Germaginaire
Germaginaire, shaping imaginaries since 1919
Invoked as a new battleground or a magical solution to the complex problems of our world, social imaginaries are more popular than ever! But what exactly are these imaginaries, and what do they do? How does this set of shared representations, beliefs, values, and visions within a society or group influence their understanding of the world, their behaviour, and their institutions?
Created for the 2019 edition of the Scopitone Festival (Nantes, FR), Germaginaire offers a critical perspective on the mobilisation of imaginaries through an “experiential” design fiction, inspired by the work of futurist Stuart Candy.
Together with the Arts and Technologies Lab at the Stereolux cultural centre, we sought, through this live experiment, to examine how imaginaries shape our cultural norms and influence how we collectively project ourselves into the future, creating narratives that structure our social life and technological choices.
Enter Germaginaire, a fictional company specialising in “imaginaries shaping”. Present at the Scopitone Festival, organised by Stereolux, it invited visitors to stop by its stand and discover its activities and services designed to “shape minds and guide futures”. Germaginaire’s best-seller? The flying car!
↑ The stand of the fictional company Germaginaire, set up at the Scopitone Festival, challenges visitors on the imaginaries at play in our societies.
The fictional nature of the company was not immediately revealed, in order to test the critical thinking of festival participants. They were pitched the various strategies used by Germaginaire to structure, cultivate, and anchor certain imaginaries in people’s minds, based on the requests and interests of its clients.
Once the curtain of fiction is drawn back, participants were invited to share their reflections on the concept of imaginary shaping, and to take a step aside to bring endangered imaginaries to life. At the end of the experience, participants were given a cheat sheet to slip into their pocket or wallet, offering tips for spotting the imaginaries that influence our daily lives.
Germaginaire is an atypical example of immersive, event-based design fiction that positions itself “in the way” to provoke and initiate a critical discussion with non-expert audiences. By offering immediate immersion and playing with well-known entrepreneurial codes, the setup allows for a critical deconstruction of the stakes and power of imaginaries.
Through its products and services, flirting with satire, Germaginaire provides a critical and reflective pause, inviting participants to take a step back and consider the weight of imaginaries and their capacity – real or imagined – to inspire desirable futures or, conversely, to trap us in narrow or fatalistic visions of tomorrow.
↑ Germaginaire offers a range of services to its clients – both private and public sector – helping them shape imaginaries in line with their interests.
↑ A series of “endangered imaginaries” postcards invited visitors to imagine their daily lives in worlds where these currently minority imaginaries – libertarian Internet, degrowth world, and matriarchal society – had become the norm.
