No doubt you’ve experimented with the futuristic filters made for Instagram by digital creative Johanna Jaskowska. The prismatic plastic perfection of “Beauty3000” and the smouldering cyborg glare of “Badland” have been all the rage and attracted high-profile admirers such as Teddy Quinlivan and Kendall Jenner. But the scope of Jaskowska’s vision for the future of augmented reality is more radical and ambitious. “We are all cyborgs,” she says. “The world is getting technology-dependent, and one day our biological bodies will be merged with tech. My work is an exploration of how this could look and the future of beauty.”

Jaskowska is working at the vanguard of where beauty intersects with technology. Last year, she created the world’s first digital haute couture blockchain garment. “Iridescence” sold at auction for $9,500. She explains, “It raises questions about the future solution for consuming and owning fashion pieces with a bigger social impact but a lower impact on the environment.”

Though the French-born artist has long been excited by technology (“I’ve always been a nerd”) she’s concerned about the lack of women in the industry. “I think today is the time for women to get hands-on with tech and tools,” she says. “This would definitely make a difference in the world. I hope I can influence more women to try and take a bigger place in this industry that is still very masculine.”

What issues or causes are you passionate about and why?

Johanna Jaskowska: I am passionate about art, fashion and technologies, and I would like to merge them in a more positive way. We’ve seen so much pessimism about tech  – post-apocalyptic Black Mirror-ish style, very masculine and dark. I don’t dislike it, but I don’t see how it contributes positively to our society. As we are all cyborgs in a way, I’d rather think about it more positively.

 

I would like to design with technologies in a fresher way, more elegant, colourful or sexy. I love sci-fi movies like Blade Runner (1982) and Ghost in the Shell (2017), but imagine this with a Wes Anderson touch, classy, sexy, and retro. I would love to explore that kind of hybrid direction.

What or who gives you hope and why?

Johanna Jaskowska: The power and the magic of the internet gives me hope. And, by the internet, I mean us – the humanity behind the computers. It has been a beautiful journey. It’s changed so much since the 1980s and it’s never stopped surprising me. The social contribution and connections, it’s like a huge brain; a big network; a place where everyone can be together; learn from each other, create, share, and inspire. We all contribute to it, it can be trashy, corny, hilarious or weird, but that’s the beauty of it.

“The power and the magic of the internet gives me hope” – Johanna Jaskowska

What creative or philanthropic project would you work on with a grant from the Dazed 100 Ideas Fund?

Johanna Jaskowska: I would like to create a futuristic fashionable accessory line of electronic devices that could augment the body in ways we’ve never imagined or experienced. Imagine a device that enables your fingers to touch colour or your eyes to see temperatures.

With the money, I would design a series of three speculative devices in CGI, produce them as physical objects, and then shoot images of them in order to create a speculative packshot of the products. The next step would be to reach out to neuroscientists to make a functional prototype of one device and, who knows, make the first digital sensory accessory line.