Abstract
Design activism is the enforcement of positive socio-political change by intervening in daily lives. In this paper, we argue that ‘formgiving’ to futures--design interventions such as physical objects, embodied experiences, and affective engagements--is an activist practice with the unique qualities of engaging participants and facilitating the co-creation of alternatives. Central to our exploration is the question of how to participate in the work of generating new ways of conceptualizing, materializing, and experiencing alternative futures. Drawing on feminist theory and, in particular, its profound commitment to social justice, we discuss three core dimensions that are relevant to the practice of ‘formgiving’ to futures in design: temporalities, subjectivities, and hack-abilities.
Keywords
design activism, feminism, futures, social justice
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2018.464
Citation
Heidaripour, M., and Forlano, L. (2018) Formgiving to Feminist Futures as Design Activism, in Storni, C., Leahy, K., McMahon, M., Lloyd, P. and Bohemia, E. (eds.), Design as a catalyst for change - DRS International Conference 2018, 25-28 June, Limerick, Ireland. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2018.464
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Formgiving to Feminist Futures as Design Activism
Design activism is the enforcement of positive socio-political change by intervening in daily lives. In this paper, we argue that ‘formgiving’ to futures--design interventions such as physical objects, embodied experiences, and affective engagements--is an activist practice with the unique qualities of engaging participants and facilitating the co-creation of alternatives. Central to our exploration is the question of how to participate in the work of generating new ways of conceptualizing, materializing, and experiencing alternative futures. Drawing on feminist theory and, in particular, its profound commitment to social justice, we discuss three core dimensions that are relevant to the practice of ‘formgiving’ to futures in design: temporalities, subjectivities, and hack-abilities.