Hola all, I would suggest all of these options at the same time (if at all possible). But, sometimes these shifting grids allow for something else to occur that is unexpected and as I suggest else where - we can use these spaces or trajectories as "rehearsal-labs" that disturb multiple staging zones: CALIT2, arts&humanities, activism(s), computing and the arts, media studies, etc., - but then again I only been in the university as a institution for a brief period of time - and the strange attractors might be possible between speeding things up and slowing them down at the the same time - so that hactivating design is a question of "designing" time - via complex storytelling that unfolds/re-folds these gesture or -abilites (of a Benjaminain sort) into option 7.
This is an old note from the seeds of time, that I still offers diagrams towards these questions: (Timeline 1998): A note was hand delivered to me during a gathering of Radical Media groups in New York City at The Thing (a critical community server) by a network that has been doing advance work on Zapatismo, digital activism, and html democracies. It was a note from the Lizard Queen: (Message 445-Ixil /encrypted in the usual manner-con amor.c) hola cyber/compadre, Fox is showing reruns of "V", that old Sci-Fi flick, again. We all sit in the cantina (and watch the only TV in the community: the women, the children, the men, and the drunks). The Lizard agents are trying to control the world and a few small groups form a global resistance movement. The movie shows the conflicts and tensions between the cells, the danger of staying aboveground, the endless struggle against the growing technoforce of the Lizard-Power structure. The Lizards are also harvesting the humans for snacks. This is not a movie says one of the kids - plenty of Lizards around here. More: http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=203 > Dear Kevin, Ricardo, Nick and Brooke, > > I think we are okay to talk about this stuff online. I'm hoping those in > Administrative posts will use our think tank as a way to enlighten > themselves about other alternatives. For me option 4 is mighty tempting > but structurally within many Visual Arts departments seems impossible. > Anyone else have any great ideas? Renate > > > >> Glad to see the HCI discussion come up here, and in the context of >> questions about Design in education. Perhaps I'm just pessimistic, but >> I don't think we have long before today's "New Media" programs are >> squeezed out of fine arts curricula by HCI and its cousins in >> Industrial Design and Graphic Design. HCI is hard to distinguish for >> many an upper-level administrator from the Digital Media / New Media >> programs born in the last ten years. The confusion is understandable >> from a distance, as HCI borrows increasingly from New Media and >> Computer Arts for methods, media, and even critical language - all to >> the consumerist ends outlined by Nick. >> >> It's easy for students to distinguish between the two, however, given >> the easy product tie-ins of HCI and other design education. Much >> current design education is, as Nick implies, essentially an exercise >> in meta-shopping. (Who's a better shopper than the one who hangs >> around the factory line?) I fully expect that the sort of hires that >> resulted in our current, even mildly-critical digital arts programs >> will not come again, except perhaps for in the most elite and high- >> price-tag programs of the world. >> >> So what are we to do, if we care about exercising a role as educators >> and researchers beyond the provision of politicized recess for >> students who won't need to work for a living after school? >> >> 1 - Make hay (or raise Cain?) while the sun shines - this seems to be >> the bang.lab approach, as far as I can tell ( I can't imagine that >> Calit2 will support these projects for long-term? If so, then great!) >> T.A.Z., tactics over strategies, all that temporary stuff is always >> possible, and maybe the only way. (I also think here of Wodizcko, >> trained as an Industrial Designer, but taking Papandek's ideas and >> moving right out of that field in the 60s/70s.) >> >> 2 - Prepare for the inevitable change in our institutional waters, by >> acquainting ourselves with the methods of our future partners/bosses/ >> overlords, making ready to live in their world as critical members who >> ask tough, informed questions. >> >> 3 - Identify our current work as "preservable," something to be >> protected in the name of knowledge, like the older arts of traditional >> glass and ceramics. >> >> 4 - Depart from the arts and sciences altogether, to identify >> ourselves with media studies in the humanities. (Christiane, can you >> speak to this option?) Bank on the whole "practice-based research" >> trend, keeping a wary eye on the Social Sciences as possible, >> occasional, collaborator. >> >> I'm trying a little bit of all these things myself, with increasing >> hope for option #4. In addition to skepticism about the consumerist >> ends of design and arts education, I'm also looking to steer clear of >> the technocratic, ahistorical progress machine of modern science >> (sustainability as economic catalyst). >> >> Any thoughts? Maybe a public listserv isn't the safest place to have >> this conversation? >> >> Kevin Hamilton >> >> >> >> On Nov 20, 2009, at 2:38 PM, nicholas knouf wrote: >> >>> Brooke, Ricardo, and everyone, >>> >>> Thanks for your interesting points regarding notions of design, >>> designing, and designers. This has also been on my mind recently, >>> especially as a result of my position within a traditional >>> human-computer interaction program. Here there is no questioning the >>> role of the designer: the designer is to be subservient to the "needs" >>> of the "user", where the user is