// Signals of 2022.
03-02-2023, the Lab Team.

This is the third time we have done this exercise and, again, it was a difficult year. This was a year of social movements that tried to respond to very difficult events and contexts. We discussed, at length, different cultural signals and manifestations that point to main discussions of 2022. This year, the results clearly point to liberty as the main topic. Our group has placed, once more, three signals at the top that deal with associated mindsets. The following elements list the results and part of the discussion. It is not supposed to be a totalizing list, but an effort to underline important signals, their nature, meanings and impacts.

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To start, our list, as in the years before, was decided in group via a Delphi inspired approach.

Blank Sheets of Paper: “Chinese protesters have turned to blank sheets of paper to express their anger over COVID-19 restrictions in a rare, widespread outpouring of public dissent that has gone beyond social media to some of China’s streets and top universities. Images and videos circulated online showed students at universities in cities including Nanjing and Beijing holding up blank sheets of paper in silent protest, a tactic used in part to evade censorship or arrest“. An important and final element was an apartment complex in Urumqi that caught fire and killed ten people, generating outrage for the pandemic restrictions on movement“. The movement is said to have roots in the2020 Hong Kong demonstrations, where blank pieces of paper where also used. It is one of the strong signals of 2022 for freedom. A powerful semiotic exercise rooted in a simple object. It not just the blank paper that is in discussion, but rather the collective associated practice. It goes beyond the Protagonist Identities and the Anchored Narratives macro trends. Where is it pointing? liberty. Where will it go? Maybe we will see in 2023.

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Cards of Qatar – telling other stories about the World Cup: Since Qatar was chosen as the venue for the 2022 World Cup, many workers have died on the major construction sites carried out for the event. Although an official number of deaths has never been acknowledged, it is certain that the precarious conditions have taken the lives of many immigrant people, especially from India, Bangladesh and Nepal. The Swedish digital native Blankspot set out to find answers together with a team of local journalists, going directly to speak to the families of workers killed in Qatar. The interviews with families in Nepal have been done by Udwab Bhatterai and Martin Schibbye. Somya Lakhani has worked with contacting families in India, Muslima Jahan Setu and Mohammed Owasim Uddin Bhuyan have done interviews in Bangladesh. The journalistic investigation takes a cross-media format, with long-form articles, video reports and the innovative sticker album (online and printed), similar to the ones that are released during the World Cup with the selected players of each country. The Cards of Qatar album is a sad catalogue of football stickers that, instead of facts about players, tells the stories of workers who never returned home.

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OpenAI, creativity at your fingertips: Among different and creative Artificial Intelligence copywriting solutions in 2022, OpenAI stood out with two open access releases: Dall·E 2 and ChatGPT. This research and implementation company aims “to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity”. In this sense, in September the company released DALL·E 2 and in November ChatGPT. On one hand, DALL·E 2 is an improved system for creating realistic images and art from textual descriptions, through combining styles, offering new compositions, editing existing images, and generating variations inspired by original works. On the other hand, ChatGPT consists of a dynamic textual model that interacts in a conversational way, it answers questions, admits mistakes, challenges incorrect premises, and rejects inappropriate requests. This cool signal democratizes technology through scientific-creative advances close to science fiction and within reach, raising some questions about the current and future limits of AI.

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Gucci’s new inclusion policy: Disabilities are seen as the last frontier of diversion and inclusion. Society can include women, people of colour, the LGBTQIA+ community and then, only then, will it start considering including people with different kinds of disability and neurodiversity. The high fashion brand Gucci has taken a step forward to change that. According to an article in Vogue Business, the company is developing a disability inclusion strategy and, in 2022, it became a certified participant in the Disability Equality Index. The certification is granted by the American Association of People with Disabilities. Gucci’s actions are an interesting signal for different reasons. Not only it has a great potential to influence other fashion brands and to actually promote a social change, it also speaks volumes about the maturity levels of the diversity and inclusion discussion in our society in general..

Just Stop Oil – The Climate Fight: Just Stop Oil is a coalition of groups working together to ensure that the governments commit to stop all new licenses and consents for the exploration, development, and production of fossil fuels. The movement began in the UK, but rapidly spread across Europe, basing their actions on the principle that scientific evidence shows that climate change is one of the biggest threats to human well-being and to the planet. Just Stop Oil believes that actions can’t be delayed in order to secure a liveable future. To call attention to their cause they resort to NonViolent Civil Resistance, having become known worldwide for their actions of vandalizing well-known artwork in Museums all around Europe. This signal draws attention to a set of speeches that inspire and instigate a new vision. It brings to the discussion not only the critical role of art in the climate fight movements, but also allows us to debate or rethink the boundaries of freedom, the concept of vandalism, and the legitimacy of these civil society protest actions.

New realities via Roblox: Roblox is a space with metaverse characteristics where it is possible to create games and environments, playing and living each others creations. “Roblox is a platform where people come together virtually to share experiences. Every day, tens of millions of people from around the world come to Roblox to play, learn, work, and socialize in immersive digital experiences all built by a global community of creators”. Different brands like Gucci and Vans have created their spaces in Roblox. It highlights new steps regarding the Ergonomic Connections macro trend and the emerging settings that duplicate realities and, in a way, contribute to the end of the boundaries between the physical and the digital.

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Robin Hood 2.0 in Qatar: Also known as The Falcon, this character is a representative cool signal of the protesters around the 2022 Qatar Football World Cup. The controversial event had various protests outside and inside the field, before and during its execution, whether for political, legal, religious, ethical, and human rights reasons. This Italian activist invaded the Portugal-Uruguay playing field carrying messages of support for the Ukrainian people, LGBT, and women’s rights. Though he was chased by security and promptly escorted out, his act symbolizes some of the most popular crusades of the year, as a sample that join three of the multiple global issues that go far beyond Qatar.

Women of Iran: A very important movement of 2022 for gender and identities. The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody after she was arrested for allegedly wearing her headscarf too loosely  has sparked outrage and protest. The movement these women are leading in Iran is educated, liberal, secular, raised on higher expectations, and desperate for normality: college and foreign travel, decent jobs, rule of law, access to the Apple Store, a meaningful role in politics, the freedom to say and wear whatever. They are quite unlike those who came before them; sometimes they feel more like transnational Gen Z than Iranians: they are vegans, they de-Islamicize their names, they don’t want children. This movement, as an important cultural signal, addresses identities, gender, and also liberty, among others. It highlights, strongly, the importance, role and impact of the Protagonist Identities macro trend.

Starlink: The war in Ukraine is an event with horrible consequences to the Ukrainian people and it also deeply disrupted Europe and the world in general. The Starlink is one of several important signals that highlight support, empathy and compassion. Starlink has played a vital role in keeping Ukraine’s military and citizens online as the war continues to rage and Russia targets Ukraine’s telecommunications and electricity infrastructure. It highlights the Ergonomic Connections, but it goes beyond this as the whole context is built along the Lifestyle Redesign macro trend and the difficulties it entails.

Plant Hotels: People living both in Lisbon and Singapore can now take some days off without worrying how their monsteras and philodendrons are going to survive during their absence. The plant hotel service was launched by independent companies in these two big cities in 2022. This signal is interesting, because it links different dots of our contemporary society. Besides being a symptom of a (lonely) era when people don’t have friends or family members available to water their plants on a regular basis, it can also be seen as a post Covid sign, as people became more interested in plants during the confinements. In Lisbon, it can also be seen as a reflection of the arrival of an increasing number of immigrants, people without a net to whom they could ask for such an intimate favour of going to their homes and taking care of the plants for a few days.

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