AdBK Symposium
The myth of endless growth, optimism and progress has been replaced for many by shattered illusions, a burning planet and an identity crisis: What is all of this stuff that “design” produces indeed for? In this post-industrial planet, it seems design must urgently find a “raison d’être”, or it too risks extinction. For us, at the core of the many issues societies around the globe are currently struggling with, from climate change to the ever-growing alt-right movement is the crisis of democracy. More citizens than ever before distrust the Western democratic system, its authorities and institutions. A cultural shift away from democracy is underway; studies have shown that young people in particular are less likely to believe that it is essential to live in a democracy and more likely to believe that a military takeover would be legitimate. With this shift and the distrust in established authorities comes a division threatening the social fabric in so many countries of the Western world.
As a discipline that aims to reach “the many”, design and democracy are fundamentally interconnected. Shifting away from the nuts and bolts of democratic systems at large, the reasons for today’s democratic crises are numerous and complex. But there is no doubt that design has contributed in multiple ways to the lack of trust in democracy that we experience. From simple issues such as poorly designed ballots that cause confusion, to the complexity behind social media mechanisms influencing the distribution of information—and consequently people's beliefs—design is, yet again, complicit.
Intention of this symposium is to probe the design discipline and its involvement in democratic processes, showcasing its social and political dimensions. Simultaneously, we want to advocate for a broader understanding of design, where the borders between disciplinary silos are blurred and the discipline becomes a tool for translation and mediation. For us, design is a way of thinking, an attitude, rather than a method for the beautification of objects. This is exactly what we want to do, together with a group of like- and different-minded people, who we hope will join us in this exercise of thinking.
Starting off with an initial encounter and assessment of power structures within the design processes and discipline, we will scrutinize the possibilities of co-creation and horizontality in design. We will then look into whose voices are actually heard (and whose aren’t), how we can add diversity and how we can cope with the resulting polyphony and contradiction. Finally, we will turn to possible ways to enact transformation.
Saturday, 20 April (10am–8pm)
Transformation: Changing paradigms
This day brings the Department of Transformation (D🌏T) to Nurenberg, which mobilizes the power of art and design towards individual, collective, and structural transformation. Engaging with the entangled crisis of our times, D🌎T fosters interdependence and mutual support between artists and designers towards achieving common goals. Founded by designer, author, and educator Prem Krishnamurthy, it takes shape through public programs, exhibitions, educational engagements, and community-based activities (+ karaoke!) around the world.
