Looking at the contemporary state of the design discipline, it’s safe to say that we’re observing a boom of new practices which are making the field return to an open, collaborative, system-oriented approach: flying drones which create temporary wifi networks in isolated areas; DIY construction kits; manufacturing at home through personal 3D printers; a Wikihouse with open-source plans that can be replicated, improved and updated anywhere; and countless other examples. These unconventional projects respond to a need of “going beyond” the traditional flow of making things, and are representative of the deep transformations occurring in industry. With an incredible amount of interesting stories coming from forward-thinking collectives to individuals, from hackers to artists and activists, the term design has come to embody only a fragment of what is being produced —our aim with Adhocracy is to bridge that ideological gap and spark the discussion for an updated definition of what design means.

Read the full essay at dpr-barcelona.

Written by:
Ethel Baraona Pohl & Elian Stefa

Publisher:
The New City Reader

#writing

Published on:
May 24th, 2012