Food Tarot Cards & Speculative Design

My group received the Ethical Cannibalism tarot card. Of all the possible cards, this one is my least favorite. Personally, I try to follow a plant based diet which makes this particular option that much harder to stomach. Additionally, I don't think that any type of cannibalism could be considered ethical. If we could harness stem cells to mass produce human tissue, I believe the ethical use for that technology would be strictly for medical use and procedures rather than the whims and fancies of the cannibalistic.

"Speculative scenarios are open-ended and offer the audience the possibility of personal interpretation. They frequently include humour, often of the dark variety, close to satire, which activates the audience on an emotional and intellectual level..." Ivica Mitrović, Introduction to Speculative Design Practice.

The concept of ethical cannibalism evoked a very strong reaction in me, and from this exercise I gained a much better understanding of the concept and uses of speculative design practice.

















My group came up a design that uses the ethical cannibalism concept, but puts an emphasis on sustainability. The idea is that you take the wasted cells from your own body, filter and process them so that they can be again consumed. The initial sketch of the design is pictured above. I recreated this digitally in the diagram below.