Void Climbing

The consequences of climate change are increasingly impacting mountain sports. Based on his own embodied experience as a climber, Aster Verrier explores a speculative future in which climbing is deprived of its main characteristic: verticality. Void Climbing proposes that climbers climb horizontally, using the ground as a cliff face. For these purposes, a climbing floor with a grid that facilitates composing one’s own climbing route from different textures, and a harness and bodysuit that enhance resistance and sense of gravity, have been developed. What would climbing be, and what role would design play, in a world that is flat?