We are proud to share that Christie Swallow (Architecture, 2020) has been selected as one of the featured residents in the Design Museum’s 2024/25 Design Researchers in Residence programme, culminating in the exhibition Artificial, open from 17 June to 21 September 2025.
Swallow, who recently completed a residency with the Future Observatory, is one of four emerging designers exploring the boundaries between the natural and artificial worlds. The project, titled Paracologies, invites visitors to rethink what it means for a species—or an ecosystem—to be “native” to a place. Drawing on the example of the vibrant yet controversial parakeet population in London’s St James’s Park, Swallow explores the idea of coexistence within human-designed landscapes and encourages us to see urban nature in a new light.
The exhibition, developed in partnership with the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), challenges conventional definitions of the artificial, showing how natural and human-made systems are deeply entangled. Swallow’s work sits alongside projects by fellow residents Hani Salih, Laura Lebeau and Neba Sere, each interrogating the infrastructures, materials and narratives that shape our relationship with the environment.
Designed with a focus on sustainability and circularity by Kaye Song and fabricated by Flimsy Works, Artificial is accompanied by a free, limited-edition publication—available both at the museum and online through the Future Observatory library.
Exhibition Details:
Design Researchers in Residence: Artificial
17 June – 21 September 2025
Design Museum, London
Free admission