Welcome to 📡 reporting from RADAR. In this series, community curators surface the best of the best — from the cultural constellations we’re watching emerge to behind-the-scenes build updates as we embark on our journey to discover, incubate, and deliver better futures.
Wavelength is a space for updates, member articles, ponderings & wanderings, fun experiments and — of course — more signals. Subscribe below to keep up with our signature brain massaging magic, straight to your inbox. 🔮💜
Signals Spotlight
1_Breaking the Mold: The Rise of the Rebel
spotted in #aesthetics, #art, #ideology, #community-culture, #fashion-beauty #commerce #health-wellness #identity #social-media
In a world where the pursuit of perfection and prescribed beauty standards reign supreme, the emergence of a subverted, non-mainstream aesthetic trend is becoming a prevalent means of self-expression. The rise of anti-muse, anti-aesthetic, and anti-influencer movements and desire for brands to align with unique perspectives stands as a testament to the insatiable yearning for individuality and liberation from societal expectations. The trend towards artistic, surreal, peculiar, and weird styles is defying conventional boundaries of beauty aesthetics, granting a wider spectrum of self-expression. We’re seeing the youth of Generation Z are exploring their identities through innovative and imaginative means, both in the tangible world and in the virtual realm. From Pinterest data — In 2023, Gen Z and Boomers will make room for weirdcore design, mushroom decor and fantasy art in their sacred spaces (more on that in our next segment).
Millennial’s quest for the avant-garde or cyberpunk influences, and dystopian futuristic fits, are all a particular opportunity within the cyber beauty space. Just take augmented face filters, which present an unlimited range of opportunities for artistic and imaginative self-expression, or digital fashion, providing an inclusive wardrobe unfettered by the real world restrictions of material, size or fit. Brands and platforms are also embracing this trend, with designs drawing inspiration from surrealist creatures, to astro anime styles and even bondage themes. Art, ambiguity and uninhibited quirky self-expression is becoming a decisive catalyst inspiring packaging, makeup, and style through the influence of both real-life and digital artists and art movements led by the likes of Doja Cat, Julia Fox, or Isamaya French. Highly experimental worlds, blending surrealism, playfulness and art are bubbling to the surface – sometime to extremes oddities, as seen during NYFW at Collina Strada. This drift towards unconventional beauty and self-expression is a reflection of a cultural norm that values freedom, deconstruction, reconstruction and mischief above conformity, manifesting in both the digital realm with AI art, but also IRL via the DYI, repair and re-use movements.
🔮 As the divide between reality, surreality, and digital reality becomes increasingly blurred, what will be the future of art, identity, and self-expression in this ever-evolving landscape? Could this become a wider cultural prominence, with the appointment of multi-hyphenate out-of-the-box thinker Pharrel Williams (whose influence has consistently been the unexpected, the artistic, the gaming, and global culture across disciplines) as LV’s Men’s creative director?
2_From Chaos to Consciousness
spotted in #foodanddrink, #fashion-beauty #gaming #art #aesthetic #food-drinks #identity #ideology #lifestages-psychographics #media-pop culture #placemaking-migration #religion-spirituality #travel
As unpredictability seems to reign supreme between natural disasters, political upheavals, and unprecedented technological advancements, are we becoming more fixated on the idea of escapism? New world mystical musings like as ethereal and fairycore aesthetics, psychedelia, witchrature and neo-spirituality are on the rise, serving to amplify our longing for a world that is stable and predictable. The revival of ancient practices, the embrace of technological expressions that blur the lines between reality and imagination with digital storytelling, reclaiming native type systems and language and the allure of new travel frontiers, otherworldly explorations, and AI unearthed art all attest to our desire for a connection to our roots and a sense of grounding in a rapidly changing world.
However, it would be foolhardy to dismiss these emerging trends as mere reactions to fear and uncertainty. They might be, in fact, a manifestation of the evolution of human consciousness as we seek to strive to make sense of our place in a rapidly changing world and find meaning, fulfillment, and purpose. Between the folk, the naive and the exotic, we see a resurgence of pre-colonial indigenous practices, and food traditions with the embrace of indigenous futurism, all indicative of our yearning to safeguard heritage and culture. We reach for the stars with the popularity of mysticism, immersive experience with neolithic, galactic or nature-integrated architecture, while the revival of rave culture and psychedelics renaissance reflects our innate desire for transcendence with multi-sensory experiences and a connection to something greater than ourselves.
🔮 As we stand at the precipice of a world in flux, we ask ourselves: How do the growing trends towards mysticism, spirituality, and futurism reflect our evolving society? Could it be a a new hybrid, along the line of indigenous futurism, nourishing our fixation on healing and repair? And fueling our search for meaning, purpose, and escapism in a world that is increasingly uncertain and challenging?
