CIID Research composed a team of designers, technologists and researchers to create an interactive exhibition about the future of energy as part of the EUROfusion consortium.

Our role was to research, conceptualise and prototype an immersive, participatory experience for visitors to engage with possible futures based on EUROfusion's social, economic, environmental and scientific research. "Escaping the Strange Loop", our prototype, integrated tangible data-based experienced and collected visitors' feedback about what kind of energy futures they want to support. We were also responsible for integrating methods of inciting dialogue, debate and critical thinking about the potential of fusion energy.

'Escaping the Strange Loop' is an interactive experience that showcases diverse stories about the role of energy in near and far futures by exploring its unpredictable and complex impacts on real life problems. In 'Escaping the Strange Loop', participants learn about different kinds of futures they could create through their group decision-making by moving through different scales of impact in multiple missions.

In this project, we had the opportunity to collaborate deeply with social, economic and environmental scientists, learning about their data models for the future. We had the great challenge of flipping the data into a meaningful, relatable experience, though that data described systemic conditions far in the future. Through deep research, prototyping and collaboration, we created the exhibition based on several key principles for our design team:

Embrace complex futures. Make data tangible. Uncover diverse futures. Explore deep time.

We conceptualised, built, tested and repeated many times to find the right combination of playful yet resonant, always striving to do justice to the data we were working with. The stories and decisions within each mission are based off of social, economic and environmental models of different pathways of our energy-dependent futures. We use the logic of three foundational scenarios about our energy futures. The scenarios come from our partner, EUROfusion, and their TIMES Model (ETM) that holds storylines from 2010 to 2100 across varying degrees of environmental responsibility, energy technology investments and international cooperation.

We crafted three scenarios -- punctuated by time spans and enriched by environmental impacts such as air quality, temperature of the planet and sea level -- into a branching tree of stories that held many possible decision-paths. Once we had created this tree of stories, we shaped it with a structural logic of three: three rings hold different jumps into the future and each of these three rings holds a different guiding principle (human, infrastructure and finally landscape level). Within each ring, the stories are presented through videos, objects and sculptures. In this way, we transitioned from data in a 2D spreadsheet to experiences in a 3D space. We researched and worked through multiple types of data-based story-telling in order to write the final stories.

'Escaping the Strange Loop' is designed for three people at a time. The trios become teams who collaborate, discuss and decide throughout the missions. They begin with an immersive onboarding, and then continue into the installation-game, progressing through three missions. The missions present different levels of society and timespans. After experiencing each mission, they discuss and decide which path they will continue to follow. Their decisions are fed into our system which outputs custom stories according to the team's trajectory through time. At the end of their missions, they observe the result of their choices and reflect on how they impacted the world in each round, and cumulatively. Once they leave the game space, the players can access a website that shows the many possible journeys they might take and welcomes their input about other stories that might branch off of the structure.

As we detail below, there are 4 key elements that compose the experience:

1) Onboarding 2) Three missions 3) Guided decision-making 4) Reflection

Onboarding

Participants begin by being "onboarded" and learn about the goals of the game, their role and how they will play.

Introduction

Before the missions begin, participants hear about the state of the world and are prepared for their first ring around the Strange Loop. They are introduced to their guide, "gaia.ai" who emanates from the Decision Station (composed of multiple points of view and decision-making logics). This video shows the way that the introduction unfolds.

Mission 1

After being introduced to the general game, the participants embark on Mission 1, which is located in the outermost ring of the Strange Loop. They hear about the human level perception of the events happening in 2040 from multiple points of view (3 separate individuals). For example:

"The carbon taxes that they put in place affected the poor the most. That's why there's been so much rioting for the last year. I'm out here today protesting because things are not working in our society. We can't just go green and increase taxes on fossil fuels because people will lose their jobs. We need to put in place proper policy and focus on matters closer to home. Amsterdam used to be a great city, but they say we will soon be underwater as the sea level rises. Switching to renewables can help prevent this, but nothing will change if we don't follow the political systems we put in place."

Mission 2

In Mission 2, visitors take a look at the infrastructural changes that have happened in the world in 2080 because of their previous decision. Here they view different objects, artefacts that have become part of daily life. One of the infrastructural services they might experience is Migrational Services:

"Migrational Services help me get back home in a completely carbon free way, without disturbing other species which is really important to me. They sent me this kit to prepare for my travel - they automatically calculate the greenest options for me which means travel takes a long time. I've been waiting 3 months, but now it's less than a day until I can depart - the Humpback Whales have nearly finished migrating!"

Mission 3

In Mission 3, the third loop around the installation, visitors experienced the landscape level implications of their decisions. They saw and heard about how the earth was being re-shaped - for example:

"My family business has been running for 12 generations now. My daughter will take over soon and while business is good I want to make sure she has a good start. Our planning algorithm is recommending that we stop growing crops and use the new fusion energy to manage data centres. We can even sell our leftover diesel and gas to people in India. It's risky but if we do it we can make a fortune. Of course there's the risk that everyone else does the same, and we have no food."

The Centre

After completing the final mission and decision, the participants will be guided to the centrepiece, which is a tangible 3D globe that gets clearer as the players approach the centre. Mission after mission, the centrepiece builds up layers that visualise the cumulative effect of the players' choices on a world map. The map is shown through a hologram of earth, providing a qualitative visualisation of the Reasons for Concern of the IPCC, such as distribution of impacts, extreme weather events, etc. At the end of such an immersive and intense experience, we encourage the participants to pause and reflect at the centrepiece. The surrounding space resets into peaceful sound and light, enabling the participants to observe, reflect and discuss the result of their choices.

Game Structure

Our goal was to make the concept and prototype for an interactive, transmedia, participatory game that would allow for exploring a tree of possibilities of the future by moving through the physical space of the installation. Each participant played a different role, learning about and challenging one another's preconceived ideas or opinions about the impacts of energy, sparking a lively discussion throughout the experience. We researched and prototyped many game-like experiences around energy and culled from them the basic principles of role-play, structured decision-making and a progressive challenge that morphed over the course of the game through missions on various levels of society.