Crisis retold

This design research project delves into the complexity surrounding Sweden’s national emergency preparedness and defence to war crisis on a holistic level. In 2018, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap) distributed 4.8 million emergency preparedness defence brochures ‘If Crisis or War Comes’ (Om krisen eller kriget kommer) to the Swedish population. The brochure contains information on how to prepare for a state of emergency situation such as noting where to find your nearest protective shelter room. Today, these protective shelter rooms are commonly being filled with things and used as storage.

Based on an explorative investigation into the meaning of crisis, prepper culture and protective shelter rooms, the research is visualised through a series of norm-critical posters demonstrating the unstable nature of crisis influenced by our shared history and present precursors.

The work is accompanied with an abstract film ‘A Safe Space’ which retells the narrative of shelter rooms as a neglected structure through an art performance and assemblage of archive footage. My project aims to critically question what a safe space is in our society and challenge the dominant notion of the crisis.

Still from video

a series of norm-critical posters demonstrating the unstable nature of crisis influenced by our shared history and present precursors