Onkar Kular & Common Initiative
4017 Enacted

Photo: ‘4017 Enacted’ Meeting point, Grand Entrance

In the year 4017, how might identity and territories be transformed by advances in artificial intelligence? What if multiple data streams could define citizenship, or if Europe itself ceased to be a fixed continent and became a land mass with daily changing borders depending on data flows? This project works with primary and secondary school groups to think critically, imagining the future and scrutinising the idea of European identity. The outcomes of the school workshops form the basis for immersive performances around the V&A.

Onkar Kular’s work examines how contemporary design practice can be used as a medium to engage with and question the understanding of cultural and popular issues. His projects use design as a form of ‘active journalism’ to report on the issues of our time.

Common Initiative is a collective of four designers - Rike Glaser, Thomas Marriott, Adi Zaffran, Namuun Zimmermann. The collective operates within a shared ethical framework and has a shared view to how design can be approached. They are interested in the social, cultural, and political, role of design, and ask if it can function as a form of ‚activated journalism’ to unpick and present new ways of understanding the world.