NEWS

TWO NEW EVENTS – MARCH & JUNE 2020

​Both events cancelled due to Covid–19. They will be reprogrammed as soon as possible.

Second Order Design Fictions

One of the new directions for The Studio at the Edge of the World is to reconfigure the form, content and political application of design fictions. The idea is to take design fictions beyond current modes of use and the fragmented thinking and practice of speculative design, critical design, design futures, scenario design, and design in general.
 
Drawing on 'second order cybernetics’ we have named this practice second order design fiction. The implication is that production of the fiction becomes a recursive exercise of critical observation that returns what is created to its author (as any combination of new learning, remaking or, designing). The aim of such a fiction is to advance the capability of autonomous design practice and, more specifically, to produce a brief for an autonomous project for an aspiring autonomous designer (a designer independent from being a service provider).
 
In 2020, we are initiating a series of S/O Design Fiction events, some independent, some in partnership with institutions.
 
The first event will be in March 2020 in Launceston, Tasmania. A second event will be held later in the year, either with the same theme, or on ‘moving a city.’ We are calling for Expressions of Interest for the first event. We also would like to hear from you if you are interested in attending an S/O design fiction event later in the year.
 
S/O DESIGN FICTION EVENTS -  27-29, March  2020, Launceston, Tasmania
This will focus on the creation of a second order design fiction for an autonomous design practice.
The concept of autonomous design is already in circulation, as the naming of design capacity that is intrinsic to 'a community', which can be enhanced and developed once it is recognised as such. Building on this is the idea of ‘the autonomous designer’ as a nascent professional practice. Such a designer foregoes the service provider role to become an independent agent who initiates and gains support for projects of their own creation that in some way address the challenges of our age. The basis of autonomous design is trans-disciplinary and it goes well beyond the confines and objectives of design as a discipline.
Day one: concepts, critique, imperatives, possibilities: Speculative Design et al; S/O Design Fiction.
Day two: S/O Design Fiction for an autonomous design practice: group work
Day three: the creation of the brief for self-directed action
Where: Tailrace Centre, Launceston, Tasmania, 
Cost: $A 600.00 (includes lunches, tea and coffee). Students $A 400.00
Presenters/Facilitators: Tony Fry and Anne-Marie Willis
Participants: Maximum of 30 people 
Closing date for registrations March 22, 2020.  ​
Contact Tony Fry for registration - tonyhfry@gmail.com


OPEN CALL
Hothouse 2020: The Case for a New Political Imagination
Application deadline: 10 May 2020
Duration: 10 – 12 June 2020
Location: Linköping University, Campus Valla, Linköping, Sweden.
Ours are challenging times globally, nationally and individually marked by a great divide between political issues, policy and rhetoric and the reality and depth of defuturing planetary crises as they arrive by the day touching our lives and future. At the moment, the critical conditions of the world are being addressed by the very political means that have largely created this situation. Therefore the call for a new political imagination, and by implication, a new politics, is not the result of wishful thinking but an imperative begging a response if the current global drift into a defuturing state of unchecked unsustainability is to be countered.

In the summer of 2020 we are launching a hothouse The Case for a New Political Imagination in Linköping (Sweden). With this event we are inviting MA and PhD students, social and political activists, artists, performers, designers, young and mature academics, organic intellectuals and general public to have an intense dialogue on why a new political imagination is an issue of pressing importance to global futures, and the viability of our own and many other species. Together we will identify and analytically interrogate the ways that the nature of existing politics structurally, ideologically, conceptually, institutionally obstructs a more complex and appropriate understanding of 'the political', and thus recognition of the foundational basis from which to start approaching a new political imagination.
What are lacking today are any efforts to gather all of the aspects of the world’s complexity together in a relational way, to make sense of the multifaceted situation of interrelated global challenges. Even if this were to happen the current dominance of national political and economic interests obstructs the arrival of a truly international operative institution able to address this global complexity. The hothouse is an invitation to such a complex relational view and an attempt to trace the design of such an alternative relational inquiry and better informed activism. The approach adopted in the hothouse is not delimited by Eurocentric perspectives drawing upon an extensive range of philosophical, historical, cultural and sociological sources.
Why is politics broken?
Why do we need a new political imagination now?
What does it mean to remake oneself and to act otherwise?
These and other burning issues will be addressed in our daily discussions, seminars, workshops, group presentations and games that will take place in Campus Valla (Linköping University) on 10-12 June 2020. During the events participants will get a chance to meet Tony Fry, Madina Tlostanova, Duncan Fairfax, Andrea Botero, Rolando Vazquez, Eliza Steinbock, Marko Stamenkovic and others.
Selection of the participants will consider the quality of the applications as well as gender balance and diversity. The event will take place in English.
Participation is free but we are unfortunately unable to provide for you travel, housing or board during the events.
You are most welcome to apply for the three events by sending us your CV (max. 1 page) and a letter of intent (max. 1 page) explaining your background and your reasons for participation by May 10, 2020 (Madina.tlostanova@liu.se)   
The Hothouse is conceptualized by Tony Fry and Madina Tlostanova and made possible with the generous support of Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.