A Place for the Fool : Our work in Speculative Fiction

a place

For the fool

The most colourful character from the King’s courts of History is the often misunderstood Jester, or Royal Fool. Jesters have been popular since Ancient Egypt, and have entertained the Pharaohs.

Even the ancient Romans and the Aztecs had popular Jesters, servicing the courts with their unique brand of Entertainment.

Our childhood memories of Akbar, and his deep relationship with Birbal bring home stories of humour, morality and a sense of confidence to say to Power what nobody else has the courage to say.

The Jester could deliver bad news to the King that nobody else would dare to convey.

The Court of Akbar and Raja Birbal ( 1528 - 1586 AD )

Our

Centralised

Constructs

In our contemporary imagination of governance, it is a far stretch to imagine a place for a Jester. When the role of the Jester is removed from Governance, a culture of sycophancy and servility takes root.

We lose our agency to speak the Truth to Power.

The neuroscience

Of jest

It’s interesting to observe the effects of a culture of Fear on the brain. In an atmosphere of constant intimation we lose the faculty of reason and logic. Fear engages our Amygdala, the ancient reptilian brain, and gets us ready for the fight or flight.

Fear effectively paralyses the higher cognitive faculties, which include reason and logical thought.

It is the reason students who perform consistently well through the year sometimes do terribly in Examinations.

We train our students for the entire year and then effectively paralyse their higher neural functioning on a day we choose to test their learning.

Media, news and our immersive social media web constantly reinforce the propaganda of fear, creating a paralysed public, desperately in search of a saviour figure.

The climate of fear creates a tribalistic rejection of the “Other�, however they are defined. Societies lapse into Xenophobia, and look only further inward for validation.

This is the place for the Fool.

As important, if not more is the role of the Jester in every discipline.

Our interest in Speculative Fiction stems from this critical understanding.

For the discipline of Design, Art and Architecture, Speculative Fiction must be the Court Jester.

THE

BUSRIDE

LAB

Here’s some of the work we produce at The Busride Lab. In no particular order.

#1.

Smokers

#2.

Liars

#3.

The india futures project

BMC Drone Seva, 2035.

Fixing Geo-tagged potholes in South Bombay.

MughalAI, 2035.

Man+AI Partnerships in Inlay work at Restoration sites

Panjim, 2035.

Flood Simulations with a 2 degree temperature rise

Ahmedabad, 2063.

Homecoming parties for the first Gujarati settlers of Mars.

Ahmedabad, 2035.

Student publication created during the “Design Futures” Course at NID, Ahmedabad

#4.

Civic

Participation

Speculative Fiction can provide a critical viewpoint to assess our collective impact and visualise the effect of ill-informed or regressive Government projects.

Speculative fiction can try to visualise alternate ways to tackle the same problems we are faced with today.

The

coastal

Road

The Coastal Road Critique Visualising the mega-infrastructure projects created to terraform Bombay

Before

After

The Coastal Road Critique Visualising the mega-infrastructure projects created to terraform Bombay

Before

The Coastal Road Critique

After

Visualising the megainfrastructure projects created to terraform Bombay

The Coastal Road Critique Satirical News

The Coastal Road Critique Satirical News

The Coastal Road Critique Visualising alternatives to the project as mass-transit upgrade

The

cENTRAL

VISTA

The Central Vista project Visualising dystopic projects via the lens of current city problems, with PM 2.5 Rave parties at Government buildings.

The Central Vista project Visualising alternatives to the “transparent� Central vista of the government buildings as glass modular offices along a public promenade

A CASE FOR CHIMBEL

The Carmelite ruins Research and mapping with Studio Woodpecker

The Carmelite ruins Extracting photogrammetric model from Drone footage by Tech for Wildlife

The Carmelite ruins Visualising adaptive re-use proposals as a reconstruction of the volume of the Church

The Carmelite ruins Reconstructing the proposal in VR for presentation to stakeholders

The Carmelite ruins Returning the ruins to nature while re-creating the Church volume.

The Carmelite ruins News provocations to visualise the use of the Ruins for the community

The Carmelite ruins News provocations to visualise the use of the Ruins for the community

The Carmelite ruins News provocations to visualise the use of the Ruins for the community

The Carmelite ruins Models of the Ruins to raise funds for the core committee to initiate Heritage conservation

The Carmelite ruins Models of the Ruins to raise funds for the core committee to initiate Heritage conservation

Statues

We need

The Statue of Unity Speculations around creating a range of “Performative� statues that become problem solving assets

Tomorrow’s statues need to transcend Ornamentation, Politics and weak Symbology.

To justify their place in our Future cities, they need to become ‘Performative’.

Scenario #1 India is the Fifth largest E-waste producer in the world ( 2 million tonnes in 2016).

The MKGandhi Memorial E-Waste Urban mine and Sorting Centre Commissioned July 2035

Scenario #2 India faces a dire water shortage as both surface and groundwater has become increasingly stressed.

The MKGandhi Memorial Desalination Plant and Cooling towers Commissioned November 2035

The Shaheed Bhagat Singh Sovereign Grain Silo and National Seed bank Commissioned October 2035

The Kasturba Gandhi Memorial City Server and Sovereign Data Centre Commissioned July 2035

The Dr Ambedkar Offshore Solar Drone Recharging station Commissioned July 2035

The Dr Ambedkar Offshore Solar Drone Recharging station Commissioned July 2035

The Gandhi PM 2.5 Scrubbers Commissioned July 2035

#5.

The future

Of craft

Future Heirlooms

Creating furniture as future heirlooms coded with details from 2020 for the Junk markets of the Future

Future Heirlooms

Creating furniture as future heirlooms coded with details from 2020 for the Junk markets of the Future

Future Heirlooms

Creating furniture as future heirlooms coded with details from 2020 for the Junk markets of the Future

AI + Design process

Training ML workflows to design chairs based on Google image search results

AI + Design process Credits : Yatharth Diploma Thesis Project, NID Sponsor : TheBusride LAB

Training ML workflows to create Mughal miniatures based on Google image search results

AI + Design process Credits : Yatharth Diploma Thesis Project, NID Sponsor : TheBusride LAB

Training ML workflows to create Mughal miniatures based on Google image search results

Credits : Yatharth Diploma Thesis Project, NID Sponsor : TheBusride LAB

AI + Design process Photogrammetry Machine signatures

Credits : Yatharth Diploma Thesis Project, NID Sponsor : TheBusride LAB

Digital Craft

Experiments in Digital Craft and making

The Future of Craft Game

Outlining ethical concerns in creating a meaningful crafts practice.

The Future of Craft Game

Outlining ethical concerns in creating a meaningful crafts practice.

Credits : Yatharth Diploma Thesis Project, NID Sponsor : TheBusride LAB

The Indian Crafts Expo 2035 Provocation articles around a Future Crafts Expo and it’s framing

Credits : Yatharth Diploma Thesis Project, NID Sponsor : TheBusride LAB

The Indian Crafts Expo 2035 Provocation articles around a Future Crafts Expo and it’s framing

Credits : Yatharth Diploma Thesis Project, NID Sponsor : TheBusride LAB

The Indian Crafts Expo 2035

Provocations around a Future Crafts Expo and it’s framing

The Life of Materials

Assessing our built paradigm and its meaning

THE END

IS HERE.