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Rings of Fire
A taste of our upcoming BRAND BRIEFING on 14th October.
Our
BRAND BRIEFINGS
happen twice a year and analyse a central theme
shaping global culture. Over the last six months, one force has been more
pervasive than anything else: heat. This is an important and unavoidable topic
to discuss for many reasons, the most prominent of course being its
devastating impact on the planet, nature and people. But we’ve also been
observing how heat, in a more figurative sense, with all its pressure and
passion, is coursing through society.
For our Autumn BRIEFING, we’ll use heat as a lens to map out three cultural
zones:
Environmental heat
: the literal, physical warming of the planet;
measurable rises in temperature and thermal phenomena across earth, air
and water.
Discursive heat
: pressurised heat; the turning up of rhetorical and
ideological temperature, raising the stakes and intensity of public
discourse.
Affective heat
: felt and embodied; the bodily and emotional intensity that
heat evokes, from urgency and excitement to passion and desire.
Building on previous themes, we’ve assessed the importance of
friction
, and
how culture is becoming more
chaordic
, both demonstrating how extremity
and polarisation in culture is intensifying. The subject of heat continues this
sentiment, but recognises how we can harness these white-hot, fervent,
impossible-to-ignore feelings to transform systems, assert our collective
power, and become charged with incandescent energy.
Environmental Heat
Heat in its most literal sense is environmental, a subject our resident heat
correspondent
has assessed in his
Hot World Bummer
and
Night
Mode
SEEDS, reporting on how the climate is changing the patterns and belief
systems we’ve lived by for centuries and the ways brands are responding to
this in ever-more inventive ways: Rick Owen's personal air-con jackets; Evil
Ray’s devilish sunscreen brand; the blending of sports and nightlife.
Rick Owens SS27
"I could start off with this heat. This heat is extremely real, as well as all
the avenues it opens up about our place in the world and our bodies, what
we’ve done to accelerate this and who’s forced to experience more heat
than others."
These ideas are reflected more broadly across
. In the last
COMMUNITY CALL, a constellation of topics that revolved around heat
emerged: climate adaptive architecture; how water shortages
disproportionately affect women; a revived interest in solarpunk.
Discursive Heat
In
Hyperlocal Rap
, Nirukti Nayak explores how the defiant youth led political
movements in Nepal and India have resulted in real government change. Prime
ministers have resigned and officials stepped down; in their place, leaders
who not only hear these young people, but are cut from the same cloth.
Another way discursive heat is being turned up is through the prominence of
‘explainer’ and intellectualised content, which we covered in
Let Me Explain
by
Natalie Podaima,
Writer As Image
by Idil Galip, and
Insight as Influence
dissect.
Knowledge, understanding and critical thought ignited and highly covetable.
Modular laptop by
Framework
Discursive heat is about challenging ways of being and the establishments
that have dictated these modes. A push back against Big Tech is one
significant example of this. Brands such as Fairphones and Framework offer
modular products; Modem’s inventions challenge preconceived notions of
what tech should be and look like; Glitch embraces AI to help enrich our
relationship with nature.
Affective Heat
Looking at food and sex as two of humanity's primary sources of satiation,
The
Pleasure Recession
studies how we connect a lack of sex and eroticism with
the unprecedented rate at which people are shrinking their bodies, whether
that be enabled by GLP-1s or otherwise.
"Our bodies were once thought of as centres for sensory delight, yet
they’re now largely seen as systems to optimise and invest in, discussed
in the co-opted language of venture capital"
‘Everyone is beautiful but no one is horny’
, Raquel S. Benedict surmises of
today’s culture, using film as a medium to assess this shift, and which the
onslaught of sex-first TV shows and films reflects: Heated Rivalry, Off
Campus, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, I Want Your Sex. It seems
we’re getting our fix vicariously. A rediscovered relationship with our senses,
bodies and viscerality is something our
Stupid REPORT
,
Neuroaesthetics
and
Touching Glass
also examine.
The emotional fires heat flames is also evident in how obsessed people have
become with food: as status symbol; conduit for passion; means of
expression. The almost uniquely male fixation with Anthony Bourdain is a
pronounced symptom of this. Maybe it’s about proving how skilful or cultured
you are, but when you boil it down, it’s about deep physical pleasure and
desire. After all, Bourdain himself clarified: ‘As a chef I'm not your dietitian or
your ethicist, I'm in the pleasure business.’
'Your body is not a temple, it's an amusement park. Enjoy the ride.' – Anthony Bourdain
Another business that affective heat encompasses is that of emotions and
spirituality. Last year, Victória Oliveira and Rose Radtke asked why esoteric
practices were becoming more embedded in corporate life in their
and
The Business of Spirituality
SEEDS. What was once
considered fringe and woo-woo is now becoming commonplace. Jonathan
Anderson’s Tarot spread doing the rounds and becoming an instant meme
epitomises this. It now seems spirituality is experiencing what therapy did a
few years ago: its language trickling into the discourse and neatly productised.
The BetterHelp of spirituality is
, an online marketplace for spiritual
advisors. Recently undergoing a vibrant rebrand rooted in ancient wisdom and
folklore, Keen’s growth comes at a time when people are treating chatbots as
therapists and turning to the artificial for advice on life’s rawest, most visceral
emotions. Through whatever means available, there's an innate, burning desire
to feel.
As we previously explored, against greater ease and speed, friction
becomes valuable. But friction without heat is impossible. Heat is the
multiplier, the energiser, the transformer. Heat can be destructive, and it
will be critical for brands and institutions to take drastic action against
environmental heat. But embracing heat as affective and discursive offers
a more embodied and empowered existence.
Join us on 14th October for an in-depth assessment of these fiery cultural
signals:
SEED
#8447
DATE
24.09.26
PLANTED BY
PROTEIN
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