HOARDICULTURE 012

HOARDICULTURE is a series celebrating hoarding as a modern malady of collecting so much research and claiming it as a cultural trend.

“Hoardiculture: Collecting so much junk there are piles of random shit cluttering everywhere possible and then claiming it’s a cultural trend.”

(Urban Dictionary)

A selection of the past weeks’ insightful treasures, amassed from our constant research, that signal social-cultural change.

• Running as a Service: Strava’s Mules and the Death of Rebellion

  Once upon a time, running was an act of rebellion—think 1960s counterculture, pounding the pavement as a rejection of capitalist productivity, carving out new terrains in the cityscape. Now? Strava users are outsourcing their sweat. Enter Strava’s mules: paid runners who clock in miles to earn kudos on behalf of others. The athletic grind has been commodified, transformed into a status currency. The so-called wellness revolution? Less about health, more about image—of running crews, matcha latte, social saunas, etc.
  

• Designing Hope: Dark Optimism as an Act of Defiance
  Futurist Sarah Housley’s upcoming book, Designing Hope: Visions to Shape Our Future (Sept 2025), recalls an urgent ethos: dark optimism. This isn’t blind faith—it’s a refusal to sink into nihilism. If dystopia looms, why not carve an alternative? Hope isn’t passive; it’s a battle stance.
  

• Minecraft’s Uncensored Library: A Digital Safehouse
  Back in 2020, when Web3 was still the future, Minecraft teamed up with Reporters Without Borders to launch an uncensored virtual library, housing banned books and censored journalism. Fast-forward to now, and its relevance has only sharpened. In an era of escalating information control, a pixelated sanctuary for truth feels less like a novelty and more like a necessity.

• Les Femmes Ont Faim: Rewriting the Politics of Appetite

  Paris’ 78temple is hosting Les Femmes Ont Faim, a photo exhibition inspired by Lauren Malka’s book Mangeuses, which dissects the relationship between women and food—oscillating between excess and deprivation. Scan mythology, literature, or cinema, and you’ll find women either punished for their hunger or rendered invisible when eating for pleasure. This exhibition spotlights that void, interrogating why the simple act of savouring food has long been a gendered battleground.
  

• Trashy Clothing’s Humiliation Rituals: Power Laid Bare

  Palestine’s anti-luxury luxury label, Trashy Clothing, drops Humiliation Rituals, a collection dissecting the fragility of power. Sharp tailoring meets militarised silhouettes and bureaucratic motifs, exposing the cracks behind authority’s façade.
  

• Biche: When Pet Grooming Gets a High-Fashion Makeover
  A brand launch worth watching: Biche, a new pet grooming line that’s rewriting the rulebook on animal care. Biche channels high fashion’s aesthetics into clean, elevated products for the four-legged elite.
  

• Doji: AI’s Next Play in Fashion’s Digital Future
  Doji, a newly launched beta platform, creates hyperrealistic avatars from a series of selfies in just 30 minutes, allowing users to try on preloaded outfits or upload their own. Virtual try-ons aren’t new, but Doji’s approach leans into usability and mass adoption rather than gimmicks.
  

• The Eon Ark: Eternal Ego Trip
  SOUNDS⁕ℲUN and The Berggruen Institute’s latest project, the Eon Ark, is a digital time capsule designed to store your thoughts, fears, and dreams for a billion years. Inspired by the Proust Questionnaire, this AI-powered glass vessel transforms human consciousness into an archival relic. As longevity becomes the ultimate capitalist fantasy—whether in biotech, finance, beauty, or culture—this project questions what it means to engineer immortality in data form.

This is me—Doji-fied.

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In Case of Doubt is directed by Elodie Marteau, foresight research & strategy hoarder.