Octopa
Follow Octopa, your guide on an exploration of the Northern Sea Route and its potential futures!
OCTOPA is a multi-faceted experiment blending speculative fiction, creative research, and prospective studies, offering an in-depth look into the futures of the Arctic. This multidisciplinary adventure originates from the work of Professors Andrew Morrison of the Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO) and Amanda Steggell of the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (KHiO).
In it, we follow a sentient and curious octopus, OCTOPA, who invites students, PhD candidates, and research-educators in arts and design to embark on a journey along the emerging Northern Sea Route. This maritime corridor, born from the current melting of polar ice, stretches along the Arctic coasts of Russia and Norway, creating new opportunities for rapid connections between Asia and Europe. Its exploration and development are increasingly intertwined with economic, environmental, and geopolitical issues, which OCTOPA aims to untangle.
OCTOPA unfolds its arms through 28 short fictions and 2 anticipatory and poetic experiences, Octopa’s Journey and Octopatlas.
Octopa’s Journey is a game-tool merging speculative storytelling with experimental choreography to explore diverse perspectives on the emerging Arctic. Participants embark on an amphibious journey where their choices influence possible futures and alternative presents along the Northern Sea Route. They must find the “right” word and sketch the “adapted” dance step to (re)shape the Arctic region. The whole experience is also a reflexive moment prompting designers, dancers, or researchers to examine their creative practices in the face of these ecological and geopolitical upheavals.
The second opus of OCTOPA’s saga, Octopatlas is a speculative, narrative, and playful experience allowing each individual to navigate through scenarios depicting the multiple transformations of the Northern Sea Route.
The opening of this new maritime passage is reshaping the Arctic region, its cultures, and its ecosystems. Inspired by the research – particularly ethnographic studies – conducted by KHiO and AHO, Octopatlas draws a map of these unforeseen transformations and pivotal shifts affecting the North Pole. From extractivism to the weaponisation of the ice, and from the rights of indigenous peoples to “last-chance tourism”, Octopatlas invites explorers to confront the hopes, fears, risks, and opportunities raised by this White New Deal.
With a blend of contemplative speculation and anticipatory poetry, the stories within Octopatlas encourage readers to imagine their personal and professional evolution, in light of the Northern Sea Route futures, and to prepare for what lies ahead.
To contextualise the processes and discoveries of this experiment, the OCTOPA project has been accompanied by a research-creation component led by the Centre for Design Research (AHO). This long-term creative research has resulted in several publications within specialised design and foresight journals and conferences (Anticipation 2019, NORDES21, Temes de Disseny).
For further reading
↗ Amphibious Scales and Anticipatory Design (Publication, 2021, Nordes 2021, Matters of Scale)
↗ Lexicons, Literacies and Design Futures (Publication, 2020, Temes de Disseny #36, Design Futures Now: Literacies and Making)
