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- Benesch, Henric, 1972, et al.
(författare)
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Re-presenting ruins, visualizing the toxic sublime: Cross-disciplinary collaborations in lens-based art
- 2020
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Writing in the context of the climate emergency, theorists such as Bruno Latour, Isabelle Stengers and Anna Tsing have embraced a “post-apocalyptic” position (Latour, Stengers, Tsing & Bubandt, 2018). According to this position, our time is one of apocalypse – that is, we are currently experiencing a kind of revelation. What is being revealed to us is the fact that we are from now on destined to inhabit environments – natural, as well as built environments – that are effectively ruins. For Tsing (2015), we need to learn from other species that prosper in ruin landscapes. Re-imagining our environment in this way may generate new political prospects for the coming decades. The recent work of these theorists can be understood as efforts to re-present our place in the world – through texts, but also through the medium of art. Note, for instance, Latour’s regular curating of exhibitions at ZKM in Karlsruhe. Thus, the still-emerging interdisciplinary field of environmental humanities has – to a large degree – gained its popularity through its productive engagement with contemporary art. The ambition to rejuvenate “the sociological imagination” through aesthetics did, nevertheless, emerge before the rise of environmental humanities. (Toscano, 2012) In their recent essay film, Palmås & Sanner (2020) engages with this overall ambition to re-presenting this new world. Specifically, it pursues the proposition of seeing the ruin as a potential architectural model – and as a potential political imaginary – of the present. This proposition is presented alongside earlier examples of architectural models’ connections to political ideas. Thus, the film posits that there is an intimate connection with dominant architectural forms, on the one hand, and socio-political ideas, on the other. It further posits that images and imaginaries are intrinsically tied – indeed, the photographic or cinematographic image act may act as mediator between concrete designs and abstract ideas, between constructions and constructs. However, while architectural forms serve as powerful metaphors for social imaginaries, and while architectural photography has historically been an effective means of promoting such ideas, it may equally be the case that these devices are becoming obsolete. Phenomena like climate change and the proliferation of environmental toxins are sometimes described as “hyper objects” beyond our comprehension. (Morton, 2013) Similarly, artists are turning to computer-aided visualisations and simulations, trying to make sense out of the immense spatial and temporal scales involved in these phenomena. (Kane, 2018) Thus, in the efforts to capture this new “toxic sublime”, traditional lens-based media are now complemented by digital approaches to visualisation. This conversation will thus engage with the following questions: · First, what is the place of architecture – and design, more generally – in providing new models of thought and new political imaginaries? Are concepts like “the ruin” suitable conceptual handles to grasp the present political challenges, or should we look elsewhere for inspiration? · Secondly, what is the role of artistic expression in this re-presentation of the world, and forging of new political imaginaries? Specifically, what is the role of lens-based media? · Thirdly, given the interdisciplinary nature of the work described above, what modes of collaboration are emerging? Which types of knowledge, and which forms of experience are produced? The conversation will be formatted as an online, Zoom-based discussion that starts with interventions from four catalysts – see below for details about these contributors. The 16-minute film Too Late for History to End (Palmås & Sanner, 2020) will be available online for participants who wish to see it beforehand.
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| 2. |
- Benesch, Henric, 1972
(författare)
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The dis-, mis- and re-membering of design education: understanding design education as urban heritage
- 2022
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Ingår i: Co-curating the City Universities and urban heritage past and future. - London : UCL Press. - 9781800081826 ; , s. 132-153
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This chapter argues that we need to engage with the more particular heritages of institutions and disciplines and the sites in which they are located, in order to come to terms with what role they may or may not play in relation to the development of our cities. In this case, I will focus specifically on the heritage of design education at University of Gothenburg, and how its relation to the city has changed over time. This includes a discussion not only of the officially acknowledged heritage of design education, but also a heritage currently unremembered or disabled. The question being what role these heritages have played and might play for the future of design education and how it is situated, impacts on and relates to the city in which in resides. This is discussed in terms of a set of ‘orientations’ (Ahmed, 2006), with different relations to and implications for urban heritage and university heritage at large. This is essentially a story of design education in Gothenburg, and therefore likely to be of particular interest to those who are familiar with design education or the particular Gothenburg context. Yet the ambition is that this somewhat granular narrative, as a microhistory of sorts (Ginzburg, Tedeschi and Tedeschi, 1993) may point to a less localised and more distributed phenomena in relation to university heritage and urban heritage at large.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
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Co-curating the City Universities and urban heritage past and future
- 2022
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Co-curating the City explores the role of universities in the construction and mobilisation of heritage discourses in urban development and regeneration processes, with a focus on six case study sites: University of Gothenburg (Sweden), UCL East (London), University of Lund (Sweden). Roma Tre university (Rome), American University of Beirut, and Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil. The aim of the book is to expand the field of critical heritage studies in the urban domain, by examining the role of institutional actors both in the construction of urban heritage discourses and in how those discourses influence urban planning decisions or become instrumentalised as mechanisms for urban regeneration. It proposes that universities engage in these processes in a number of ways: as producers of urban knowledge that is mobilised to intervene in planning processes; as producers of heritage practices that are implemented in development contexts in the urban realm; and as developers engaged in campus construction projects that both reference heritage discourses as a mechanism for promoting support and approval by planners and the public, and capitalise on heritage assets as a resource. The book highlights the participatory processes through which universities are positioning themselves as significant institutions in the development of urban heritage narratives. The case studies investigate how universities, as mixed communities of interest dispersed across buildings and urban sites, engage in strategies of engagement with local people and neighbourhoods, and ask how this may be contributing to a re-shaping of ideas, narratives, and lived experience of urban heritage in which universities have a distinctive agency. The authors cross disciplinary and cultural boundaries, and bridge academia and practice.
