The Barcelona Conference on Arts, Media & Culture 2022: Official Conference Proceedings

Abstract

This paper chronicles and reflects upon a collaborative project between Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar (VCUarts Qatar) and the Advanced Institute of Industrial Technology in Tokyo (AIIT). Titled -162ºC Trading Power, this project started as an exploration into the relationships between the two countries of Qatar and Japan, and it resulted in the design, production and exhibition of a kinetic installation at the Wieden+Kennedy gallery in Tokyo, as well as an artbook printed in a limited number of copies. Starting from the analysis of the new taxis of Tokyo, the history and the dynamics of the relationship between Japan and Qatar based on the trade of Liquid Natural Gas are unveiled through this project. The authors of this paper advocate for an approach that makes use of existing designed artefacts as an access point to discover and visualize information about the geopolitics between countries. While reporting about the process and outcomes of the project, the authors reflect on the value and the need for creative projects that highlight the apparently invisible political, economic and cultural links that regulate the world we live in. Conclusively, the approach adopted in this project is put in relation with the one of the emerging GEO-DESIGN platform recently created at the Design Academy of Eindhoven as a master course, highlighting the similarities and the potential that GEO-DESIGN has in expanding and blending the territory of design practice and research.