LEAP F/W 2023 Little Utopias

Take “Little Utopias” as a map— it will guide you to four imagined islands.

Throughout this journey, we focus on the realization of idealist thoughts in everyday life, the organization of creative communities, and the construction and maintenance of utopian spaces. The spaces we explore extend beyond physical structures and urban areas to encompass virtual, mobile, organic, and autonomous domains. These include communities created through self-organization or temporary spaces defined by users in virtual environments. The four islands—Dwelling, Communing, Worlding, and Reimagining—zero in on diverse dimensions of utopian ideas, ranging from the spatial politics of lived environments, communities and interpersonal networks, world-building, to radical reimagination of our reality.

At the first stop of this utopian cruise—Dwelling, we delve into the ideological narratives behind our living spaces and the dynamic possibilities of reshaping these narratives. Dwelling looks at the intentions behind architectural design and urban planning as well as the emotional worlds and social relationships constructed within lived spaces. We explore how physical environ- ments embody individual and communal values and their roles in shaping individual and collective identities.

In the second stop, we will witness the formation of communities in both physical and virtual spaces. Communing goes beyond traditional social relationships; it can be a spontaneous formation resonating with ideas and interests across individuals. On this island, we explore how communities are built through shared visions, goals, or creative ideas and how different communities achieve temporary utopian visions through continuous interaction, intervention, and collaboration.

When not constrained by real-world conditions, how do we set up a world entirely under our control? Worlding is a radical process of setting up and interpreting a world from scratch. In the third stop of our journey, we immerse ourselves in the liminal realm between parallel realities. We examine structures and worldviews designed by artists in virtual spaces, and look at the landing of imaginary structures in real-world landscapes.

At the final stop of the journey, we arrive at Reimagining. It is not an isolated utopian island with escapist tendencies but where the possibilities of the existing world are retold through fictionalization and imagination. Reimagining offers a visionary restructuring of reality and a fertile ground for transformation. To imagine a different world is the first step in changing the existing one at hand. LEAP hopes that every traveler can immerse themselves in this utopian cruise, see the world differently and radically reshape it with a little imagination.