Block Seminar Design Theory 3rd semesterLecturer:
Dr. Joëlle Block Seminar Design Theory 3rd semester

Lecturer:
Dr. Joëlle Bitton

The module takes place over 1 week, from 09-13.09.24, from Monday to Friday, 9.00-17.00 - see timetable below for details.

...

The seminar is structured as a dialogue and the students will work on certain questions themselves. In the end, a one-page website an outcome should be created to showcase a proposal. 

In this course, we will look at a range of aspects:

• Trade routes & supply chains (geopolitics of extractivism)
• Materials and mining
• Exploitation of labour and resource extraction / Commodifying animal life - ecosystems
• Entanglements with design and consumer society: tensions and contradictions of values / Disconnection between end product, value - price and resources/fabrication/processes of transformation /
  • Emergence of empires (conglomerates & nations both)
  • Trafficking
  • Systems
• Global exchange of materials and techniques
• Innovation and development / cultural exchanges
• Environmental and social consequences
• Local and indigenous practices
• Trade agreements and trade wars
• Swiss context: banking as extractivism?

Structure

The class will be structured around discussions, lectures, presentations of case studies and in-class exercises.

• Collaborative mapping of the supply chains (local/national/planetary), geologies (temporality/deep time/entropy), futures (projection/speculations/prediction), and effects (cultural and ecological implications, scales) of extractive processes in particular contexts

...

to showcase an approach to the topic. 

In this course, a range of aspects will be touched upon:

• Trade routes & supply chains (geopolitics of extractivism)
• Materials and mining
• Exploitation of labour and resource extraction / Commodifying animal life and ecosystems
• Entanglements with design and consumer society: tensions and contradictions of values / Disconnections between raw value - end price, between resources -  processes of transformation & fabrication - end products
• Emergence of Empires (conglomerates & nations both)
•  Trafficking
• Systems & Infrastructures
• Global exchange of materials and techniques
• Innovation and development / cultural exchanges
• Environmental and social consequences
• Indigenous relations to materials
• Trade agreements and trade wars
• Swiss context

Structure

The class will be structured around discussions, lectures, presentations of case studies, in-class exercises, and collective mappings.

Deliverables

• Assignment 0 (before Monday 9.9)
  • Read 
    
    • Jan Zalasiewicz, "Stardust", In The Planet in a Pebble.
      

• Assignments 1 (prepare on Monday 9.9 afternoon) - send reading notes by email on& post material research on Miro Board on 9.9 by 19.00
  
  
  • Read 
    • Robin Wall Kimmerer, "MishkosKenomagwen, the Lessons of Grass: Restoring Reciprocity with the Good Green Earth”. The Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Cambridge University Press, 2018
    Write 2-3 paragraphs about your impressions on the paper, remarks (what concept is new to you, inspiring aspects, positions you disagree with, etc..), questions...
    The remarks should capture learning points and possible critiques of the papers.
    
    
  • Investigation of materials from Switzerland or emblematic of Swiss market
    Pick 1 material and conduct a research to find out: where that material comes from, how it has been extracted & by whom, how it is transformed & where, its lifecycle, its history & importance for local population and distant users, its trade, its legislation, its raw price value, and its price value on mainstream market, the companies involved in the supply chain, its availability (or rarity), its uses (or un-uses), and its environmental impact. Post research findings on Miro Board. Bring a sample in class for presenting some of the findings. (Examples: chocolate, mineral water, gold, cement, banking, agriculture...)
    
    
• Assignments 2 (prepare on Tuesday 10.9 afternoon) - send notes by email on 10.9 by 19.00
  
  
  • Read 
    • Giorgi Riello, "The Globalization of cotton textiles. Indian Cottons, Europe, and the Atlantic World, 1600–1850". 
    •  G. Dobler & Kesselring R. "Swiss extractivism: Switzerland’s role in Zambia’s copper sector". 
    Write 2-3 paragraphs about your impressions on the paper, remarks (what concept is new to you, inspiring aspects, positions you disagree with, etc..), questions...
    The remarks should capture learning points and possible critiques of the papers.
    
    
  • Find 1-2 projects that show how the design & art fields can address those issues and propose alternatives (you will present 1 or 2 of them in class with 1 - 2 sentences each). Post link, author(s), title, date, picture, comment on Miro board.
    
    
• Assignment 3 (prepare on Wednesday 11.9) - send notes by email on 11.09 by 20.00
   
  • Read 

    • Victor Crochet, "Trade Defence Instruments: A New Tool for the European Union’s Extractivism". 

    • Damian White, "Just Transitions/Design for Transitions. Preliminary Notes on a Design Politics for a Green New Deal".

    Write 2-3 paragraphs about your impressions on the paper, remarks (what concept is new to you, inspiring aspects, positions you disagree with, etc..), questions...

    The remarks should capture learning points and possible critiques of the papers.
    
    
• Assignment 4 - Final Work: The format of the final outcome is decided by each student- it will be an online representation of your approach of the topic (possibly 1-page website, written essay, video, or use of hosting platform such as TikTok, filmed performance, games, new object...). Individual work (some works can be in connection with one another). Your work needs to be in adequacy with the intention and the process. The collection of works from each student will constitute together an online exhibition.
  • +500 words to give context to the piece.
  • 3-5 mn presentation : why you made it, how it relates to the topic
  • the ideas could represent your position on a topic above or on a case study discussed in class, your new proposal, or your interpretation of an issue
  • who is your desired audience and how do you reach it?
    
    
• Final presentation in class - upload on platform on 13.9 by 11.30 & present in class concisely. Send me as well a hard copy via email / wetransfer by 11.30.

...

Arriving late may also affect the passing grade.
Contributing to constructive group discussion is an essential aspect of class participation. 

Attendance of all the in-class input sessions are imperative (3 mornings session and 1 afternoon session).  
The first two sessions are online (Zoom link provided by email) - the last two sessions are in presence.afternoon session).  
Zoom-etiquette during online sessions: please be present on screen (no commuting/travelling or doing another activity in parallel of the class), on time, and with camera turned-on as much as possible. 
Classes online and in presence at the same time are not possible.

...