We will survive is the result of a long research in the depths of a subculture made of extremism and obsessions, but also of real problems and how they are addressed at a collective and institutional level. What remains in a nutshell?

Anniina Koivu: “I still want to go to Kansas to see The Survival Condo, a luxury skyscraper that extends fifteen floors underground. There is a swimming pool, a gym, a sophisticated security system. The quality of the light, the air, the materials and the colors were designed by Larry Hall to make an unnatural condition liveable. My feeling is that the research is not over yet.

Another thought that emerged during this long research is that there are submerged or barely visible realities that however always make sense, there is never anything completely absurd or incomprehensible. I like to understand what are the reasons, thoughts and impulses that have given life to a phenomenon that seems to me to have its reason in an innate survival instinct, crucial for our evolution".

The exhibition starts with a graphic gallery that lists historical facts, events and catastrophic prophecies, both ancient and recent. A civilization that, faced with its own decadence or extreme danger, aspires to catharsis, to a second chance. What do you think?

Anniina Koivu: “I cultivate an optimistic attitude towards humanity and I am not the only one. Not the end of the world: How we can be the first generation to build a sustainable planet (Chatto&Windus, 2024) by Hanna Ritchie and A Paradise built in hell: the extraordinary communities that arise in disaster by Rebecca Solnit (Viking, 2009) were fundamental in convincing me that we will make it.

Researching preppers and their numerous subcategories, one discovers a culture firmly convinced that it is doomed. The prevailing thought is that the world will end and that, at the moment of social collapse, individuals will have to defend themselves from their peers and only a few heroic supermen, ready for any eventuality, will survive.

I believe that we have the possibility of improving. And that the role of preppers is above all to remind us that there is an emergency and a widespread distrust towards politics, institutions and, more generally, the future. It is nice to know that we all have a prepper part inside us, a part of common sense that excludes obsessive or aggressive thoughts”.

There is little design in this exhibition…

Anniina Koivu: “We started from what preppers recommend through their video blogs and web pages and it is clear that they do not use traditional design canons to decide the value of a project. I would say that price and performance are the most common discriminations.

Objects must be ultra-rational, light, useful. The humanistic theme is ignored. For this reason I needed to temper this vision by also including examples of contemporary art and good design, such as the Re-Fire Kit by Francesco Faccin”.

Speaking of products, you also reflected on the survivalist market.

Anniina Koivu: “There is a business worth several million euros and it is aimed at a completely transversal target, because the survivalist is a growing subculture, fueled by climate, economic, digital anxiety. Prepper is the GenZ boy like the quiet father of an American suburb and this tells us how much society is changing, how great is the desire for self-sufficiency and the distrust in the system and institutions”.