Lucy McRae spoke to Dezeen in a live Screentime conversation as part of our collaboration with her for Virtual Design Festival.

The Australian artist and "body architect" spoke to Dezeen's founder and editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs about her work and gave a preview of one of her most recent projects, the Solitary Survival Raft, which was exclusively revealed as part of Virtual Design Festival.

Based in Los Angeles, McRae's work explores the relationship between technology and the human body, which she uses as a way to speculate on the future.

In an interview with Dezeen from 2019, McRae explained that through her work she looks to "give science fiction an overdue sex change."

Her past projects include a survival kit for a post-apocalyptic future that rejects "the age of the algorithm" and includes comforting items such as cushions and mats.

She's also previously designed a machine that hugs the user as an antidote to what she calls a "touch crisis" brought on by the influx of technology.

As part of our collaboration with McRae for Virtual Design Festival, Dezeen also published MacRae's short film The Institute of Isolation, which explores how architecture could help the human body evolve to survive long-distance space travel.

Watch McRae's Screentime conversation to see her show off the Solitary Survival Raft and discuss the project, a survival raft that investigates how to remedy the effects of isolation.

About Virtual Design Festival

Virtual Design Festival runs from 15 April to 10 July 2020. It brings the architecture and design world together to celebrate the culture and commerce of our industry, and explore how it can adapt and respond to extraordinary circumstances.

To find out what's coming up at VDF, check out the schedule. For more information or to join the mailing list, email [email protected]