What to call more-than- or other-than-design?

As too-often noted, the term ‘designing’ means many things; from intending, through planning and making, to styling. The professional practice sense of ‘designing’ is a modern phenomenon, in fact a crucial part of European and then North American modernism and modernisation. This dominant sense of ‘designing’ implicates design in the globalisation of unsustainable, capitalism-based lifestyles. By extension, the longer time-frame Western colonization of most of the majority world appears to have been a design project.

In reaction, scholarship is now drawing attention to non-Western – and pre-, post- or a-modern(ist) – approaches to planning, making and styling, and to the insights afforded by non-Anglophone terms for these practices.

A ‘politics of language’ issue arises. Should these versions of designing that are distinct from the modern(ist) profession of design still be referred to as design? Might not peripheral versions of design in the majority world unwittingly reinforce Eurocentric design? For example, rich traditions, but also changing contemporary practices, of planning, making and styling by First Nations are claiming the title, ‘Indigenous Design.’ But should the term Design be reserved for colonialistic approaches to industrialised capitalism? Would other counter-terms be a tactic for dethrowning modern(ist) designing?

Prof. Alfredo Gutierrez Borrero has written about this, proposing in response: Dessobons - DEsigns of the South, of the Souths, Others, by Other NameS. On the occasion of his travel to Australia, UTS School of Design will host a symposium to discuss what to call more-than- or other-than- designing.

This will be a structured discussion on Friday May 30th from 9:30am-12pm at the UTS School of Design, but also online. We ask that prospective attendants familiarise themselves with these two articles by Prof. Alfredo Gutierrez Borrero:

https://www.aacademica.org/alfredo.gutierrez.borrero/2

https://www.aacademica.org/alfredo.gutierrez.borrero/7

Register and we will then send details of the location or the zoom link.

Email cameron.tonkinwise@uts.edu.au with any questions.