Abstract
The design discipline is implicated in the trajectories that have led us to an unsustainable present. There is an urgency to re-direct the design discipline, so that it can become able to not only stay with past and present trouble, but also to develop other futures. To see how design museums might support change rather than preservation, we look to the example of protest archives. Based on an analysis of relational space, we suggest that the relative crowdedness of protest archives emerges out of matters of care, and allows for the development of alternative ways of being and creating. We thus identify a set of qualities that might be used to inform development of alternative spaces for care in design that aim to become able to respond to urgencies and to open up more just futures.
Keywords
Design museums, Protest archives, Relational space, Matters of care, Alternative design museums
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/nordes.2023.72
Citation
Neidhardt-Mokoena, A.,and Wiltse, H.(2023) Generous crowdedness: Cultivating space(s) for care at alternative design museums, in Holmlid, S., Rodrigues, V., Westin, C., Krogh, P. G., Mäkelä, M., Svanaes, D., Wikberg-Nilsson, Å (eds.), Nordes 2023: This Space Intentionally Left Blank, 12-14 June, Linköping University, Norrköping, Sweden. https://doi.org/10.21606/nordes.2023.72
Conference Track
exploratorypapers
Generous crowdedness: Cultivating space(s) for care at alternative design museums
The design discipline is implicated in the trajectories that have led us to an unsustainable present. There is an urgency to re-direct the design discipline, so that it can become able to not only stay with past and present trouble, but also to develop other futures. To see how design museums might support change rather than preservation, we look to the example of protest archives. Based on an analysis of relational space, we suggest that the relative crowdedness of protest archives emerges out of matters of care, and allows for the development of alternative ways of being and creating. We thus identify a set of qualities that might be used to inform development of alternative spaces for care in design that aim to become able to respond to urgencies and to open up more just futures.