PROTEST! Pictogram Activism

Pleased to see a text of mine published in UN MUNDO FELIZ’s latest trilingual book “Protest!“ on Pictogram Activism. Impressive collection of 400 pictos and texts by Liz McQuiston, Steven Heller, Avram Finkelstein, Sarah Corbett, Tom Bieling, Bettina Richter, Steve Lambert, Fons Hickmann, Lincoln Cushing, King ADZ, and more.

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In this book trailer for the book DESIGN (&) ACTIVISM, three of the co-authors – Alastair Fuad-Luke, Thomas Markussen and Cathy Gale – present their concepts on Design as Activism and Activism as Design.

DESIGN (&) ACTIVISM (BOOK TRAILER)

“DESIGN (&) ACTIVISM is a book about how the worlds of Design and Activism (could) inspire each other. It focuses on theories and practices related to the role of design in terms of addressing, provoking, creating and disrupting political discourse. Starting from traditional forms of protest, visual languages of resistance, speculative aspects of dissent, to new forms of digital participation, this will help us to better understand the rituals, structures and meanings of design activism in history and the present, clarifying that design is intrinsically social and supremely political. And it shall help us to derive arguments and examples for the transformative potential of future design (and) activism.

The volume contains contributions by Alastair Fuad-Luke, Guy Julier, Ann Thorpe, Chantal Mouffe, Gui Bonsiepe, Thomas Markussen, Gavin Grindon, Michael Erlhoff, Anna Feigenbaum, Cathy Gale, Barbara Hoidn, Stephen Duncombe, Steve Lambert, Harald Gruendl, Fernando Luiz Lara, Tom Bieling, Pierre Smolarski, Marcel René Marburger, Maziar Rezai and Mikala Hyldig Dal.

http://www.design-activism.org

Video / Editing / Conception: Kai Hattermann / filetroyal.com @ 2021

Neu: GENDER (&) Design

GENDER (&) DESIGN has been published (in German*) as the second title in the book series Design Meanings (Mimesis Edizioni).

In its entire range of media and product worlds, Design is decisively involved in the cultural production and distribution of related images and interpretations of gender. This anthology examines why this is the case and what happens when it is changed, from different perspectives and knowledge disciplines relevant to design. The contributions collected in this book enter into an interdisciplinary dialogue on the design of gender and provide theoretical and methodological approaches to understanding the social, cultural and political functions of design.

The edited volume contains contributions by Uta Brandes, Wolfgang Ullrich, Sabine Foraita, Daniel Hornuff, Katharina Krämer, Birgit Weller,  Marion Godau, Tom Bieling, Antonia Wagner, Sarah Reininghaus, Julia Willms, Bianca Prietl, Tanja Paulitz, Nicola Marsden, Dorothea Erharter, Claude Draude, Till Beutling, Daniela Döring, Sabine Hahn and Fred Meier-Menzel.

* Design ist in seiner gesamten Bandbreite an Medien- und Produktwelten maßgeblich an der kulturellen Produktion und Distribution damit verbundener Bilder und Deutungsweisen von Geschlecht beteiligt. Warum das so ist und was passiert, wenn man es ändert, untersucht der Sammelband aus verschiedenen gestaltungsrelevanten Blickwinkeln und Wissensdisziplinen. Die hier versammelten Beiträge treten dabei in einen interdisziplinären Dialog über die Gestaltung von Geschlecht und liefern theoretische sowie methodische Ansätze zum Verständnis der sozialen, kulturellen und politischen Funktionen von Design.

Available since 26. March 2020
Tom Bieling (Ed.): GENDER (&) DESIGN –
Positionen Zur Vergeschlechtlichung in Gestaltungskulturen
Design Meanings #2
Mimesis International
274 Pages, German
ISBN 978-8869772429

Posthuman-centered Design / Lecture at Bauhaus University, Weimar

 

New Book: DESIGN (&) ACTIVISM

Happy to announce DESIGN (&) ACTIVISM to be published as the first title in the book series Design Meanings (Mimesis Edizioni).

This is a book about how the worlds of design and activism (could) inspire each other. The book focuses on theories and practices related to the role of Design in terms of addressing, provoking and creating political discourse. Starting from traditional forms of protest, visual languages of resistance, to new forms of digital participation, this will help us to better understand the rituals, structures and meanings of design activism in history and the present, clarifying that design is intrinsically social and supremely political. And it shall help us to derive arguments and examples for the transformative potential of future design (and) activism.

