Block Seminar Design Theory 5th semester

Lecturer:
Dr. Joëlle Bitton

The module takes place over 1 week, from 6.9.21 to 10.9.21, from Monday to Friday, 9.00-17.00 in room 5H02 & online.

Topic

Design and Technology share a similar destiny: imbued with the roles of solving problems, characterised by an expectation that they can change any situation for the better.
But what if this is an illusion?

With the society at large becoming more aware of issues related to top-down decisions and techno-centric solutions such as large-scale surveillance, ecological dooms and oppression of civic rights, we have the responsibility and the opportunity to rethink the place of design and technology.
What if we should reboot our mindset for design methods and technological tools to become truly inclusive?

Objectives of the course

The aim of the seminar is to reflect on the roles we attribute to design and technology currently, how it was set in pop culture narratives and how we could ‘reboot’ the disciplines in education to include urgent societal questions. The seminar is structured as a dialogue and the students will work on certain questions themselves. In the end, a one-page website should be created to showcase a proposal. 

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

• the hopes and fears that technologies of the 19th century generated and that are still prevalent nowadays

• the past ideas of futures and whether they happened or not

• pop culture references that support those narratives

• feminist & non-Western perspectives

• ways to move forward in education of the design discipline

Structure

The class will be structured around discussions, lectures, presentations of film and literature materials and in-class exercises.

Deliverables

• Assignment 0 (for Monday 6.9)

  • Read "Inventing the Expert. Technological Literacy as Social Currency" (pp.9-32) by Carolyn Marvin (attached in email and linked in Literature section below)
    

• Assignment 1 (for Tuesday 7.9)

  • Watch La Jetée (Chris Marker, 1962, 28')

  • Answer with 1-2 paragraphs the question: What do you fear?

  • Find 1 or 2 design projects that has for you all the qualities you ambition for yourself (you will present them the next morning with 1 - 2 sentences each) - send by email

  • Read  (read intro + pick one of the case studies to browse further) - write one paragraph about what your impressions, remarks (what concept is new to you, inspiring aspects, positions you disagree with, etc..) - send by email
    

• Assignment 2 (for Wednesday 8.9): 

  • Read 2 papers (see Literature references below) + one optional.
    Provide response notes to the papers: short remarks should be written that capture learning points and possible critiques of the papers - send by email

• Final Work: The format and platform of the final outcome is decided together with the students- it will be an online representation of your reboot ideas (possibly 1-page website, written essay, video, or use of hosting platform such as TikTok, filmed performance, games, new object). Preferably individual work (the 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.

  • +150 words to give context to the piece.

  • 3-5 mn presentation : why you made it, how it relates to the topic

  • reboot ideas: design education, the notion of the future, expanding the design field, exploring the perception of design in the world, specific technologies/designs, biases and stereotypes, fostering inclusiveness and equity, opportunities of undesign/untechnologize. Ask yourself the question of 'what you would like to reboot' (in your studies, life, design field, in societal conventions, etc..), respond to the proposals of the papers you read (for instance, about undesigning, or considering unconventional ways to address a topic), go back to the initial questions at the beginning of the week (what would you do differently in your studies?), etc.... The final assignment is a statement or positioning or response to those provocative questions

  • 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

  • potential audience: other people in the design fields

  • upload online your statement and send me as well a hard copy via email / wetransfer

• Final presentation on Zoom, ideally from a location related to your topic (it can be recorded ahead of the class session and you introduce the video in class).
  Final outcomes presented by the students are collected on one page.

Expectations and Gradings

Grades will be based on exercises, class participation and final work. 
Contributing to constructive group feedback is an essential aspect of class participation. 
Regular attendance of 80% is required. Arriving late on more than one occasion will also affect the grade.

Final work 50% 

Exercises/reading assignments 30% 

Class participation 20% 

Any assignment that remains unfulfilled receives a failing grade.  

Timetable

Literature/References

• To prepare for Monday 6.09:

  • Carolyn Marvin. 1990. When Old Technologies Were New. Thinking About Electric Communication in the Late Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press.
    1st chapter. " (pp.9-32)
    

• To prepare for Tuesday 7.09:

  • - Read intro + choose & read one paper in the overall document
    

• To read for Wednesday 8.09 (underline 2-3 points that sparked questions and possibly points that you felt should have been addressed in the paper)

  • Optional reading: 

    •  (the author speaks here of global health but this could also be about design projects)

Guest Lecture by Tiara Roxanne 

Tiara Roxanne (PhD) is an Indigenous cyberfeminist, scholar and artist based in Berlin. Her research and artistic practice investigates the encounter between the Indigenous Body and AI by interrogating colonial structures embedded within machine learning systems.  Her work more specifically explores the notion that decolonization is not possible and therefore we must  establish decolonial gestures, a concept she has been developing from the start of her dissertation,  "Recovering Indigeneity: Territorial Dehiscence and Digital Immanence," which was completed in June of 2019 under the supervision of Catherine Malabou. In this way, decolonial gestures stand in as forces and modes of decolonial or anti-colonial embodied actions.  Moreover, as a performance artist and practitioner, she works between the digital and the material using textile. Currently her work is mediated through the color red. Tiara has presented her work at Images Festival (Toronto), Squeaky Wheel Film and Media Art Center (NY), Trinity Square Video (Toronto), SOAS (London), SLU (Madrid), Transmediale (Berlin), Duke University (NC), re:publica (Berlin), Tech Open Air (Berlin), AMOQA (Athens), among others. 

https://www.academia.edu/40442089/DIGITAL_TERRITORY_DIGITAL_FLESH_DECODING_THE_INDIGENOUS_BODY

https://www.academia.edu/42641770/Data_Colonialism_Decolonial_Gestures_of_Storytelling

https://www.academia.edu/44926818/Re_Präsentation_verweigern