Hyperobjects near and far

A design workshop to shorten the distance between Venice’s people and the global phenomenon they are part of.

In 2013, philosopher Timothy Morton coined the term hyperobject to name all those phenomena that condition our present, often in an unconscious way, not being immediately tangible or visible. We cannot touch hyperobjects, but we can feel their effects. Global warming is perhaps the best example, but also Covid-19, for instance.

In this context, design can be a helpful tool to connect citizens with all those global and seemingly distant phenomena that affect them to foster greater awareness and hopefully activation.

Yes, but how? We will explore possible ways in the workshop organized by the Master’s Degree in Communication of the IUAV of Venice. 18 students + the teachers Matteo Moretti and Irene Sgarro, from June 28 to July 2, 2021.

Although Morton’s hyperobjects are immaterial, intangible and non-local, the ones we will design will be visible, curious, funny and sometimes annoying. They will not be far away; on the contrary, they will be close, very close, able to attract, inform, raise awareness. In the space that arises between the designed hyperobjects and Morton’s hyperobjects, our workshop takes place.
A process that relies on interactive forms of data physicalization, which draw on information- product- data- exhibit and social- design to design local and situated objects that can connect anyone who passes by them with the global phenomena they are involved in.