CRITICAL DEPLOYMENT: ACTIVE/ETHICAL READING

Abstract

Design requires an awareness of, and interaction with various facets of culture where design is being applied. This workshop is a four-week intensive focusing on what research is and how it can be used as a tool in the production of intentional and original projects.

Research, in this case can be defined as a three point excavation process:
1. Accessing mediums external to the design process e.g. literature, film, visual artifacts, theory, etc. 2. Developing a personalized understanding of these mediums as they are relevant to the individuals practice, both as abstract concepts and through the production of concrete aesthetics strategies (Typeface selection, color palettes, image treatments/sourcing) 3. Re-appropriating these strategies within a project while understanding personal biases, the danger of appropriation as a tool of oppression, and the ethics of a shared cultural vernacular that design operates in parallel with: the two occupy a shared space though do not necessarily have full access to one another.

More often than not, research within the design process is not actively engaged with or exposed to critique. In doing so, students will have the opportunity to focus on the disassembling, reconstructing, reevaluating, and prototyping of custom research models within an intensive design studio setting.

This workshop will put a focus on shared knowledge production, collaborative research, archiving, the ethics of responsible appropriation, and how we deal with the concept of originality.

Course Structure

Active/Ethical Reading will prompt students by providing a starting point to study a topic of their choosing. An introductory set of readings and guest lecture by an artist or designer who puts an emphasis on reading or 'study' will start each 4 week session. From there, students will have two weeks to generate a set a supplementary research material, whether that be other readings, visual content, music, movies etc. focusing on how this material can be documented and redistributed in the context of their own practice. An 'encyclopedia' of practice specific resources will be created and then used to execute a final project which will be shared in a gallery/exhibition context.

Learning Outcomes

• Students will gain exposure to, develop affinities towards, and defend: research practices, tools, methods, and traditions in a studio-critique setting.
• Students learn to develop exhaustive and cohesive research methods and revisit their understanding of presentation and narrative
• Students will gain a greater understanding of how to cultivate and apply original research-based perspectives into graphic output.
• Students will learn to navigate group-led research initiatives and present cohesive multilateral findings
• Students will engage in discussions regarding the politics of research, the danger of appropriation as a tool of oppression, and the ethics of a shared cultural vernacular that design operates in parallel with.
• Students will gain a greater understanding of professional research-led design settings through guest lectures and guest critics.

Timeline

Potential Readings

• Benevolent Deception in Human Computer Interaction
• Parafiction and Plausibility
• Exhaustion and Exuberance
• The Undercommons, Fugitive Planning and Black Study
  • The University & the Undercommons
• Silicon Valley’s Sixty-year Love Affair with the word “Tool”
• The Diminishing Marginal Value of Aesthetics

Potential Guest Speakers

• Bailey Sheehan
• Chloe Scheffe
• Edouard Urcades
• Elaine Wing-Ah Ho
• Íñigo López Vázquez
• Sara Kaaman
• Vijay Masharani

Colophon

Proposal authors: Rahul Shinde and Lukas Eigler-Harding
Set in Fivo Sans