“Not Here, Not Now” By Anthony Dunne, Fiona Raby
An Attempt to Draw Readers into Imagined Worlds
When I read the authors’ previous book, Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming, ten years ago, I was deeply drawn to its vision of design not as a means of solving problems, but as a practice that raises new questions. At the same time, however, I could not shake a lingering doubt: in an era when reality itself is becoming stranger than fiction, is using design merely for speculation ultimately a privilege reserved for those who already “have”?
This book responds directly to that concern. What the authors seek is not “permanent residence in imaginary worlds,” but rather “taking a detour through unreal worlds and returning with new discoveries.” Drawing on a wide range of intellectual tools—including philosopher Alexius Meinong’s theory of objects, the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, and impossible worlds in literature—the authors transform logically impossible “objects” into design artifacts, challenging the frameworks of reality that we often take for granted.
The book emphasizes the importance of “gently unsettling the imagination, capturing the viewer’s attention, and drawing them into imagined worlds.” This is precisely the role that literature and art have long played. The book is an ambitious attempt to connect the methodologies of design and science with the literary pursuit of freedom and possibility.
One passage from the writer Ursula K. Le Guin quoted in the book resonates deeply: “The direction of escape is the direction of freedom.” The environmental destruction of the Anthropocene, wars, and social divisions caused by irresponsible information technologies—these are all complex problems that modern design and engineering have not only failed to solve but have sometimes contributed to creating. To confront such challenges, we need the ability to imagine places and times that are “neither here nor now,” while remaining firmly rooted in reality.
In an age when our lives are constantly shaped by leaders who disregard others, loosening the grip of an overly powerful reality may be an act of preserving what makes us human. This book powerfully illuminates that possibility through the practice of design. It is a book I would recommend not only to designers, but to everyone living through the complicated problems of the contemporary world. Supervised by Akihiro Kubota; translated by Toshio Chiba. (Price: 4,400 yen)
