That's actually brilliant! I feel it would look great as a clock with the inner part moving with the minute hand.
I might arrive a bit late to the party, but I don't feel an aesthetic is necessarily tied to an ideology or a way of thinking. You can see that with solarpunk aesthetic (greenery, livability and all that sort of stuff) os used by totalitarian regimes and capitalist companies.
Although it is true some aesthetics and styles always carry the nostalgia of their previous uses, as is happening in your case, I think claiming, reclaiming or simply broadening the use of a specific style is accomplishable and not unheard of. In that spirit, I would suggest we keep using them and tweaking the topics shown to move away from a possible corporativist/capitalist reading and make the message of sostenibility more clear.
Wether this type of artistic approach shows a remotely realistic future and if this mught pose a problem, and wether companies making green efforts carries more problem than benefits, are both topics worth thinking about; I feel this play also an importan role in the way you feel towards Frutiger Aero.
For livable and more relaistic purposes, I say a joined aesthetic is almost impossible. Solarpunk has a lot of communal elements in it, so cultural differences would be a big deal, and also, as you say, enviroments can vary a lot, so even the widespread notion of greenery might not be practical in deserts or tundras.
Maybe the more general hints of solarpunk could be man grown plants and some form of green power source, even though it will vary depending on the region. As for the rest, I feel there are too many facets to cover, as you show in your postcards; abandoned cities, small mountain villages, desert plains, so many styles of farming...
As for your art, I would say it's a second stage inside of the movement. It's not the type of artwork you show people without context, I would do that with the more green utopia ones with blue sky; but when showing your postcards, I would also show their explanation, they need the context of the movement and of themselves. The first stage is for getting poeple interested with a nice view (and here common themes are more consolidated), but the second one is as personal (or communal) as any implementation of solarpunk features in real life.
(I'm not sure I made myself clear :$, just let me know if I haven't)
As far as I'm concerned, go for it! You can change it as much as you want! Just DM me when you have it so I can change it (or post it here, same thing ;) )
When doing it I tried to keep in mind the diferent aspects of aesthetics, and not just the artsy part, but feel free to make what you feel most comfortable with.
I think art nouveau would look great, and, like others, that optimistic future suits solarpunk greatly, but maybe it can be put together with old technology somehow, since I agree that old appliances are sometimes more efficient than their modern counterparts. Also, if it works, why throw it away? Reusability is a big aspect of ecofriendliness :)
Anything else you need, just let me know :D
Another very nice and thought-through post :)
I have to say, I completely understand your drive to include ruins ans the like, but rusted cars in the middle of the road, specially having co-op recovery groups as in your previous post and some people using the roads, seems quite unlikely. Still, it emphasises your message very nicely.
Very stunning, and what an amazing palette!
This is quite a hard topic. If you look for solarpunk clothing online, you'll find fashion clothing mostly in green and with leaf patterns or such, like this, but I find this to be too unrealistic, as most designer fashion, in the sense that nobody would wear that in a daily context.
But actual wearable solarpunk clothes, at least for me, would be a mix of work-focused very resistant clothing, like this work overalls or this cargo pants, with a mix of weather thoughtful pieces of clothing, like this cross pants, which are quite fresh while protecting your legs from scrapes, or, if you lean more into breaking the gender-norm, some long loose dresses are quite comfortable, specially in hot weather (and the flow is so nice!)
In my opinion, any durable and useful piece of clothing can be considered solarpunk, even more if it is field-work or nature-oriented, like mountain boots or cargo pants (also, any patched clothing does the trick, although it's best that it happens organically rather than buying it). And as a final personal note, I find colourful or patterned clothes quite nice when they're not overwhelming, so for example cross pants or a loose oversized shirt, although it is quite uncommon in male clothing (I could not find a picture of T-shirt and shirt other than with the flannel shirts or plain ones) and I'm not sure how environmentally friendly cloth dye is (but the same could be said about the clothing industry altogether). Hope this helps, even if just a bit :)
I really enjoy this "down to earth" artistic takes on solarpunk. Usually, I enjoy when art pieces have an undertone of fantasy or unrealism, since that allows for highlighting some key aspects of whatever is in focus. But this way of depicting something I can very much see happening right now, specially with all the backstory/documentation you've added, makes for a very piece. Congratulations! I hope to see more of your work around :)
I partially agree, but ransacking broken technology does not need to make the building unsuitable for other community functions, quite the contrary, it could even help. For example, a decayed server room can be dangerous due to heavy metals or other components and would serve no real purpose to a community-oriented building (as well as so many satellite dishes). So the raiding could both make use of the materials and make the building safe for other uses.
Basing the lack of accessibility on the fact that something is fictitious is actually a pretty lame excuse. If we can't be inclusive in fiction, where it comes down to adding a sentence or the stoke of a brush, how could we even try to make reality inclusive, the solution being so much more complex and time-consuming than that?
I love the addendum at the end saying
_ This story has been updated to emphasize that readers should not plant seed bombs in spaces they’re not authorized to access. _
Not gonna happen, beware public patches of dirt!
I always found Park Güell to be an outstanding proof of concept of organic architecture, specially since it was thought as a housing complex. It's true that it's quite extravagant, but the design ideas regarding space, light and ventilation behind it are very interesting to say the least.