Anthony Dunne, Fiona Raby, Michael Anastassiades

Priscila Huggable Atomic Mushroom, from the Designs for Fragile Personalities in Anxious Times Project

2004

Reflective fabric and polyester stuffing

Not on view

Priscila Huggable Atomic Mushroom is part of the project Design for Fragile Personalities in Anxious Times, a collection of speculative prescription products meant to address various anxieties. Through these prototypes the creators explore the psychological connections between objects and their users. In this example the designers invite the intended consumer—a person afraid of nuclear war—to embrace their fears, quite literally, and stimulate debate about the social, cultural, and ethical impact of technologies, new and old.

Gallery label from

2023

Gallery label from SAFE: Design Takes on Risk , October 16, 2005–January 2, 2006

The designers seek to stimulate debate about the social, cultural, and ethical impact of emerging technologies. Their collaborators and clients range from cultural institutions to industrial research laboratories; their design objects are a medium for exploration and reflection on daily life in the age of advanced technology.

Priscila Huggable Atomic Mushroom is part of the collection Design for Fragile Personalities in Anxious Times, prescription products that explore the psychological connections between objects and their users. The designers invite us to embrace our fears, quite literally: to take home a symbol of nuclear annihilation and cuddle it.

Medium Reflective fabric and polyester stuffing
Dimensions 12 × 11 13/16 × 11 13/16" (30.5 × 30 × 30 cm)
Credit Craig Robins Purchase Fund
Object number 98.2006
Department Architecture & Design

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