Dan McCurley

Dystopian Basketball

Tags
Visual Communication

By remixing “universal” icons, familiar signage and poorly translated Japanese phrases, these signs offer equally digestible and dystopian messages. They disappear into innocuous settings while also presenting an unsettling and disorienting vision to those who look longer. This project speaks to how we desensitize ourselves to the horrors that continually surround us.

A sign zip-tied to a padded basketball hoop post on a sunny campus, showing a figure dribbling a basketball as their head over the Japanese phrase 'Concrete is unstable' (full size)
A small sign on a utility box beside a yellow fire hydrant, showing a figure lying under blue waves (full size)
Sign artwork: a stick figure with a basketball for a head dribbling a red ball, above the Japanese phrase 'Concrete is unstable' and an eye symbol (full size)
A sign stuck to a dumpster among real caution stickers reading 'No hazardous wastes accepted' and 'Do not park' (full size)
Sign artwork: a pink X beside a cobra coiled on a hat worn by two profile faces, above the Japanese phrase 'Dystopian headband' (full size)
The 'Concrete is unstable' sign mounted on a padded basketball pole outside a campus building (full size)
Sign artwork: a figure lying flat under blue waves, above the Japanese phrases 'Severe insomnia' and 'Flood warning' (full size)
The 'Dystopian headband' sign on a stainless steel panel in a public restroom (full size)
A black door labelled CX123 with a small sign beside the handle (full size)
Close-up of a sign showing a figure stepping out of a phone, posted above an Iowa State University smoke-free notice (full size)
The 'Dystopian headband' sign attached to a construction fence notice reading 'Only authorized persons with a hard hat in this area' (full size)
Sign artwork: a figure stepping out of a smartphone below a green arrow, beside the Japanese phrase 'Dystopia screen' (full size)