International Week: Digging (extra)ordinary: Back to the roots LAB

The measure of a civilization is not how tall its buildings of concrete are, but rather how well its people have learned to relate to their environment and fellow man. Sun Bear, Chippewa

Now, in times of emergency conditions and grim circumstances, more than ever before, we are in need to reintroduce collective practices, recovering lost wisdoms – celebrating the ‘normalness’ (taken for granted), using design to better engage with communities, towards more inclusive and just environments.

In the everlasting search for ‘innovation’, in chasing ‘progress’ we neglected the essence of anonymous, ordinary, “super normal” objects from the past.

Workshop, with its “back to the roots” philosophy, intends to reunite man and man-made environments, beyond space and time, focusing on the present rather than pointing to a possible future. The project tends to establish multiperspective pedagogy with the outcome as diverse as the society it seeks to serve. It will develop the discourse which emphasises the non-binary design thinking, adding, not cancelling (pre)knowledge, and deconstructing predominant design pedagogies. By looking into the phenomenon of the “super normal”, as a prism tool, in order to develop methodologies that enable recovering lost wisdoms, reimagining imperceptible practices, reintroducing out of production/existence objects and possibly resisting forced and unnecessary innovation.

 

The power of observation is the most powerful tool designers possess - understanding why things are the way they are - students will look into ordinary and extraordinary in design, by using the method of comparison and juxtaposition. The role of the designer is shifted towards the domain of digging - archeology, understanding - anthropology (collective memory and behaviour) and recognizing - curating practices (nomination of the disappear/ing/ed object/s). The workshop is mainly referring to a design philosophy pioneered by Naoto Fukasawa and Jasper Morrison “Super Normal”. “Super Normality” is less concerned with visual aspects of an object's character and more by its affordances which refer to the physicality of objects as channels of certain behaviour. Affordances are provided both by what the product allows us to do (knowledge in the world/collective memory) and what it reminds us of having done (knowledge in the head/experience). As Jasper Morrison states: An object becomes “super normal” when it moves from simple visual aesthetics into an anticipatory state. It can hardly be planned because, meaning an object becomes Super Normal through use. The “super normal” is already lying exposed before us; it exists in the here and now; it is real and available: we need only open our eyes. Instead of anticipating something new, students will be encouraged to dig into and recognize a good relationship between man and man-made and man and ‘nature made’.