WHAT AM I THINKING? A new column where Lidewij Edelkoort shares personal insights into what’s going through her mind…

Today I am thinking about the absence of summer and how it affects people in northern countries, as well as the presence of intense summer, and how it affects people in the south. Both ailing weather systems are punishing our minds, clouding our outlooks and creating brain fog, or cooking the body to exhaustion, burning the brain with heat. This fog and heat make normalcy a challenge and drive society over the cliff, jumping into a borderless infinite void. A soothing form of nothingness…

It is therefore complicated to seek refuge in a beautiful idea and more difficult to sketch the outline of a concept, the paper crumpling through sweat and rain anyways. Thus global warming is having a new side effect; the killing of initiative and creativity. If this continues, and it will, it becomes almost impossible to get lost in reverie to dream up the next best thing, plan a sustainable solution or even design the bestselling bag. Harder to cook the newest meal or assemble the energy to make a beautiful painting.

This is where the AI allegedly comes to our fabled rescue with interference of the processes, helped by the data of yesterday to predict the future of tomorrow. As we all know, design and fashion have a collective mind of their own where suddenly dramatic changes can disrupt a train of thought and the train of production. Most recently, for example, streetwear disappeared almost from one day to the next, simultaneously on all continents. Out are the sneakers, hoodies, puffers and t-shirts, to be replaced by shirts, suspenders, Bermudas and moccasins. Shifting style from neglected to formal. AI has more to learn if it is to discern the desires of millions of people. So let’s hold on to our human uniqueness and insights into the creative unknown this summer.

— L.E.

Yport, August 8th, 2024