LINEWOMEN

LINEWOMEN

Work by Xinyi Li (MArch/MSAUD '24) and Yu Shi (MSAUD '24) for "Narrative Engineering, Myth & Machine", a MSAUD IDEAS Entertainment Studio taught by Natasha Sandmeier and Liam Denhamer. This studio investigates the dynamic relationship between technology, environment, and the human experience, revealing how tools both shape and are shaped by the worlds they inhabit. By exploring the narratives embedded in these interactions, this studio seeks to uncover the transformative power of innovation within interconnected systems.

Project Statement:

“This story is inspired by the often-overlooked yet essential infrastructures that hold our world together—electric grids, internet cables, and bridges—symbols of human ingenuity and our fragile relationship with nature. These systems not only connect people but also reveal the intricate interplay between the natural and built environments. Drawing on this idea, the narrative imagines a future where Earth's magnetic field has weakened due to human exploitation and pollution, leading to ecological collapse, intensified solar radiation, and widespread electrical grid failures. In response, scientists develop a global network of electromagnetic towers to stabilize the planet, requiring cables to be transported and installed in the most remote and inhospitable regions.

At the center of this effort is Cheryl, a linewoman who traverses isolated landscapes, enduring physical and emotional challenges to fulfill her vital role in reconnecting a fractured world. Through Cheryl’s journey, the story explores profound themes of love, responsibility, and the evolving relationship between humanity and nature. It reflects on the ways the past shapes the present and the present influences the future, inviting a dialogue on the cost of progress and the enduring human spirit. By intertwining personal sacrifice with global necessity, the narrative becomes a meditation on resilience, interconnectedness, and the delicate balance required to sustain both life and the planet.”

Narrative Engineering, Myth & Machine

The Landscape of Technological Narratives

*From the crude shovel reshaping our landscapes to the intricacies of the printing press revolutionizing knowledge dissemination, technological innovations have always stood at the forefront of human evolution. Yet, the narratives of these tools are not just tales of isolated brilliance; they are deeply woven into the fabric of their environments and the lives of their protagonists. These tools are the tangible embodiments of our innate desire to innovate, but they also bear witness to our journey as we live and grow with tools we’ve created, often making mistakes as we learn how best to use them.

This year we will research and work within the relationship between technology, environment, and protagonist. The environment shapes the challenges we face, the protagonist crafts the tool in response, and the tool, once deployed, reshapes that very environment, thereby influencing the needs and desires of the protagonist anew. It's a cycle of perpetual innovation and adaptation. A farmer in rural China or Italy (the story is the same across the world) is a protagonist of his own small world. One day, he wielded a simple shovel to carve a small irrigation channel from a stream into his fields. Over decades, this act didn't just transform his immediate landscape, but also led neighboring farmers to do the same. As more joined in, this collective effort transformed the entire region, turning what was a barren land into a flourishing agricultural hub. A shovel triggered an environmental and socioeconomic metamorphosis.

One of the most important technologies of all time is widely acknowledged as the printing press. Once a very labor and time-intensive process, the production of books escalated exponentially. In a world that relied up until that point on the relaying of information through word of mouth, widespread access to knowledge radically transformed the cultural landscape, eventually laying the groundwork for the Renaissance.

Keep in mind the intrinsic interdependency: for every tool there is an environment it alters and a protagonist it supports. This studio is not just about creating transformative tools, but about understanding and crafting the interconnected stories they tell within the ecosystems they inhabit and the lives they shape.

Remember also, that even small tools can lead to unimaginable change.*