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SILVER LINING

An inner conflict between environmental engagement and the freedom of making.

Master thesis, Design Academy Eindhoven, 2018

Humans have drastically changed the Earth’s surface and atmosphere. Many design projects address this issue by attempting to solve the biggest environmental crises in the world, although design is arguably their main cause.

On the other hand, could we consider the possibility of coexisting with the ongoing effects of climate change rather than trying to eradicate them? Beyond the current rhetoric of sustainability, are there other possible responses to the context of the Anthropocene?

This thesis explores contemporary design practices that relate to the context described by the Anthropocene theory. A series of case studies illustrates how artists and designers are subverting the overwhelming, even self-deprecating burden of ecological responsibility, and finding the freedom to create; the thesis searches for a personal equilibrium between the two as an approach to design—a reconciliation of the rational with the instinctive, the moral with the abstract, the creative with the reflective.