»Material Trajectories. Designing with Care«

Come on, care all! Save the date: May 6–8, 2021

Design is deeply engaged with materials. Yet the attempt to make sense of the properties, composition and behavior of matter, artifacts and built infrastructures is accompanied by a pressing question: »Who is in fact designing?« As highly elaborated and engineered materials in fields like medicine, biotechnology or aerospace develop further, the possibilities, as well as challenges in designing (with) materials and their activity, become apparent. Simultaneously, matters of existential urgency such as anthropogenic climate change, extractive capitalism, environmental injustice and the quest for resilience call for a response. They demand a grounding in the material itself as a practice of care in order to identify means, develop modes and foster motives for a sustainable future.

Caring, understood as a material engagement and non-normative form of ethical obligation, puts design amidst a variety of situated practices of co-creation and forms of aspirational solidarity in a more-than-human world. This entails asking once again if the designated task of design is just problem solving, innovating, or optimizing. Designing with care requires a critical (self-)examination of predominant systems of reference, styles, working methods, forms of knowledge and object cultures in their circulation. Nurturing these commitments is of particular importance for design research and the differentiation of design as a scientific discipline.

The conference will feature keynotes by Wolfgang Schäffner on Thursday evening and by Anupama Kundoo (Potsdam School of Architecture, FH Potsdam / Anupama Kundoo architects) on Friday evening.

We intend to discuss the contribution of design to matters of care through four interlaced strands:

Sympoiesis of Making (7 May, 10:30 am–12:00 pm)

Susanne Witzgall (Akademie der Bildenden Künste München): »Sympoietic Designing as Ethical Project«
Adriana Knouf (Northeastern University, Boston / tranxxenolab): tba
Zoe Laughlin (University College London): tba

Performative Surfaces (7 May 7, 1:00 pm–2:30 pm)

Berit Greinke (Universität der Künste Berlin): »As Sensors Unfold«
Mark Miodownik (University College London): tba
Manuel Kretzer (Dessau Department of Design, Hochschule Anhalt): »Materiability / Breathe – Towards a Living Automotive«

Living Matter (7 May, 4:00 pm–5:30 pm)

Elvin Karana (Delft University of Technology): »Designing Living Artefacts«
Ferdinand Ludwig (TU München): »Co-Designing with Trees – The Imposition of Uncertainty«
Fara Peluso (Speculative Biodesign, Berlin): »Design for Future Coexistence«

Designing Resilience (May 8, 10am–11:30am)

Johanna Weggelaar (Atelier Luma, Arles): »Atelier Luma, an Undisciplined Laboratory«
Sénamé Koffi Agbodjinou (L'Africaine d'Architecture, Lomé): »Redefining a New Cosmo-Ethics of the Inhabitation of the World«
Joanna Boehnert (Loughborough University): »This Economy is Anti-Resilient: Post-Covid Design Economies for Care«

The sessions will be accompanied by four project panels that seek to diversify the conversation through the design practices of the DGTF community:

Co-Creation, Sympoiesis, Prototyping

Performative Surfaces, Programmability, Scalability

Living Matter, Re-Attaching, Speculative Design

Resilience, Sustainability, Tactility

Schedule

6 May: 6:00 pm–7:30 pm: Welcome and keynote I / 7:30 pm–8:30 pm: Informal hangout

7 May: 9:30 am–5:30 pm: Panel sessions / 6:30 pm–8:00 pm: Keynote II / 8:00 pm–9:30 pm: Informal hangout

8 May: 10:00 am–1:15 pm: Panel sessions / 2:00 pm–4:00 pm: General assembly (DGTF members only)

9 May: »Design promoviert« Colloquium (full-day, not included in the conference)

Conference fees

10€ (students), 30€ (DGTF members), 60€ (non-members)

The conference will be held in English via Zoom.

Stay tuned for updated information concerning the conference schedule, accompanying social program and registration.

DGTF conference committee

Prof. Matthias Held (Schwäbisch-Gmünd),
Prof. Kora Kimpel (Berlin),
Prof. Dr. Claudia Mareis (Basel/Berlin),
Prof. Christiane Sauer (Berlin).
Support organisation and concept: Léa Perraudin, Clemens Winkler

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Designtheorie und -forschung (DGTF)
Universität der Künste Berlin
Designforschung
Einsteinufer 43
10587 Berlin

Tel: +49 30 8353 58220
E-Mail: mail [​at​] dgtf.de
Web: www.dgtf.de