Feedback

The introduction in the seminar was quite interesting because I could let go of all preconceived notions and just observe. Observe people, streets, things and let my thoughts flow. It was like taking a step back, which may prove valuable in the design practice. I especially liked the sketching tasks because we don’t get to sketch as a task that often. In spaces, I found exploring the hackerspaces and hacklabs especially interesting. First to see how different these two spaces are, shaped from different movements and mindsets. These movements and the DIY movement caught my attention recently as I also engaged with these in my research for the Biodesign Challenge. Another topic that I will engage more now and will certainly be able to integrate it in my practice is the feminism theory. Through texts and talks with Gabriela Sanchez, a PhD candidate of technology and science studies at université de Genève, I got a better understanding of the feminism theory. How care is a central topic in feminist theory, because care affords knowing more, thus is part of knowledge production. How the theory deals with observing structures of (androcentric) dominance systems and engaging these issues from a different angle. Because knowledge can never be ‘neutral’ or objective, we have to learn its situation in history, ideology and society. The classes about trade go in a similar direction as they opened up the perspective from design centred theory to a more global view of relations. Most interesting where the classes about the history, emergence and importance of cotton and the silk road. It was interesting to learn about relations in a global scale and how power shifts influenced a whole global trade. Every product has whole manufacturing and knowledge system behind it which is not visible at first. Every thing has a meaning and almost a sort of political action inscribed, how a thing is dependant on certain systems and how a thing restricts or steers the behaviour of people using it. This also goes in the direction of an embodied meaning in objects, something we also dealt with in Björns critical design seminar.