Recycled posthuman furniture – What has furniture become?

‘Recycled Posthuman Furniture’ critiques the relationship between the human and nonhuman. What has become of discarded furniture?

Over consumption leads to a lot of environmental issues. We will live on a landfill full of waste, including furniture. Solid waste will cover the land soon if we don’t stop over consuming. You will not have a chance to breathe fresh air, pet your cat, nor sit under a tree with a picnic. What do you think? What do you want? As a furniture designer, I see these pieces as important companions and lively entities; I have connection with them. Can I offer the same feeling to others?

‘Recycled Posthuman Furniture – What has furniture become’ is a speculative design project that aims to explore the relationship between humans and furniture from a post-humanist perspective. As a work of fiction, this project illustrates a scenario where “I” spend the last day of my life living on the landfill, a time when there are no trees and there are no sounds from animals.

It is time to appreciate what we have now. To survive and to keep our memories alive, we need to be aware of solid waste. We need to decentralise ourselves as humans and care about other living entities.

Exhibition reflection

I had never expected that the exhibition could have such a significant impact on me.

First of all, while writing the thesis, I sat in front of the computer for a long time to think independently. Although I had small discussions with others, sometimes I was trapped in my thinking space, so that the whole idea did not develop at a particular stage. Although my project had practical hands-on experience, it did not account for a large proportion of the entire project. I operated it from the thinking expansion to the last month, feeling uneasy. As this was my first time to participate in this non-product exhibition, I was anxious about whether the visitors could understand the message I intend to convey. This part is not simple, but I did not have any other choices. I was perturbed, procrastinating, and even escaped the arrival of this day. But time went by faster than expected, especially when I just wandered and did nothing. In fact I haven’t made much progress, but it took me a long time to get over it.

The nature of this exhibition is not quite the same as what I used to study in my previous undergraduate courses. What I used to display can allow people to know at a sight what I did and to clearly write such things as design statement, design objective, design criteria, and target users. The content of this exhibition is only part of my project, and everyone may have different ideas. Some people may not be able to understand what I have conveyed in the intuitive exhibits, but perhaps the magic lies in unpredictability. There is no enough time to test whether it can be understood, which brings a big challenge for other students and me. But I still feel delighted to hold this event.