Have you ever been lost in the city? The feeling of fear, anxiety, and uncertainty as you wander without a sense of direction. The maps on your phone don’t seem to cooperate, and you feel somewhat awkward as you keep going in circles, trying to find your way. The speculative service NeverLost utilizes magnetic pathways to provide people with intuitive orientation, inspired by the natural sense of magnetoreception found in animals.
The project is portrayed with a satirical approach through the use of a commercial brand and promotional materials such as brochures generated by artificial intelligence.
Newspaper articles from a potential future and devastated promotional posters create a juxtaposition between the marketing approach and the actual implications of the technology.The project prompts contemplation on the ethical and philosophical implications of technological advancement. One of the key aspects of the research is the question of what happens when technology becomes directly connected to the human body, in this case through a chip in the motor cortex. When our movement is made so effortless that we no longer have to think about where we’re going, our navigation becomes purely pragmatic. However, this raises the question: do we lose the poetics and humanity of getting lost? Is it humane to integrate technology into our bodies, even if its purpose is to make our lives easier?
Ema Čimbur was born in 2001 in Zadar. After finishing high school, she enrolled in the School of Design at the Faculty of Architecture in Zagreb, majoring in industrial design. Academic year 2021/2022. She completed her undergraduate studies and enrolled in graduate studies with the goal of continuing her education in the field of design. During her studies, she participates in workshops, collaborates with other faculties and designs exhibitions. At Zagreb Design Week 2022, she exhibits among the selected finalists. At the Biennale of Croatian Design 21/22 she received the award for the best work in the student category of industrial design for her Space terrace project. She is currently finishing her first year of graduate studies, and since this academic year she has been working as a demonstrator at the faculty. Her work focuses on social, critical, design in an urban context that is based on activism and with her work she tries to solve the problems she encounters in her environment and social community.
