Craftmakers and Technology
In this exhibition we describe our methodology combining art-based research, critical fabulation, and speculative design to imagine unexpected and fantastical futures for craft and emerging technologies. It documents the process and speculative prototypes describing the future visions developed in partnership with the craft-makers, including a presentation and a map of the needs of craft-makers and a presentation and documentation of a collection of prototypes co-created with artists and researchers.
D20 ART LAB, an artistic collective and research laboratory based in Padua and part of WP3 within the HEPHAESTUS project, explores the intersections between art, design, and technology through Art-Based Research (ABR). Over three years, it has worked to deconstruct the stereotypical image of the artisan, often portrayed as a timeless figure detached from society, revealing instead their entrepreneurial, experimental, and sustainable practices. Combining ABR with Critical Fabulation, the project uses imagination as a critical method of inquiry, generating new perspectives on craftsmanship.
The first phase, Atmospheres of Craft (2023), investigated European craft ecosystems through sound, image, and interviews, producing a sensory archive of tacit knowledge. Here, artistic practice became a tool for understanding complexity and creating horizontal dialogue among artists, academics, and artisans.
The second phase, A Brave New World (2024), developed a speculative narrative envisioning a society guided by artisanal values such as sustainability, slowness, and circularity. Using AI-generated imagery, it constructed a counter-history of progress, questioning myths of efficiency and growth.
Finally, the third phase involved artisans in collaborative speculation, resulting in thirteen prototypes exhibited at the Röhsska Museum in Gothenburg (2025). These works express utopian aspirations, proposing craftsmanship as an ethical and relational model for imagining inclusive and regenerative futures, where innovation is measured through relationships and meaning rather than profit.
