversation. Developing Jack Burnham's identification of a paradigm shift from an “object-oriented” to a “systems-oriented” culture, Hughes and Jones consider how contemporary designers pursuing greater responsibility, influence, and relevance might contribute to today’s complex social problems. Their answer: by designing transdisciplinary social, political, economic, and educational “systems”. In a global economy, the authors argue, the seductive promise of epistemological transformation is less significant than the transdisciplinary design team’s capacity to impact meaningfully on urgent social, political, and ethical questions in ways beyond the reach of corresponding monodisciplinary, crossdisciplinary or even interdisciplinary initiatives. They discuss the increasing need to design transdisciplines “as interdisciplinary methods begin hitting walls, finding their own limits of relevance”. Citing examples ranging from Hans Haacke’s Rhinewater Purification Plant and Filipe Balestra’s Samba Architecture project in Brazil, to Freeman Dyson’s vision of artists and designers in the near future using genomes to create new forms of plant and animal life that will proactively reverse the effects of global warming, their vision is that of a debugged modernism - a post-critical, transdisciplinary project - a “Modern 2.0” capable of “realistically rebooting the Modern dream of an attainable Eden”

Forms of Resistance, an experimental research platform shaped over 2010-2011 as Mahmoud Keshavarz’s M.F.A thesis in Experience Design Group at Konstfack, explores the role of ‘designer’ in socio-political interventions:

- Who is the designer/researcher in various stages of practice-based research in politically engaged design actions?

- How can she/he depart from her/his source of design knowledge in order to develop situated knowledge and reshape/resituate design for/to resistance and emancipation?

- How political forms of experience can be redistributed again through various positions, performances and transformations?

Forms of Resistance develops an approach to design which is both critical and investigative. Using both analytic frameworks and practice-based research, this experiment is developed by indisciplinary collaboration with groups of women activists in Iran and Sweden on the subject of domestic, public, physical or state violence.

Furthermore, through a ‘politics of translation’, the project itself makes a personal resistance to expectations of how a researcher should portray such subjects or make the research meaningful in ‘design aesthetics’, which may too often be complicit with societal mechanisms traditionally excluding or repressing excluded ones.

This book is conducted as the third experiment of the project.

Forms of Resistance is a collaboration with Change for Equality campaign, Ain’t I A Woman campaign and Design Research Unit of Interactive Institute.

This thesis investigates the question: Can Experience Design be applied to create a perception shift from elderly as a burden to elderly as a resource for society?

This is done by researching the social norms about ageing and the aged in Swedish society. To conduct this research I put together a focus group of 7 people with different professional backgrounds and ages ranging from 23 to 74. In four workshops I used design-led research methods to research these “mental models”. Using participatory theatre techniques we investigated the personal view of the ageing process. And through discussions and design thinking we articulated the often unspoken social norms.

In the workshops we defined our current social norms regarding ageing as Aged Thinking. A counter philosophy was developed called Ageless Thinking. In order to create a change in mindset from Aged Thinking to Ageless Thinking a tool was developed called the Enticon. With this tool people can show what their focus is in life right now regardless of their chronological age.

The Enticon was introduced at the Konstfack Spring Exhibition 2013 and also as a web based application.

This written thesis has been developed in tandem with its practical counterpart: Entrance Not For Everybody. Together the practical and theoretical work make use of virtually every interesting experience I have had.

In essence it explores how ancient spiritual practices may be the most developed

tools we have for experiential mind expansion - regardless of how these practices are viewed by the scientific community. In addition this text question science's relevance for the personal experience of reality - in comparison to individual exploration of the same by whatever means. The prime strength of the sciences is its consistent, empirical development through logic. Mostly aided by external (as in not belonging to one's own body and mind) resources and tools and the development thereof. So far, science largely concern a material evolution - even if it is of an immaterial nature such as software or intellect.

What I propose is the Human Individual Experience - optional means for

experiencing the world as alternative ways of knowing.

The work's main intention is to awaken an interest in spiritual practice in individuals who have no such experience or did not know to value such experiences that could be perceived as being of spiritual magnitude. This is important because regardless of the nature of spiritual content - seen from a scientific perspective of any kind - spiritual experiences are mind blowing, mind altering and most of all mind expansion in its purest form - at least on an experiential level - which naturally is key - given the context this text is being written in.

For someone who already have a personal relationship to spiritual practices of an

experiential nature - of any sort - there is a place, community or method to expand within their field of choice - if not locally then certainly globally. Therefore the target audience is not the experienced spiritual seeker for whom endless paths lay ahead.

What is being proposed here is an approach which put the individual's experience in

the centre of all - using more or less traditional spiritual practices as they have been

constructed or discovered to offer great paths into higher consciousness experientially. In its practical manifestation, Entrance Not For Everybody, these have been gift wrapped in - as well as accompanied by - layers of fiction, cultural references and very detailed physical props, much because the individual of no spiritual background who is the main target group for this introductory experience, is likely used to a material world based in tools, entertainment, storytelling etc. Therefore this redressing and recontextualizing of practices is just a means to target and introduce a new crowd to old and useful methods - in a smooth and memorable manner. The idea is to offer this experience as a starting point and to be continued as a forum or hub for future explorations of more advanced experiences focusing on expansion of consciousness.

Material complexity is bound to develop further in both it's tangible and intangible

realms but it is here questioned whether this will really lead to an expansion of

consciousness or just offer products to reach realms that are already accessible within - at no cost.