defined as that constructed by >>> corporations and the market. Researchers actively seek out >>> relationships with corporate sponsors and corporate research labs. >>> As a >>> result, there is no discussion regarding broader societal issues, >>> excepting where they intersect with present corporate priorities, as >>> in >>> the rhetoric of "sustainability"---and of course there the limits of >>> the >>> conversation are already set, again by the market. >>> >>> This situation caused me to write a polemical paper for the main >>> conference in HCI, ACM SIGCHI, called "HCI for the Real World" >>> (http://zeitkunst.org/publications/hci-real-world). In it, and this >>> is >>> the main point of my post, I draw heavily on on the work of Victor >>> Papanek, an industrial designer who wrote, for me, a very influential >>> book originally published in 1970 entitled _Design for the Real >>> World_. >>> He focuses on the role of the designer, not only in the composition of >>> the products made, but prior to that, in the very selection of >>> projects >>> to work on: >>> >>> "...I must agree that the designer bears a responsibility for the way >>> the products he designs are received at the market place. But this is >>> still a narrow and parochial view. The designers responsibility >>> must go >>> far beyond these considerations. His social and moral judgment must be >>> brought into place long before he begins to design, since he has to >>> make >>> a judgment, and a prior judgment at that, as to whether the products >>> he >>> is asked to design or redesign merit his attention at all. In other >>> words, will his design be on the side of the social good or not" (66). >>> >>> This is one of the key, but unasked, questions within HCI. There is a >>> general agreement on the relationship of HCI to corporations, the >>> market, and "users", yet there is no questioning of the very >>> assumptions >>> that underlie that agreement, and thus what are the important problems >>> that students and faculty spend their time on. Of course there are >>> complicated interrelationships here between funding agencies, >>> professional societies, methods of reward, the system of publication >>> (in >>> HCI, emphasis on yearly conference papers versus less-frequent, but >>> more >>> in-depth, journal articles or monographs), and so on. Yet these are >>> the >>> very conditions that should be at the forefront of debate, >>> especially in >>> a "discipline" that is relatively young like HCI---but they are not. >>> >>> Returning to someone like Papanek, writing a similar polemic for >>> industrial design and at the height of an earlier "ecological" >>> movement, >>> is key to foreground the continuities between different aspects of >>> design, different time periods...and to suggest transdisciplinary >>> connections. Design can be more than ICT for development, more than >>> "sustainable consumerism", but only if designers take responsibility >>> for >>> their choices of what to research and what to design (and where they >>> can >>> have a decent amount of control over that choice, such as in the >>> academy), and if they instill in their students a similar ethic. >>> Designers in academia would have to push against the notion that they >>> have to teach their students "marketable skills". (And, I would >>> argue, >>> that if the designers really wanted to teach skills that would improve >>> the "bottom line" of companies they would allow for much more creative >>> activity on the part of their student-designers, but that is the topic >>> for a longer post on the interrelationship of interrelationship of >>> contemporary "cognitive capitalism" and modern technological >>> development.) Undertaking projects such as Brooke's "hactivating >>> design" and "undesigning" and Ricardo's "garageScience" opens up >>> spaces >>> to address these questions and suggest possible alternatives. >>> >>> Nevertheless, I want to additionally point to the ways in which >>> Papanek's project is an explicit critique and condemnation of >>> contemporary (both then and now) processes of consumerist capitalism. >>> Thus this approach is not to encourage design to necessarily create >>> new, >>> more "hackable" "products", but rather to question the very system of >>> consumption and the manufacture of desire that creates a system of >>> "products". This is the potentially radical implications of following >>> in the wake of Papanek: of using design not to create a "more just" >>> capitalism, but rather to create the conditions of possibility of real >>> alternatives through an engagement and reconfiguration of our material >>> world, of understanding how design methodology can construct different >>> ontological realities (following the work of someone like John Law in >>> _After Method_) with different political implications. >>> >>> nick >>> >>> >>> Ricardo Dominguez wrote: >>>> 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 >>>>> >>>> >>>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> empyre forum >>> empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au >>> http://www.subtle.net/empyre >> >> _______________________________________________ >> empyre forum >> empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au >> http://www.subtle.net/empyre >> > > > Renate Ferro > Visiting Assistant Professor > Department of Art > Cornell University, Tjaden Hall > Ithaca, NY 14853 > > Email: <r...@cornell.edu> > Website: http://www.renateferro.net > > > Co-moderator of _empyre soft skinned space > http://www.subtle.net/empyre > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empyre > > Art Editor, diacritics > http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/dia/ > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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
