This lecture course is designed as an introduction to comprehending design as a mode of acting in the century that is now emerging around us. The course is an exercise in thinking out the likely underlying tendencies of this century and the potential and limits of design as a mode of action in relation to these tendencies. The course thinks design in relation to the some of the major shifts opened in the C21st, particularly in relation to the emergence of the artificial as the horizon and medium of our existence and the deep un-sustainability of what-is. It thinks these tendencies both as threats (dangers) and possibilities. The underlying human or cultural question is: How can one act, and how we can be, in relation to what this century makes possible? The underlying design question is: what roles can or should design (in the widest sense) play in relation to what could emerge for us? The course is therefore an exploration, it uses the question of how we should design in the light of the demands the future makes on us to begin a process of re-thinking what it is that design “is” and can be.
Semesters and Institutions Taught:
Parsons The New School for Design – Fall 2011