Speculative Stuff
2023 - 2024 - 2025 - 2026 Student Works
* The intellectual property rights of each work are owned by each student.

The Genetic Gateway









HUI CHEE GLADYS WONG






 Our abilities and successes are a result of a combination of genetics, environmental factors, and destiny for those who believe in it. Intelligence is no exception. Studies on twins suggest that 40-80% of variance in IQ is linked to genetics, suggesting that genetics may play a larger role than environmental factors in determining an individual’s IQ. The background of this project takes place in the notoriously competitive society of South Korea with a focus on academics. Children and teenagers aUend numerous aVer-school academies to enter the best universities and believe that it is essential in securing a prestigious and stable job aVer graduation. From dramas like ‘Sky Castle’ to the appearance of celebrity millionaire tutors, academic competition in South Korea shows no signs of slowing down.

How far are we willing to go to win? How much more competitive will society become, and how do our actions play a part in promoting competitive behaviours and mindsets that control and consume our lives?

In the year 2040, competition to enter the best universities are at an all-time high. In order to stay ahead, and with CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) gene editing technology becoming reliable and safe, news of the wealthy making use of gene editing have emerged. From choosing eggs and sperms with the best DNA for their child, to regular gene therapy sessions, gene editing is used to improve one’s intelligence. AVer hiting the news, the demand for gene editing increased drastically as the middle and upper middleclass consider it as a form of investment into their children’s future. If not from birth, it is common for teenagers to get genetic editing done as a middle school graduation giV before entering high school, or in their last year of high school in preparation for the college entrance exam. In response to public criticism that the rich get too much of an advantage over the poor, universities have created separate entrance exams and systems for those who have done genetic editing and those who have not, to compare and select students more fairly. As those who have been genetically edited have comparable intelligence and abilities, their admissions are based on balloting. Unmodified students of ‘natural intelligence’ are highly coveted and celebrated. Despite negative connotations towards gene ediying, it is syill especially popular among people who consider themselves to have a higher chance of getting into a good university by chance over relying on their natural intelligence and hard work.






2023



Speculative Stuff



Speculative Stuff is a public archive of speculative design works developed through Yonsei University’s Integrated Design courses, 
led by Hyunjae Daniel Shin (Associate Professor) and Eun Sun Park (Lecturer).

The platform documents how undergraduate students begin with small everyday questions — discomforts, contradictions, awkward moments, and social habits we often overlook — and transform them into speculative objects, future scenarios, and critical narratives.

These works are not predictions of the future. They are invitations to look again at the present. By using comedy, exaggeration, absurdity, and preposterous worldbuilding, the projects make familiar systems feel strange and open up alternative ways of imagining technology, culture, society, and the environment.

The course has been shaped by an ongoing pedagogical exploration of Speculative Critical Design, combining futures studies, design research, interactive workshops, and public engagement. It encourages students to move beyond solution-driven design and develop more critical, imaginative, and participatory ways of engaging with alternative futures.

The methodological background of Speculative Stuff is further informed by Eun Sun Park’s doctoral research on the Preposterous Comedy Approach for Speculative Critical Design, which examines how comedy techniques, preposterous futures, and speculative artefacts can support critical thinking, public engagement, and future-oriented design education.

Read the dissertation HERE(EN) (KR)