Matter of Transformation
C&A | D&RP
During the course Matter of Transformation, we were challenged to design for transformation through different philosophical texts.
During the course I learned two things, the first being learning how to read and engage with philosophical texts. During the course we read and discussed three different texts, after which we reflected on them, like in the image above. The reading and discussions in class afterwards were a challenge, as the concepts which were described, as well as the way they were described were outside our regular field of study. However, doing this really laid the basis from which I was able to work on the posthumanist theory by Wakkary, as his theory and the text read during the course were philosophical texts concerning agency. The course provided me with a basis which enabled me to dive deeper into design philosophy.
The second thing we learned was design from those philosophical concepts. In this course that meant designing something where the agency was divided between all things interacting with the designed thing. The design had to be open to change, and should be able to transform with the stakeholders involved.
For me and my group, this meant we designed a “ruil bieb”, inspired on a small sharing library we found in the neighbourhood we were designing for. It was designed to reflect the entire neighbourhood, in hopes of involving the people inside it. The books would be supported by pins, which can be pulled in and out to hold the book perfectly, but this meant also other things, like toys or lost things could be placed onto the board. In the final design the pins were made of wood, to be easily fixable or adjustable, as well as to invite interaction with nature, for instance a bird could take a pin to build a nest.
