As life on Earth becomes more unpredictable with climate change and rapid technological innovation, ‘Earthsuits’ encouraged students to investigate how to use wearable technologies to adapt to and reconstruct environments – drawing from the monumental technological leaps made in the Space Race to the everyday functions of workwear, uniforms and performance gear.
The 2025 programme of events included a 3 day 'worldbuild', where invited partners and mentors from across London to support teams of MA students in investigating possibilities. Here, students in teams of four competed for cash prizes ranging from £75 to £250 each.
Working with industry mentors on project conception and ideation, these students received personalized feedback from professionals across fashion, material innovation, creative design agencies, footwear, jewelry design, artistic social enterprises and engineering and technological academia.
Over 135 applications for workshop places were submitted and over 350 students attended the talks program in person. With significantly more able to join online as part of the public facing program. ‘Earthsuits’ provided an extracurricular tailored and specific educational programme experience in the theory techniques, software and practical application of digital innovation. It enabled students to use technology to enhance their specific creative practices in their respective disciplines.
Additionally, ‘Earthsuits’ held space for public talks by curators Stephanie Sherman (curator and founder, director of CSM MA Narrative Environments and Strategy Director of philosophy of technology think tank Antikythera) and Lukáš Likavčan (philosopher of emerging technologies, ecology and astronomy), alongside Xin Liu (space artist), Michael Salu (editor, curator, and author of Red Earth), Tilly Lockey (teenage bionic designer and speaker), Nicholas de Monchaux (author of Spacesuits, MIT Press) and Paul Nichols of the media worldbuilding studio Factory Fifteen.
This year’s Digital Innovation Season’s iteration, ‘Earthsuits’ had the broadest reach to date with over 450 students across all events. If you missed it, have a look at the recap of all the talks.