people: Rob Collins

Whiddy Island

Antidefuturing: Infrastructuring for Socio-Technical Sustainability

AGON-A is a gathering of designers, artists and activists to share knowledge and explore ways to build foundations for a future which leverages technology for better societies, organised by Robert Collins as part of his Doctoral Research in Contestable Design at Umeå Institute of Design.

Within our present algorithmic era, the user is under the power of those who own and control the technical platforms, infrastructures and systems. This process of extraction and exploitation is built upon a techno-solutionist approach that has been enabled through traditional design methodologies that favour convenience at the expense of nuance and critical engagement. As such there is a collective need to agonise, or struggle, with technology to ensure agency within these systems. Using this agonistic approach/perspective, AGON-A will investigate ways of returning agency to the user in developing socio-technical autonomy now and for the future.

For the first iteration of AGON-A, our focus will be on the theme of Defuturing and it’s more active form Antidefuturing.  Defuturing is a critical examination of how contemporary practices, driven by industrialisation and consumerism, are compromising the potential for future generations to thrive or even exist. Antidefuturing is intended to be a stance which looks for ways to engage with these issues in cross-disciplinary ways involving art, activism, design and beyond.

The first Post Industrial Making Working Group meeting brings together researchers exploring possibilities and challenges in the intersection of traditional sloyd/craft and digital design, between hi-tech and low-tech making. Previous example projects include combining traditional and cultural woodcraft with digital laser cutting, and more technical explorations from architectural perspectives on making with recycled and living materials. Another focus is on contemporary subcultures of contemporary makers in relation to traditional crafts, framed as modes of sustainable, post-industrial design practice. The working group also brings attention to tinkering as an investigative practice within the creative fields, ranging from hacking, coding, circuit-bending, and bricolage. 

In a Nordic context sloyd traditions embody a specific form of cultural heritage encompassing particular materials and techniques. Research in this working group spans all creative disciplines and works together to publish research articles, conduct hands-on workshops, and exhibitions. Examples include post-industrial approaches to high tech design, new sustainable forms and materials for architecture, traditional woodworking supported by digital fabrication tools.

Like to Join? Please contact working group chair Ylva Fernaeus  Associate Professor at Umeå Institute of Design, and Deputy Director of UmArts.

This group brings together researchers exploring possibilities and challenges in the intersection of traditional sloyd/craft and digital design, between hi-tech and low-tech making. Previous example projects include combining traditional and cultural woodcraft with digital laser cutting, and more technical explorations from architectural perspectives on making with recycled and living materials. Another focus is on contemporary subcultures of contemporary makers in relation to traditional crafts, framed as modes of sustainable, post-industrial design practice. The working group also brings attention to tinkering as an investigative practice within the creative fields, ranging from hacking, coding, circuit-bending, and bricolage.

In a Nordic context sloyd traditions embody a specific form of cultural heritage encompassing particular materials and techniques. Research in this working group spans all creative disciplines and works together to publish research articles, conduct hands-on workshops, and exhibitions. Examples include post-industrial approaches to high tech design, new sustainable forms and materials for architecture, traditional woodworking supported by digital fabrication tools.

The Post Industrial Making Group is chaired by Ylva Fernaeus, Associate Professor at Umeå Institute of Design, and Deputy Director of UmArts.