The volume contains contributions by Alastair Fuad-Luke, Guy Julier, Ann Thorpe, Chantal Mouffe, Gui Bonsiepe, Thomas Markussen, Gavin Grindon, Michael Erlhoff, Anna Feigenbaum, Cathy Gale, Barbara Hoidn, Stephen Duncombe, Steve Lambert, Harald Gruendl, Fernando Luiz Lara, Tom Bieling, Pierre Smolarski, Marcel René Marburger, Maziar Rezai or Mikala Hyldig Dal.

Available since 30. October 2019
Tom Bieling (Ed.): DESIGN (&) ACTIVISM –
Perspectives on Design as Activism and Activism as Design
Mimesis International; ISBN 978-8869772412
254 Pages, English
ISBN: 9788869772412

Further Info via the International Research Network on Design (and) Activism at www.design-activism.org

Buch: Inklusion als Entwurf

Thrilled to announce that my new book “Inklusion als Entwurf” (Inclusion as Design) is now available!

»Wie wir Dinge gestalten, hat einen maßgeblichen Einfluss darauf, was oder wen wir als ›normal‹ oder ›normabweichend‹ empfinden. Design markiert somit die Grenzbereiche zwischen In- und Exklusion, indem es implizit Rollen- und Wertebilder konfiguriert und dabei gleichermaßen in den Herstellungs- und Deutungsprozess von Normalität involviert ist.

Wenn solche Normvorstellungen durch Design mitkonstruiert werden, bedeutet das im Umkehrschluss jedoch auch, dass sie sich durch Design dekonstruieren, also kritisch hinterfragen und verändern lassen: Design kann also auch Gegenmodelle entwickeln.

Tom Bieling deckt auf zahlreichen Ebenen Verbindungen von Design und Inklusion auf und leitet daraus nicht nur neue Operationsbereiche für Designer ab, sondern liefert auch Anknüpfungspunkte für andere Praxis- und Wissensfelder.«

[Foto: Hans Sauer Stiftung]

Ab 30. September 2019
Tom Bieling: Inklusion als Entwurf
Birkhäuser / DeGruyter
BIRD Board of International Research in Design
320 Seiten, deutsch
ISBN-10: 3035620202
ISBN-13: 978-3035620207

Social Design: Technik für alle! (TINCON 2016)

TINCON (short for Teenage Internetwork Convention) is a conference for teenagers and young adults that revolves around the central theme of “digital youth culture”. In lectures, discussions and workshops, the 13- to 21-year-old visitors deal with topics such as digitalization, society, politics, environmental protection and lifestyle. I was invited to give a talk on the social aspects of technology and host a very exciting session with Dennis Wilkens and Beatrice Gold about the role of technology in our everyday lives.

Tom Bieling at TINCON 2016

Richard Sennett on “Democratic Technology”

In order to understand and to deal with contemporary societies, different concepts are possible or necessary. Some of the essential elements in Richard Sennett’s work to do so, are related to the notion of Work, Capitalism, City and also to Ritual and Religion as fundamental structures (of Society). A couple of days ago, i met Mr. Sennett* for a coffee and we had a fascinating conversation on material culture, democracy and according “power relations”, also the role of technology was discussed. The central question: What kind of technology do we need? Sennett put it in a nutshell, as you will see in this designabilities video.

* Richard Sennett ist the Centennial Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and University Professor oft he Humanities at New York University. Sennett has studied social ties in cities, and the effects of urban living on invividuals in the modern world.

Lorm Hand connects deaf-blind people with twitter

On the 4th October an impressive protest march of the deaf-blind took place in Berlin. Many of the participants took the opportunity to express and tweet their thoughts, demands, needs, wishes and requests with the @LormHand.

The Lorm Hand is an installation, which connects deaf-blind people with twitter or other social networks. Using touch sensory technology, the Lorm Hand enables deaf-blind people to compose text messages by applying the tactile hand-touch alphabet LORM, a common way of communication used by the deaf-blind. After typing a message on the Lorm Hand, it can immediately be tweeted or shared with social networks.

The Lorm Hand was created by the Design Research Lab initially for this event, so that the protest would go online and could be shared with a broader community. Furthermore the Lorm Hand has been used as a tool of communication for other non deaf-blind people, who are generally interested in the topic “deaf-blindness” and who can use it as a learning tool, to literally get in touch with the idea of LORM or deaf-blind culture in general.