Hola all and Brooke, I really enjoyed "undesigning" poster Brooke and it would be really great to slip into classrooms from pre-k to post-grad spaces. (I will work on that.)
I do think that the tactical re-engineering is an important gesture and one that has been important in my thinking since I first encountered the community research initiatives that ACT UP/SF - Golden Gate established in late 80's as a response to the viral politics of therapeutic state at the time. And by creating a "hactivating design" gesture of smashing popular toothpaste with the politics of the question that can become viral - which at the core of its performative matrix is that anyone can do it. Now that I have a young son everything becomes amplified in terms of toxicities at all levels. We are encountering particle capitalism(s) clouds at every scale of being. Which, is an important theme for the *particle group* as well (http://pitmm.net). As, part of video mediation on Open Fabrication systems, the attempted to bring together EDT/*particle group* and the other gestures that criss-crossed each other under the sign of science of the oppressed (which I came to understand came from Monique Wittig really fantastico) - here is a section of the text that I thought might fall into the sphere of hactivating design: [science of the oppressed and garageScience] We can imagine Augusto Boals Theatre of the Oppressed, Chela Sandovals Methodology of the Oppressed, Critical Art Ensembles tactical science, Natalie Jeremijenko public experiments and what the Electronic Disturbance Theater has framed today as the science of the oppressed each of these parts of a wide area call for a re-framed relationalilty between spectator, poesis, praxis, experimentation and Sandovals differential consciousness of the la conciencia de la metiza. Each gesture diagrams alternative social forms of life and art that fall between the known and unknown, between fiction and the real, between clean science and dirty science each a part of a long history of an epistemology of social production which privileges the standpoint of the proletariat, the multitude, the open hacks of the DIY moments, and of autonomous investigators who stage test zones of cognitive styles-as/and out of concrete practices as speculation and speculation as concrete practices at the speed of dreams. What the artivist adds to this circuit is the ability to stage potential rehearsals for the now-and-future community laboratories, for the nanoGarages to come, for the current empirical speculations of new ecologies of social formations that can create a space for the agency of actor-spectators that can route around the neoliberal walls of venture science as only protocol for scientific research and instead offer a counter-frame/unframe of a science for and by the people. As Boal stated, we must move towards a rehearsal-theater and away from a spectacle-theater. The science of the oppressed for EDT is type of rehearsal-lab that imagines community laboratories blooming from the always/already lowrider robotics of East L.A., from the Zapatista Open Seed an assemblage Open Wetware lab(s) each garage a rehearsal-lab for new agency(s) defined by the people/the citizen/the nomad to resume their protgonistic function between/within/without art and science. The whole video is here: http://medialab-prado.es/article/nanogarajes_especulaciones_sobre_fabbing_abierto Also, some other thoughts on these themes by *particle group*'s Nanosférica presentation: http://hemisphericinstitute.org/hemi/en/particle-group-intro nano nano, Ricardo > These are some of the specifics I am dealing with, but I am interested in > this general premise: if design is about intention and if we want to > create > change through design then we have to design with a broader set of > objectives in mind. Reverse engineering our everyday products is a good > starting point. And when I rebuild with broader objectives as I define > them, > financial considerations are part of the equation but not top of the list > or > the lead imperative as with mega-corporations that are designing popular > toothpastes. > > I came across this paper a few weeks back by Scott Burnham called "Finding > the Truth in Systems: In Praise of Design Hacking" that is quite relevant > to > this discussion (http://scottburnham.com/?p=521). > > A brief sample from that paper: > > * Hacking creates new engagements between the product and the consumer > * Hacking mandates relevance and necessity in design > * Hacking is resourceful > * Hacking creates abundance from limited resources > * Hacking finds the truth in systems > > And, I leave you with a short essay of mine (this is actually text from a > poster you can download here: http://undesigning.org/cmos.html) for those > who want to read more. > > Best, Brooke > > > > > Our Chemically Modified Organisms (CMOs) > > > Industrial chemistry