Activism
Making Trouble: Design and Material Activism
Otto Von Busch asks: how can material objects be used in ways that intervene in power structures and support individuals in pushing for social justice? He provides a theoretical framework that describes the relationship between “matter” (common materials and consumer objects), the “meta” (the aggregate of social and political rules that make up our lives), and “primitive making” (the construction of prototypes or provisional tools using cheap and accessible materials). Drawing on Donella Meadow’s systems thinking and theories of “material agency” (i.e. Bennett and Latour) he describes ways that physical objects flow along social, political, and infrastructural networks. He further describes how designed or “hacked” objects can become tools to initiate change at a grassroots level, thereby giving individuals agency to act directly on the power structures that limit their freedom or well-being. He argues that design and craft activism can play important roles in challenging norms and even improving social conditions, by mobilizing people to look at the world differently and make improvements in their behavior.
Busch, Otto Von. 2022. Making Trouble: Design and Material Activism. London New York Oxford New Delhi: Bloomsbury Visual Arts.
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