“Between Dreamy and Dreary”: work by Goldsmiths Design lecturer exhibited in Seoul

Work by Goldsmiths Design lecturer Soomi Park is part of a current exhibition with Owen Wells at Celine Park Gallery, Eyelove Art Center in Seoul, titled “Between Dreamy and Dreary: Fiction in Design”.

This exhibition is a collection of five projects that show the designers’ approach to design: “The projects cover some topics we think are critical to consider at this moment, like death, privacy, histories, psychology, emotion and robots.

For decades the technological dreams and aesthetics of fiction have directly influenced the world of design. Fiction creates desires about the world we imagine being part of, which intern creates expectations for designers. We are at a point where fiction has become assimilated into the field of design in structured and formalised ways: from the use of fiction as a part of the education of new designers; to the adoption of Design Fiction as a tool by major tech companies, government bodies, scientists, etc.

For us, fiction is an important part of our design process. To us, it means: narration and narrative; complexity; characters; humour; props; costumes; and at an abstract level, a place to discuss alternative or unseen versions of reality. It gives us the possibility to experiment with concepts which are not ordinarily afforded by market-driven design. Ideas that exist Between Dreamy and Dreary.”