In this talk, Ron Wakkary will discuss his recent book, Things We Could Design for more than Human-Centered Worlds (MIT Press 2021). The book offers the idea of designing-with by weaving together posthumanist philosophies with things to critically imagine designing for a world of differentiated humans entangled in an equal fate with all that is not human. The talk will discuss ideas and commitments of designing-with such as the human role of gathering and speaking with humans and nonhumans when designing; the shared agencies of designer and things for what they jointly inscribe into our worlds and leave behind; and the need for collective structures for designing that gather across the politics of humans and nonhumans. The talk will conclude with a discussion of what designing-with “asks” of design educators.
Ron Wakkary
Professor in the School of Interactive Arts and Technology, Simon Fraser University, and Professor and Chair of Design for More Than Human-Centred Worlds in the Future Everyday Cluster in Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands
Ron Wakkary is a Professor in the School of Interactive Arts and Technology, Simon Fraser University in Canada where he founded the Everyday Design Studio (eds.siat.sfu.ca). In addition, he is a Professor and Chair of Design for More Than Human-Centred Worlds in the Future Everyday Cluster in Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. Wakkary is the author of the book Things We Could Design for More Than Human-Centered Worlds (MIT Press, 2021). His research investigates the changing nature of design in response to new understandings of human-technology relations, multispecies worlds, and posthumanism. He aims to reflectively create new design exemplars, theory, and emergent practices to contribute generously and expansively to understanding ways of designing that are more accountable, cohabitable, and equitable.
