what we believe and do.

Studio Hyperspace is a design sociology studio founded by theo ploeg.

We explore alternative realities of an accelerating world, especially the role of design in business, media, music culture and journalism. The accelerating world is awesome, and everybody needs to know. We believe everybody can make a difference.

Telling stories of alternative nows is our trade. We use speculative design as an attitude to explore other realities and bring our findings back to the now.

We live in wonderfully troubling times. Old systems and ways of thinking aren’t suitable to make sense of the countless changes that currently take place. Instead of taking refuge in proven concepts, we seek new ideas and practices that are in tune with the chaos and acceleration of our time.

In contrast to scenario thinking and future studies, we are not interested in taking the status quo as a basis and exploring probable and plausible futures. Instead, we aim for possible and preferable alternative realities. If we want to seize emerging opportunities, we have to leave linear ways of thinking and doing behind. 

We reject a human-centred approach: our practice is sentient-based

By blending insights from sociology, business studies and media theory with the practice of speculative design, we’ve shaped our own unique approach.

Our approach focuses on building a fictional world in the near future based on research and imagination and helps to translate the essential elements of that future world back to the now. The outcome can range from a design, provocative artwork or product that fuels a conversation to a new business model or strategy. 

We help organisations, businesses and individuals explore their possible and preferable future(s) and implement their findings in the now. 

Besides that, we roam the edges of design, media, and culture, bring our findings back to our studio, and find ways to share them in the best possible ways.

We are the initiators of Speculative Futures Amsterdam and share the findings of our explorations in several media.

We love to collaborate. What about you? Want to swarm with us? Drop us a line.