PROVOCATIVE FUTURES: SPECULATION, HUMAN BODY, MEDICAL SCIENCE & EDUCATION

Day02. Thursday, July 08, 19:30 EDT

This talk explores the relationship between medicine, humans, and society. Showcasing projects that explore the influence of medicine on the human body, and those that demonstrate the impact of medical technology on society and the natural environment, it helps unpack how future human societies may be affected by medical technology, and how speculative thinking informs design education in Taiwan.

In this talk, Paul Gong will share his projects which inwardly explores the influence of medicine on the human body and inquires deeper questions about the human body's nature and essence. In addition, will talk about his projects from the opposite direction, investigating the impact of medical technology on human society and the natural environment.

This talk seeks to guide the audience to explore how future human society will be affected by medical technology and share how speculative design thinking is involved in design education in Taiwan.

Kuang-Yi Ku was born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan, and has been based in the Netherlands since 2016. He graduated with triple master degrees in social design from Design Academy Eindhoven; in dentistry from National Yang-Ming University; and in Communication Design from Shih Chien University. Formerly a dentist, Ku is a bio-artist and social designer. He founded TW BioArt (a Taiwan bioart community) to stimulate the fields of BioArt and Science + Art in Taiwan. His works often deal with the human body, sexuality, interspecies interactions, and medical technology, and aim to investigate the relationships among technology, individuals, and the environment.

Paul Gong is a speculative designer, artist, and curator. He is currently Assistant Professor Rank Specialist of the Department of Industrial Design at Shih Chien University in Taipei. He holds a BA in Industrial Design from Chang Gung University in Taipei, and an MA in Design Interactions from the Royal College of Art in London. He sees design as a research method and thinking tool to explore different possibilities, to criticise the past and the present, and to speculate the future. It is also interesting for him to explore the aesthetics of the representation for possible futures. He attempts to use installation, text and image, conceptual objects, performance, and exhibition to create a kind of scenario for people to imagine and explore.