You Were Never Solid: HYDROSKIN AR2 - NereidSkin by Viola Rama

Part of the series “Survival Kits for the end of the world” that explores futuristic dimensions of water as the central element of ecological and climatic crises, and the potentially disastrous consequences of climate change. Through speculative design, the project incorporates contemporary narratives and representations of post-extinction and humanity demise, metaphorically dominated by water.

Employing Artificial Intelligence to envision a future in which climate chaos has rendered the earth nearly uninhabitable, fictional technologies and survival systems are integrated into a pseudo-scientific framework, complete with taxonomies and classification plates inspired by scientific illustration. Courting a sci-fi aesthetic to question the myths of endless technology-driven progress, hi-tech devices designed exclusively for women, are presented through animated charts, depicting illusory ways of implementing the capacity to adapt, survive and dominate the environment in ecologically stressed times.

The series draws on the symbolic association between the feminine and nature to reimagine the female body as a hybrid, artificially augmented organism, evoking female mythological monster archetypes as allegories of adaptation, domination, and dissolution in the face of planetary collapse.

2025, Video + Sound, 1 min, 2160 × 3840px