is a 20th century phenomenon. During World War I, > military demand for war gas was a great boon for the burgeoning industry. > But, in 1925, with the signing of the Geneva Protocol that banned chemical > warfare, industry had to look for other markets. The production of nerve > gas > (a phosphorous-containing chemical) gave way to a new line of insecticides > and the chlorine used in weapons such as phosgene and mustard gas became > feedstock for newly designed solvents, PCBs and, eventually, plastics. > > The chemical industry really took off after World War II. In the United > States, synthetic organic chemical production has grown more than > thirty-fold since 1940. Today industry produces billions of tons of > chemicals per year of approximately 90,000 substances. These man-made > chemicals are the foundation of our built environment. They form our > plastics, cosmetics, household cleaners, pharmaceuticals, resins, > pesticides, food packaging, paper, clothing, flame-retardants, > electronics, > solvents, paint, automobile parts, mattresses, lumber, pigments, > refrigeration, detergents, PVC, silicone, dry cleaning, disinfectants, > lubricants the list is truly endless. > > Many of these chemicals and the byproducts produced during their life > cycle > are stable and persist in the environment. These chemicals also > bio-accumulate, meaning they increase in concentration as they move up the > food chain. Chemicals can travel great distances on currents of wind and > water, making remote regions like the Arctic just as susceptible to > degradation. > > New research demonstrates that some of these pollutants, even at very low > doses, can cause serious health problems. Previously it was thought that > decreasing the concentration of a substance would mitigate its impact. > Dilution is no longer seen as the pollution solution. Timing of exposure > is > crucial and sensitivity is particularly high when exposure occurs in utero > or early development. > > For many years, cancer was the primary health concern. Today, laboratory > studies and wildlife observations demonstrate that chemical dangers are > extensive. Chemical exposures disrupt endocrine, reproductive, immune and > nervous systems as well as contribute to cancer and other diseases. > > In its first scientific statement published in 2009, The Endrocrine > Society > -- an international body with 14,000 members founded in 1916 -- stated: > "Results from animal models, human clinical observations, and > epidemiological studies converge to implicate EDCs [endocrine-disrupting > chemicals] as a significant concern to public health." > > The United States government does not require manufacturers to prove a > chemical is safe before use and companies generally do not voluntarily do > so. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has only required > testing > for some 200 of the 90,000 chemicals already in circulation. In response, > many groups and concerned citizens are promoting the precautionary > principle, which states that the manufacture of certain products should > cease even when there are only hypothetical and untested risks. This > places > the burden of proof on the industry to show that a substance is safe > rather > than on society to demonstrate there is a specific risk. > > Some scientists are creating new frameworks, citing the failure of the > scientific method alone to sufficiently protect human health and > ecological > effects. Funtowicz and Ravetz, for example, have introduced postnormal > science, which is useful when facts are uncertain, the stakes are high and > decisions are urgent. These scientists encourage dialogue and > participation > with a full range of stakeholders since scientific objectivity cannot > provide all that is needed for decision-making on high, risk issues. > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > empyre forum > empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au > http://www.subtle.net/empyre > -- Ricardo Dominguez Associate Professor Hellman Fellow Visual Arts Department, UCSD http://visarts.ucsd.edu/ Principal Investigator, CALIT2 http://calit2.net Co-Chair gall...@calit2 http://gallery.calit2.net CRCA Researcher http://crca.ucsd.edu/ Ethnic Studies Affiliate http://www.ethnicstudies.ucsd.edu/ Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies Affiliate http://cilas.ucsd.edu Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, Board Member http://hemi.nyu.edu University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0436 Phone: (619) 322-7571 e-mail: rrdoming...@ucsd.edu Project sites: site: http://gallery.calit2.net site: http://pitmm.net site: http://bang.calit2.net site: http://www.thing.net/~rdom blog:http://post.thing.net/blog/rdom _______________________________________________ empyre forum empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au http://www.subtle.net/empyre
