Design Map · Eindhoven
Rehearsal for Expected Futures
Graduation project by Ludovica Villani at Design Academy Eindhoven, 2026. Shown during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven on Design Map, location F5.
Two scientific studies using similar mathematical models to describe both mayonnaise and lava flows became the unlikely starting point for ‘Rehearsal for Expected Futures’. Combining 3D animation, live-action footage and photogrammetric scans of papier-mâché objects, the mixed-media film follows this bizarre equivalence to its logical conclusion, imagining a world in which mayo and lava begin to behave as though they were the same material. Structured as a dialogue between two characters, the work explores reduction as a way of knowing, drawing unexpected parallels between scientific simulation and children’s play. Rather than simply anticipating possible futures, computational models emerge as cultural practices that participate in constructing them.