Time Wanderer

Design Statement

Time Wanderer is a speculative design project exploring the future of time travel. The project invites people to reflect on present-day situations related to international travel and imagine how time boundaries might be regulated and controlled in the future.

The project organizes thought experiments and speculations related to the concept of time border by branding Time Wanderer, a time travel agency that protects the boundaries of time and processes travelers at time customs, and by modeling the experience of passing through the time customs in 2089.

There are two major components in this project. The welcome video introduces Time Wanderer and time travel, and streamlines the time customs entry process; The check-in kiosk inspects visitors by asking a group of questions related to their identities and time trips, and gives back a specific result message (admitted, rejected, or undetermined) based on their answers. Together they bring up the idea of time boundary, echo with real-world situations, speculate how time travelers’ experiences might be, and facilitate people’s imaginations about the future.

By involving thought experiments and fictions related to the concept of time border control in the questions and result messages in the check-in kiosk system, Time Wanderer aims to facilitate people’s thinkings and discussions about where the concept might be leading. Please go to timewanderer2089.com and learn your status.