Artificial Nature of the Mundane

The Mundane registers qualities that often go unnoticed or are deliberately hidden because they are deemed unfamiliar and thus undesirable. But it is precisely in these qualities where we are attempting to locate a new departure point for design which can tolerate the “strange”, and incorporate it as an active and relevant participant in the design process. By the means of hybridizing nature with existing mundane urban elements, parts that are usually unseen to people are now exposed, and become the new norm of design. New York City is densely developed and highly artificial - The city's urban landscape is largely man-made, with towering skyscrapers, bridges, highways, and other structures dominating the skyline and tunnels, subways spreading out underground. Even Central Park is no natural landscape. Hence, New York City is chosen as the testing ground for the project. A number of “strange” categorical blends are examined together with artificial nature and then used to formulate the new norm. Artificial nature By hybridizing specific natural elements - metal, rock, flower, moss and tree together into one single form of object contributes to the artificial qualities. Traces of these natural elements will still be seen but they are not in their most natural form. Also, to further exaggerate the idea, Artist Takashi Murakami’s super flattened flowers with smiley faces are extracted by AI to contribute to the artificial quality of flowers.