an abstract photo of a curved building with a blue sky in the background

EDEN

2021

"The Impossible City"

Virtual World - 2021

Bachelor's Graduation, Prof. Kareem Nabil

Arab Academy for Science & Technology

“ In societies where modern conditions of production prevail, life is presented as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has receded into a representation."

Society of the spectacle, Guy Debord

In an era of pandemic, health is a fortune, awareness is a must, and separation is mandatory for survival, but as humans, social interactions and intimacy are crucial.

If one could summarize a human’s life into two conditions, either inside or outside his/er home, one would see that everyone has their role to play in simply maintaining one’s sanity, but if a condition were neglected from the equation, one’s life will no longer be balanced.

There are numerous kinds of activities that one can do in the state of quarantine, but sadly, most people choose to lie down in front of a flat screen, consuming all sorts of media through “the spectacle”, probably as a result of depression due to the imbalanced lives and lack of social interactions created by isolation.

What if there is a way not only to restore balance but to take the mundane life to a new level of excitement, to push boundaries, to demonstrate other possibilities, to substitute the outside with a place where the only limitation is your imagination?

The impossible city of Eden is a placeless parallel world for the locked-down people with unusual boundaries only to enhance the living experience of what they had in the now forbidden “Out there”.

**Notice**

This project is the introductory part of EDEN "The Impossible City". To understand the full scope of the project, please make sure to check out the city's other spaces after!

EDEN Work Space

EDEN Trade Space

EDEN Educational Space

Meet Ed The Normal

Ed is the ideal representation of a normal person, the middle man in every aspect of life. Ed loves life, every little bit of it, and tries to enjoy it as much as he can, but recently he found him self held prisoner in his own home, no longer able to enjoy life in anyway that he prefers, all because of the pandemic, he is deprived from all outdoor activities, social interactions and overall human intimacy, shifting to a much sadder version of him self and can’t help but wonder does this life really worth living?

“Stars-spectacular representations of living human beings -project this general banality into images of permitted roles.” Society of the spectacle, Guy Debord

Regarding the circumstance of quarantine, Ed finds him self forced to hide from depression under the umbrella of consumption, consuming media designed to show a false representation of reality “out there”, A painting of deception to make Ed feel that he is the only one living this depression, believing all lies said by “Perfect People”.

“The spectacle is a permanent opium war designed to force people to equate goods with commodities and to equate satisfaction with a survival that expands according to its own laws.” Society of the spectacle, Guy Debord

There is certain duties that Ed must participate in or-else it defies the purpose of his existence, But in isolation, the only way to participate in such tasks that once was only possible through physical interaction is through a “Flat Screen”, It contradicts the basic human need required to fulfil satisfaction through these tasks otherwise participation will be lifeless and Ed will feel that his life is meaningless and fall back into the cycle of media consumption.

Advertisements are exceptionally strong in the digital world. In fact, it is the foundation for it; they promote consumption of all kinds of commodities just for the sake of it, selling false hope for satisfaction that fades once Ed buys it. Online shopping grew rapidly during quarantine due to ease, but on the other hand, it opened the gates for consumption abuse.

Ed’s life became nothing more than a repetitive, lifeless cycle of boredom, draining life out of him to the point that his only goal is survival.

Isolation Life-cycle

In the “Real World” the site can be anywhere one can setup a portal to the Virtual World, “Shuttle”, designed to carry a fully grown human in every condition possible to simulate whatever one might want, equipped with a mechanical arm to carry the user, haptic suit to feel every hit, texture or temperature, multi directional treadmill and finally the goggles to see through.

The Shuttle