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| 5. |
- Kular, Onkar, et al.
(författare)
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AIO Salong: Tänk om... en 1 % -regel för offentlig design
- 2021
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Ingår i: Rian Designmuseum.
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Konstnärligt arbete (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A curated event, including a Live-Action-Role-Play workshop taking place at Rian Designmuseum. Developed and executed by Adam James in dialogue with Onkar Kular and based on “What if a 1% rule for public design” published in AIOJournal. Participants were invited to act as and respond to scenarios and cases as members in a public design office. The workshop was followed by a discussion on the “What if a 1% rule for public design” article.
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| 6. |
- Kular, Onkar, et al.
(författare)
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Bass Cultures: How Low Can You Go!
- 2023
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Ingår i: Falkenbergs teater, Smedjan & Art Inside Out, Halland.
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Konstnärligt arbete (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Through the making of sound systems, bass cultures have been important in the development of underground musical genres from Reggae, Dub and Ska to Hip-Hop, Techno, Jungle and many more. For this two day sonic festival we were supported by musicians, DJs, and makers that in their own way have contributed and played an important role in the development of bass culture, through the making of sound systems, the organising of underground music and club culture in Sweden and beyond. Over two days the event hosted film screenings, workshops, talks, commissioned essays and DJ sets to showcase bass and sound system cultures, their creativity, history, and relevance today. The festival was organised by Right to design which is a practice-based platform run by Onkar Kular and Henric Benesch and through their artist-in-residency with Art Inside Out, Halland, Sweden.
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| 7. |
- Kular, Onkar, et al.
(författare)
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Bass cultures: How Low Can You Go!
- 2023
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Ingår i: Art Inside Out Journal: Den allmänna designbyrån. ; :16, s. 16-29
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Through the making of sound systems, bass cultures have been important in the development of underground musical genres from Reggae, Dub and Ska to Hip-Hop, Techno, Jungle and many more. For this event we are supported by musicians, DJs, and makers that in their own way have contributed and played an important role in the development of bass culture, through the making of sound systems, the organising of underground music and club culture in Sweden and beyond. Over two days the event will host film screenings, workshops, talks and DJ sets to showcase bass and sound system cultures, their creativity, history, and relevance today. The following text provides and overview of the programme and complimentary texts introduce and frame the individual events.
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| 8. |
- Kular, Onkar, et al.
(författare)
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The Right to Design
- 2020
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Ingår i: PARSE. - 2002-0953. ; :12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- "The Right to Design is the proposal for a purposeful misreading of Arjun Appadurai’s 2006 paper, The Right to Research, Globalisation, Societies and Education. The ambition is to interrogate how the subject of design can be considered beyond current epistemic, institutional and disciplinary demarcations, not only as a basic human capacity, but as a ‘right’ in itself, which not only challenges those very structures which sorts ‘Design’ from ‘design’, but also raises urgent questions of what it might mean to be (seen & included) and act as human in a fundamentally troubled world. In the introduction to his paper Appadurai states: ‘Research is normally seen as a high-end, technical activity, available by training and class background to specialists in education, the sciences and related professional fields. It is rarely seen as a capacity with democratic potential, much less as belonging to the family of rights. In this paper, I will argue that it is worth regarding research as a right, albeit of a special kind. This argument requires us to recognise that research is a specialised name for a generalised capacity, the capacity to make disciplined inquiries into those things we need to know, but do not know yet. All human beings are, in this sense, researchers, since all human beings make decisions that require them to make systematic forays beyond their current knowledge horizons.’ The reading begins by straightforwardly replacing ‘research’ with ‘design’ within Appadurai’s text to consider the potential (‘albeit of a special kind’) of extending and stretching Appadurai’s logic of ‘rights to research’ to that of ‘rights to design’. By stretching the logic, the reading attempts to situate the question of ‘Designs’ relationship to human (and non-human) rights and to subsequently use the reading to reconsider, speculate and imagine ‘What is ’and ‘Could be’ the Right to Design? With this in mind the misreading will work with and through concepts such as de-institutionalizing, de-parochialising and de-disciplining with a particular focus on education."
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| 9. |
- Kular, Onkar, et al.
(författare)
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The Right to Design
- 2024
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Ingår i: Urgent Pedagogies Issue #9: The Right to design.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The following text was commissioned for Urgent Pedagogies in 2021 and was prompted by the initial question from IASPIS to contribute with an issue to the developing Urgent Pedagogies platform. While much has happened since, the argumentation in this text, centred around the limits and possibilities of design as discipline and as areas of expertise in relation to education and pedagogies, is still valid. It is a further elaboration on the ideas in our original reworking of Arjun Appadurai´s 2006 paper, ‘The Right to Research, Globalisation, Societies and Education’ to the Right to design, setting the foundations for the platform. It was through the writing of this text the issues of readership and design literacy were articulated more clearly, issues which have held a prominent position throughout our practice within the platform. Picking up the text again we have also come to realise that this text surely would have been another text if we were to write it now, and maybe we will do a new version in the future. As of now, we have chosen to keep the text in its original form, with minor amendments, hoping it can age gracefully.
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| 10. |
- Kular, Onkar, et al.
(författare)
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The Right to Design: Another Possible is Possible
- 2021
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Ingår i: Röhsska.
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Konstnärligt arbete (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This curated event is part of a series of investigations with practitioners and scholars from disciplinary fields ranging from design and architecture to anthropology and law that will not only map relationships to human rights but begin to imagine alternative framings for how rights could be practiced, made visible and extended through the discipline of design itself. Participants include Arjun Appadurai, Agency, Arturo Escobar, Elof Hellström/Mapping the Unjust City, Anna Hydén, Mahmoud Keshavarz, Nina Valerie Kolowratnik, Thomas Marriott and Christina Zetterlund.
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