The importance of independent interdisciplinary research regarded hitherto as a means for a richer and more qualitative analysis, has become all the more essential in present times—first, to break the dominion upon said narratives and second, to circumvent reductive reasonings and opinions that are becoming further concretised with artificial intelligence rehashing gathered (biased) data. In the attempt to break out of such predetermined modules of research and representation, one finds alternate viewfinders to examine popular topics.

An approach such as this forms the basis for research initiatives, creative projects and speculative exhibitions organised and undertaken by the Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts (mudac) in Lausanne, Switzerland. mudac sifts through commonly discussed topics in the arena of design and art to examine their disparate implications whilst also exploring desirable futures and attempting to append creative and pedagogical means to study and tackle contemporary social issues. At the design and art museum in Switzerland, an ongoing exhibition called We Will Survive, revolving around survivalism and the prepper movement, illustrates how neo-survivalists turn to design to prepare for their survival during uncertain futures. On view from September 13, 2024 - February 09, 2025, the exposition showcases objects, prototypes and ideas that respond to various discerning enquiries: How can we survive a natural disaster or man-made emergency? How should we prepare for life after a catastrophe? What if all of our systems collapse?

Survivalism is a social movement that emerged during the Cold War when an all-pervasive fear of a nuclear war, famine, economic collapse and unprecedented inflation drove fringe groups to develop preparatory procedures such as stockpiling, migrating to remote areas and assimilating survival skills, amongst other preparations. This consternation was further exacerbated in the US by mistrust of an overbearing government. “A rejection of governmental propaganda of fear, paired with a sense of abandonment, became pervasive. With a looming sense that the worst was still to come, people began to take matters into their own hands,” mentions an excerpt from the press release. With the end of the Cold War and the disbandment of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the movement seemingly waned. However, the September 11 attacks in 2001, subsequent bombings in various parts of the world, a series of thalassic natural calamities and the Great Recession of 2008 led to a resurgence in the fears that had initially led to the movement’s initiation. Hence, the interest levied on survivalism and methods of prepping witnessed an upsurge. More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an influx in the movement’s proponents.

Subverting the popular representation of preppers as individuals residing on the margins of civilisation sans necessary items of regular use, the exhibition delineates many of the subcultures that have emerged from this movement and that pervade and dictate speculative narratives and lifestyles both subtly and emphatically. "Not all preppers are the stereotypical woodsman in a tinfoil hat, the neurotic hoarder of canned beans, the religious doomsayer. Preppers today are a growing group that spans all ages, classes, and genders, with women well represented. In particular, Gen Z is especially active in the movement,” Anniina Koivu, co-curator of the exhibition shares. Today, the fear of annihilation—of life as we know it—has multiplied beyond the initial causes of distress to include climate change, economic collapse, cyberattacks, social and political unrest, wars, the possible impact of an asteroid, extreme solar storms and pandemics, amongst other factors.

This means that the response of preppers—which now includes groups of people from different social classes and ages—has also diversified to include individuals who move to remote areas, bushcraft practitioners who advocate DIY skills, off-grid activists who disconnect themselves from public utilities as well as survivalists who prep themselves with easy-to-use and easy-to-carry devices. The exposition at mudac presents visual and modular examples of such disparate measures that serve as coping mechanisms for preppers actively preparing for the end of the world as we know it (TEOTWAWKI) whilst also preparing for a new world order (NWO). Such myriad acronyms and jargon ease the process of virtual communication and offer a glimpse into key ideas that the preppers concern themselves with.

The design exhibition is the culmination of an 18-month-long research project undertaken by design writer, curator, consultant and teacher, Anniina Koivu. On being asked about the project, Koivu shares, “Indeed, 18 months have passed since STIRworld featured the Prepper’s Pantry: Objects that Save Lives, the first introduction to the research on preparedness during the 2023 Salone del Mobile in Milan, Italy. The installation provided a sneak preview into the prepper movement in the form of a pantry, a first selection of objects and tools that could save lives and meet existential needs in the event of a disaster. [...] Since then, we have looked more closely at the origins and motivations of preppers – people who fear the end of the world is not only inevitable but also imminent – which has grown into a full-fledged subculture with more than 23 million members in the US alone and the commercialisation of survival.”

There is a bit of prepper in all of us. In the spirit of better safe than sorry, evolution has ingrained in us a sense of caution to help us overcome danger. – Anniina Koivu

During the research period, investigations into the preppers community were extensively conducted. Various blogs and YouTube channels were studied to understand what drives the movement. This virtual investigation also helped the researchers develop a repository of data pertaining to details about survival gears and remote habitats as well as instructional directions aimed at ensuring survival. “We have supplemented this with interviews, for example with Larry Hall, who launched the Luxury Survival Condo project in Kansas – a luxury bunker with condominiums designed to ensure survival for five years,” Koivu adds.

Further, Jolanthe Kugler, co-curator of the exhibition, shares about the research, “We conducted a systematic literature review that not only covered the prepper movement itself, but also topics that gave us insight into the preppers' world of ideas and mindset. This includes disaster research, that is, how people react to disaster. Then, our fascination for the apocalypse, our desire for doom and a future as a catastrophe. We extended the research to other more optimistic visions of the state of the world and the old question of the fundamental nature of human beings, whether we are wild animals, as Thomas Hobbes believes, or fundamentally ‘good’, as Jean-Jacques Rousseau is convinced.”

