Shengqi Luo

Information Experience Design (MA)

About

The Anthropocene will impact humanity in unpredictable ways, often through black swan events—rare, unforeseen situations that dramatically change our lives. These events challenge us to think creatively and find solutions to sudden crises. How will we cope with a future without familiar foods? Failing to address such crises shows a lack of imagination.
– The Anthropocene Cookbook (Cerpina & Stenslie, 2022)

This year, I engaged in interdisciplinary practices, collaborating with experts from various fields to explore and challenge my studies’ boundaries. My work focuses on Anthropocene foods, using food as a critical and thought-provoking tool to speculate about the future and reflect on our behavior in contemporary society.

We cannot continue to consume as we have. We need to fundamentally change our values and diets to adapt to new environmental realities. – Andy Hoffman

According to The World Counts, by 2050, the global population is expected to reach 10 billion, leading to food shortages. My RCA IED projects imagine a dystopian future in 2077 where humanity relies on Anthropocene foods like lab-grown meat (Project One), radioactive mushrooms, plastic-eating mealworms, black mold (Project Two), and clean energy (Final Project) for survival.

My final project, “Why will we eat in the future,” uses Anthropocene foods to speculate about the future, offering new perspectives. It encourages audiences to reflect on the present through food art and think differently. By exploring the relationship between people, food, communities, and nature in extreme future scenarios, I created an immersive narrative environment with dynamic imagery, sound, interactive installations, and real-world scenarios. This project combines scientific theories with a critical approach to technology, serving as a tool for reflecting on our behavior and providing an engaging experience.

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