3_The Call to the Wild
spotted in #fcommunity-culture #environmental-climate _food-drinks #health-wellness #science #sport #travel
Outdoor activities and nature connecting is on the rise, a testament to our desire for adventure, self-discovery, and growth. The pandemic has brought about a new appreciation for the natural world, with an increased focus on play and imagination – just ask the city quitters. From the desire to touch grass or foraging mushrooms, to adrenaline- and health-seeking outdoor activities, wandering aimlessly, or exploring uncharted terrains, individuals are seeking new challenges and experiences that test their limits, improve their health and discover serendipity. The unpredictable and invigorating environment of the natural world offers the perfect backdrop for such pursuits, forcing us to confront our fears and overcome our limitations.
People are stepping away from technology and embracing serendipity, play discovery, or extreme adrenaline-inducing escapes. From the return of the paper map, alternative van life road trips to inclusive outdoors collectives , the trend towards seeking adventures is leading to a resurgence in nature-connecting activities across various demographics, and a desire for aimless wandering, allowing individuals to rediscover the beauty and inspiration of unexpected encounters and destinations within the wild. There’s increasing crossover between fashion and the great outdoors with gorpcore beauty and style, and opportunities to swap, trade or sell outdoor gear, or rent is further proof that companies will continue to pioneer with inclusive values .
New products and services that cater to this growing desire for outdoor adventure and exploration are emerging through advancements in innovative gear in both high fashion and high-tech accessories, food and beverage , wander-centric navigation apps and more. Curated premium experiences, ranging from yoga, to fishing, to farm experience, or festivals etc, or connected blended reality experiences, such as move to earn models and the outerverse passport are bubbling up to help people get moving outside.
🔮 What does the future hold for the trend towards outdoor activities and nature connecting, can it be the catalyst for a rural lifestyle revoution? Will it continue to shape the world in ways we cannot yet imagine, or will our relationship with technology eventually supersede our connection to the natural world?
Best of the Rest
Technology, science & community are converging in new ways as DeSci takes center stage through a wave of DAOs looking to innovate medical research & funding. On the other end of the spectrum, TikTok shapes behavior again as algorithmic diagnosis is on the rise, and it’s looking like a double-edged sword. The trend shortening trend cycle is hitting closer to home for Millennials as pop-punk bands of our youth (it can’t have been that long ago, can it?) announce throwback tours. In other #tbt news, the real world is starting to feel like Her: The AI-inevitable is coming to bear as people begin to form intimate relationships with chatbots. We’re looking to thinkers like Modem as we reckon with these new forms of intimacy, considering how a networked digital world can foster greater connection, bonds and trust.
Pulse Check
Inside RADAR:
Focus this week: Project team has kicked off as our research into Play gets underway. Key questions have been identified, methodologies have been defined, and the team is starting out in their Caves – individual deep dives to explore our focus areas.
The Playground is open: As the project team starts their sprint, we’ve opened up a playful space inside the server for the whole community to join in. From #signals-and-research where we’re discussing topics like play equity and play as language, to #experiments-and-ideas where we’re imagining playful games, zines, and activities, the Playground is already filled with delight, whimsy and fun. And for anyone considering minting a Patron – this is also where Angel holders will get their exclusive BTS into the process.
Cozying our own corner of the web: We’ve been noodling on this vision of RADAR as a home – a house with different rooms, spaces you can wander in and out of, self-contained little environments all wrapped up in a comfortable house – and have redesigned the server accordingly. Members can now unlock different channels and customize the server to their leisure to maximize vibes, minimize chaos, and make their favorite room in the house their homebase for hangs.
Become a Patron of Play: There’s just a few days left to claim one of the last remaining Angels in our Patrons NFT drop. We know we’ve told you a lot about it, but this is one you’re not going to want to miss – it’s making our next future, Play, possible. Want to mint but not sure how or have questions? Hit us up on Twitter.
Upcoming events:
Tuesday: Venture squad is getting together to welcome new members, workshop the founder services offering, and discuss the longer term venture roadmap.
Also, probably, Tuesday: A playful Twitter space, where we’ll invite you (the audience) in to join us for playful visioning together – we’re deep in ideation & finalizing the schedule here, so keep an eye on the RADAR Twitter so you don’t miss this one!
Wednesday: Comms Visioning Session #2, coming off the immaculate energy of last week’s session. We’ll take some of our big ideas about what sort of content and stories we want to tell and drill down on specific ideas to bring them to life on RADAR channels. [EDITOR’S NOTE: WE’RE SO SORRY WE ORIGINALLY SAID THIS WAS TUESDAY]
Thursday, March 8: We’re bringing you not one, but two community campfire workshops (friendly time zone options for everyone). Campfires are part of our research process, bringing together many minds to tease out insights from what we’ve gathered so far. These promise to be fun, insightful, and – duh – playful.
This week’s 📡 reporting from RADAR was curated and written by @samaritrual — with so much gratitude to everyone who inspired the content with their community contributions: @victoriafutures @livster @alfeuerer @keels223 @andreac @caitlin @idlegaze @EHB @oryzae @samaritual @moshner @busi_m @keels223 @aarenarchive @akash.das @squid @julesrule @jayM @sarahsarahowen @dwayne”theJock”Ronson and anyone else we may have forgotten.
Not a part of RADAR just yet, but feeling the FOMO? Join us here.