The aim of this work is not to clarify the lack of consistency in what is commonly

referred to as reality - although this might be a direct consequence. It is rather taken for granted that reality is subjectively understood. Therefore the thesis only investigates if and explains how a composition of experiential practices which are strung together thoughtfully may work as a door-opener for further inquiries into the realm of spiritual practice as a means of expanding mind and consciousness. In this respect the exhibition itself is the most important research ground for the thesis - which naturally cannot be incorporated in advance.

Fear is an intrinsic human emotion, which produces with variable intensity a bodily reaction as a response to a stimuli. It is considered one of the basic human emotions, and it is universal of all animal species. Despite its subjective quality, fear has gained a rather negativistic stereotype that this research intends to debate and readdress, proposing that “negative fear” is part of an evolutionary transition cultivated by social and cultural constructs. This thesis will analyze the context in which fear operates, employing experience design methodologies and design research to reevaluate the role of fear in the contemporary settings of our societies to prove its connection to imagination, transhumanism and the production of empathy.

After a brief historical perspective to situate this thesis in the contemporary framework of experience design, this research will investigate fear as prolific tool for the production of imagination, derived from its aesthetic connection to wonder and pleasure. This particular connection between fear to wonder was investigated among others by Charles Darwin, who also promoted the functionality of fear as the key to animal survival. The complex mechanism in which fear engages us will lead to the production of design prototypes that look at the animal kingdom and several other species’ talents in the detection and implementation of fear as a tool to survive. Here, the potential of our species to further evolve through the use of design will open a discussion on transhumanism and the future of humanity.

The last section speculates a counterfactual conditional statement of how our humanity would operate, if emotional identities were reevaluated. In particular, the emotion of fear will be reevaluated for its unpleasant characteristics, from the bodily sensations to the mental postliminary conditions, to understand why certain human behaviors are still exercised, when the physiological effects are universally acknowledged as distasteful. By interpreting the physiological impact of fear, this research will continue its argument towards empathy, questioning what it truly means to ‘stand in someone’s else shoes’, specifically when fear is practiced. Empathy, as a pilaster in the mission statement of many contemporary disciplines, has surfaced in this research as viral phenomenon, which little has to do with truly ‘empathizing’. Here, it investigates how empathy can be experienced when fear is in play: if sharing fear as the bodily experience of someone else can lead to the production of authentic empathy, then humans have a chance to reevaluate its application in the contemporary global topics of war and diplomacy, domestic and public violence, or bullying to name a few.

This research ultimately establishes a new perspective on the role of emotions in our societies, and creates a connection between design and the experience of intangibles, producing a view of the intrinsic systems of our being as ones deemed of value in the ambitious evolution of our species.

We as individuals are constantly interacting with our surrounding environment. These interactions bring us and the environment to life. It is an intra-action (Karen Barad) where we are constantly becoming to life by intra-acting with and as part of the surrounding environment. Here surrounding environment is all the materiality and the socio-cultural norms which we live in. We experience the world through these interactions. Hence the experience becomes temporal arising through the materiality and changes depending upon our past experiences, future expectations and emotions attached to them.

This thesis is about the experience of togetherness, as it is experienced by two long time friends ina pre-arranged meeting. Two friends arrange such meetings to spend time together where sharing is an important aspect. The meeting is an interaction where togetherness is built over a short period of time. These two friends perform a practice apart from the sharing e.g. drinking a coffee. This practice and the materiality involved in it enrich the experience and facilitate being together by performing the practice together.

Meetings like these are not always possible. Physical distance between the two friends makes it difficult to meet. Mobile telecommunication and the increasing popularity of social- network sites which allow chatting has bridged this gap considerably. Their popularity indicates the need of a communication which can offer similar experience as being together. This experience is not similar to the experience had in a meeting.

This research is a process of designing a concept for a communication device. The process involves a methodology which combines field observations and developing a theory to understand and analyse the experience, which then can be used in an empathic way to design a product concept. The research in the end proposes guidelines to design interaction between two individuals. The designconcept is an iteration of a possible accessory to a mobile phone which facilitates a similar experience of togetherness. It is presented in the form of a short-film.

My work explores the notion of lying, faking and deception as an activistic method for creation. I’m reconsidering the concept of the liar as a possibility to create a vision for the future and proactive ways of challenging everyday concepts of reality and truth. Having understood that it is time to create change instead of waiting for it to happen.

Undermining existing ways of doing and thinking will create the necessary ground for social change inventing forms of un-knowledge and new societal rules by challenging what we consider so far as reality. 

Being aware that the concept of normality is holding us in captivity triggering our need for stability and making us function as productive citizens, different interventions and actions are giving an impulse to embrace uncertainty and question our everyday practice and rules we take as given. An experiment, a process of  intervention and follow-up, will explore different methods and processes toward the co-struction of an open formula and platform for action. The goal is to activate creators, as individuals and collectives, to construct these new concepts of reality. Designed to instruct and inspire action, “The Fakery” manifests visions and alternative realities in order to bride the actual with the envisioned. 

By lying and faking we are not simply waiting for the “right” day to come. We are the creators of our own rules, means and measures, driving real change to experiment and be proactive. 

Questioning, disrupting and bending the given rules and norms of society as optional will empower and give tools to those who always wanted to do something - but never knew how to do it.