We wanted to provide insight into a movement that, beyond all fears and anxieties, draws our attention to the fact that we have lost our footing and valuable knowledge and should rethink our attitude to this world. We didn't want visitors to think that the only way out, the only option left for us, was that of the preppers – that is, preparing for the end of the world as we know it, TEOTWAWKI in prepper-speak. – Jolanthe Kugler (on the thought that guided the conceptualisation of the exhibition)

The culminating exhibition, curated by Koivu and Kugler, features more than 400 works that include architectural models, photographs, drawings, magazines, historical video material and film clips of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic dream worlds, speculative design objects, installations designed especially for the exhibition and more than 300 examples of popular product design by and for the prepper community. These include showcases by various renowned designers, filmmakers, photographers and artists such as AATB, Studio Folder, Reed Kram, Charles Negre, Tapio Snellman, Atelier Van Lieshout, Erwan & Ronan Bouroullec, Julian Charrière, Dunne & Raby, Martí Guixé, Simo Heikkilä, Fabien Roy, Tapio Wirkkala and Martin Szekely, among others.

What initially began as a prepper’s pantry has evolved into a Prepper’s Supermarket. Survival has become a multi-billion dollar industry. – Anniina Koivu

With regards to the research project, Kugler shares, “What we found out during the research process is, among other things, that the prepper movement does not agree on what the greatest danger for our world is. Climate change is high on the list, but the threat of a collapse of the global economy, civil unrest or even alien abduction is also among the most frequently cited fears. What they all have in common is the belief that governments are unable to protect us effectively from all these dangers. There is a deep mistrust of any measures that governments take to prepare for and protect their populations from disasters.”

With a barrage of showcases at the museum—split across three sections—the showcase presents a huge repository of resources and objects that can potentially assist preppers. “What initially began as a prepper’s pantry has evolved into a Prepper’s Supermarket,” Koivu shares. “Survival has become a multi-billion dollar industry. In this supermarket, which is composed of an original shelving system (donated by Migros), we have laid out the essential items for survival. The aisles are organised into key categories: food, water, health and hygiene, tools and skills, fire, energy and light, navigation and communication, as well as shelter and safety. The exhibits—far from comprehensive or exhaustive—offer a glimpse into the world of survival objects. While we focus on recommendations for a BOB—a Bug-out Bag that contains the essential items needed for the first 72 hours after a disaster—we also explored supplies for long-term use in pantries, cellars and bunkers,” she adds.

The three parts of the exhibition are called ‘Existing threats and risk assessment’, ‘Government prepping’ and ‘Individual prepping’. The first section examines the risks and dangers that threaten our existence. This section also illustrates the methods via which such risks are monitored and assessed. Since the study of global hazards is a challenging process that requires assessment on various levels, studies in this realm are often ambiguous and open-ended. However, several demarcators signal the intensity of the impending and imagined catastrophe. One of these is the Doomsday Clock, initially developed in 1947 and most recently—in 2023—set at 90 seconds to midnight. Although the clock serves as a metaphor for the end of humanity and not a direct prediction, setting it at 90 seconds before midnight—the closest to global catastrophe it has ever been—in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war, massive floods and various climate-related disasters, symbolises a deep crisis that needs to be tended to sooner rather than later.

The second section ‘Governmental prepping’, within the exhibition, is dedicated to the measures that various governments are seemingly employing to protect their populations from impending disasters. Some of these measures, illustrated within the exhibition, include the 1960s Duck & Cover campaign by the US government urging citizens to build family fallout shelters in their backyards; contemporary civil protection schemes that comprise detailed evacuation plans, acute monitoring of the volcano activity and plans to resettle people in adjacently located twinned regions. While these large-scale measures present an apparent solution to impending issues, an overarching distrust in the government typically leads to preppers relying on themselves to ensure their preparedness.

Lastly, ‘Individual prepping’ displays objects that can be used by individuals for their survival. The Prepper Supermarket, situated within this space, displays essential end-of-the-world gear for various potential disasters as well as a listing of remote real estate listings and detailed instructions for solving basic catastrophic events.

Upon viewing the preppers movement from a distance, one cannot but skim through contemporary happenings, to find comparable processes and preparations that cater to extant catastrophes. When perusing the plans of action and tools devised by preppers, I was reminded of the evacuation processes undertaken by civilians in Palestine. Existing in a state of uncertainty for the past many decades, the common populace in Gaza and the West Bank has become accustomed to a life that may, at any point in time, require immediate evacuation. For events such as these, Palestinians arrange an emergency backpack that contains a torch, a first aid kit, some clothes, toiletries, identification documents, some money, water and a pack of dates. Further, several women in the region, most of whom are Muslims, continue wearing prayer clothes during times of crisis, to ensure that their bodies and heads are not left exposed should they be injured or killed.

As processes of prepping go, the past couple of months have also revealed instances when civilians in Gaza have branded their names upon their hands and legs, so as to be identified should their faces be defaced or mauled in the event of their death. Furthermore, those displaced during extant conflicts in the region often find themselves surviving within tents for months, where both the young and old employ their ingenious skills to develop mechanisms for water storage, filtering water, heating, cooking, growing food and utilising the rubble to build temporary shelters. These are processes that, with the advent of social media and the organic social campaign with regard to the region, have become known to the larger world. However, devoid of terminologies that validate processes of prepping in the West, such procedures of ensuring survival—in disturbed regions within the Global South—with minimum resources at one’s disposal seldom attract popular attention.

As one learns more about such processes of preparation and self-sufficiency that served as normative lessons until before the Industrial Revolution, the important questions remain unanswered and demand some heed. Will these processes of prepping end up being commodified like most social movements? And, more importantly, will the fear of an uncertain future open up space for individuals to empathise, understand and acknowledge the presence of catastrophic situations on antipodal lands?