In the words of Rustin Cohle, time is a flat circle. Here, the relics of the past and the aspirations of the future crash into each other in bizarre, dystopian harmony. And this also where Evoloka, a deeply immersive, darkly satirical art project stands; at the crossroads of time, memory, and technology. The name itself, a fusion of 'Evolve' and 'Loka' (meaning world), is a declaration of its intent: to showcase a world in flux, where the past, present, and future are in a constant state of reinterpretation.
Evoloka thrives on scrap and satire. The project repurposes discarded materials like polythene, old wires, plastic, rubber bands, and VR remnants into intricate models that tell an unsettling yet eerily familiar story about the world we live in and the one we might be headed towards. Its projects look like a dystopian fever dream, where technology is both a saviour and oppressor, and the march of progress feels more like a limp.
Evoloka's cool, futuristic contraptions offer more than cyberpunk aesthetics. Within them lies a biting social commentary that critiques addiction, hyper-capitalist work culture, and systemic corruption; themes that are most relevant in today’s world. It questions how technology both enables and enslaves, how it enhances human life while simultaneously eroding its essence. In this world, the line between necessity and absurdity is so blurred that the most ridiculous inventions start making terrifying sense.
Shantanu Mishra, the mind behind Evoloka is an artist whose journey has been as unconventional as his creations. Born in Jaipur, raised in Kota, and now based in Mumbai, he carved his own path in the art world; a college dropout who traded convention for a creative pursuit. Before starting Evoloka, he worked in major movie and OTT projects like Citadel, Nimona, The Last of Us, and Bullet Train. He was also part of a team that did VFX for Dune: Part Two. But Evoloka is where his personal, raw vision takes center stage.
"The things I’ve witnessed in life have directly inspired my current project, which focuses on using scraps and repurposed materials as a reflection of how we, as humans, constantly adapt, rebuild, and evolve, much like the world around us."Shantanu Mishra - Evoloka
In the dystopian timeline of Evoloka’s 'Year X', governments have stopped pretending they care about public health. Instead of fighting smoking addiction, they introduce the Passive Smoke Minimizer (PSM) — a twisted ‘solution’ that allows smokers to keep puffing away guilt-free.
PSM is a spicy critique of how modern societies often prefer band-aid fixes over real solutions. In a world where companies profit from both addiction and its supposed remedies, PSM is clearly the next step.
Similarly, spitting on the streets is an ubiquitous public nuisance, especially with tobacco chewers staining walls and sidewalks. But Evoloka has a solution — Adic2 is a plastic-box storage system that dispenses Timal, a special liquid tobacco product, through tubes connected to a gas mask-like attachment. The most impressive and absurd feature on it is that it completely eliminates the need for spitting. Now, addicts can get their fix without leaving a trail of red-stained streets behind.
These projects are critiques of how society treats addiction. Instead of addressing the root causes, like childhood trauma, neglect, and systemic failures, addiction is often seen as a personal failing. Rather than addressing public health crises, it finds ways to normalize and accommodate destructive habits. Evoloka's self-contained gadgets portray addiction as more than a vice; a socially engineered, economically fueled cycle that thrives on people's unhealthy coping mechanisms and passive acceptance.
The misanthropic side of technology is depicted in The MI 45 Helmet Ticket Vending Machine. Nobody likes waiting in a line, especially if it's for a train ticket. This AI-driven helmet streamlines the process of ticket sales, reducing wait times and making transportation more accessible. But not really. It is another distraction from real problems like overcrowded trains, crumbling infrastructure, and rampant job losses due to automation.
The MI 45 is a perfect metaphor for the way modern technology fixes symptoms, not causes. It’s the ultimate embodiment of progress for the sake of progress, where convenience trumps the need for systemic improvement and human well-being.
Through it's mordant gadgets, Evoloka is a mirror held up to our present-day absurdities. It maps out a timeline of all evolution that is somehow going backwards. It compels us to ask: are we really progressing, or are we just making dysfunction more palatable? Is technology liberating us, or just repackaging our struggles into shinier, more ‘efficient’ forms? The project doesn’t just predict a dystopian future, it reveals that we’re already living in one. Its satire isn’t speculative fiction but an exaggerated reflection of the choices we’re making right now.
Follow Evoloka here.
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