1. THE SERIES LIES
WITHIN THE
OBJECT
systemsanddesign
beyond processes and thinking
DAVID BIHANIC
DESIGNER. ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
UNIVERSITY OF PARIS I PANTHEON-SORBONNE
DS 6th International Forum of
Design as a Process – 22-24/06/2015
2. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
THE
EVERYDAY
OBJECTS
WILL SOON
NO LONGER
BE FINISHED
PRODUCT
3. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
BY FINISHED
PRODUCT, I MEAN
PRIMARILY
1—‘ready-to-use’ objects and
equipments which are
resolutely closed in on
themselves (that do not permit
formal and/or functional
recycling – all kinds),
2—all things/productions considered as the
ultimate outcome of anticipatory (or predictive)
studies (i.e. future sensing); even those which
solicit potential users' interaction,
3—the physical or
technological support
of some prescribed/
predefined uses.
4. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
YOU MIGHT
ASK YOURSELF
WHY?
5. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
THERE IS AT
LEAST 5 UNAVOID
REASONS FOR
THIS:
7. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
—the end of the consumerist view of
users (relating to Consumer Capitalism
born out of the meeting of Fordism and
Keynesianism: “the American Way of Life”),
and therefore the death of Turbocapitalism
(in relation to the capture of the consumer
desires),
—the failure of the “Libidinal Economy”
(Bernard Stiegler) based on the
divorce/separation of the production and
consumption (Otl Aicher had opposed to
such artificial dichotomy):“we know nothing
about what we consume.”
9. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
—the refusal of a certain vision of mankind
and society: from the proletarianization
of workers (denounced by Karl Marx in the
19th) to that of consumers (“incapacitation”,
Amartya Sen): the loss of the ‘know-how’,
and later of the ‘knowing how to live’
(consumers no longer construct their own
lifestyle – these have been prescribed by
brands),
. the lack of social construction of the
‘knowing how to live (together)’.
10. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
—the shift from the service economy (born
with the development of networks and the
Internet): the new class war (the
exploitation of the “pronetariat”, Joël de
Rosnay),
—the “Uberizing” of economy causes
various inequalities, and gives rise to new
forms of precariousness. (The Economist)
12. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
—the “recapacitation” process
(Amartya Sen) engages a real creative
empowerment of individuals: towards a
greater democratization of the creative
competence (fertilization, cross-
pollination, acculturation, ‘culture
environment’).
13. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
4—
FOR
TECHNOLOGICAL
REASON
14. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
—the reconquest of knowledge (the newly
emerging knowledge communities)
through open (hardware/software) design
and manufacturing technologies,
#technological craft,
#fablabing,
#parametric_design
#computational design
#DIY, #opendesignware
16. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
—we are stuck with mountains of e-waste
(accentuated by planned obsolescence –
Tubocapitalism),
. most of the e-waste is incinerated. The e-
waste that can be neither incinerated nor
recycled is sent for disposal,
—the amount of global e-waste (discarded
electrical and electronic equipment) reached
41.8 million tones in 2014, according to a new
United Nations University report.
18. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
DESIGN
CONTRIBUTE
ACTIVELY
TO A SOCIETAL
CHANGE
Noting these realities,
19. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
DESIGNING FOR:
—a society which is ethically
more advanced: virtue ethics (as
understood by Aristotle) is being
revisited and developed further,
—a new moralization of
politics/economy (Alasdair MacIntyre)
and of life in society (to lead the most
positive outcomes),
20. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
Towards a new
consequentialism approach
(Alasdair MacIntyre) which
offers to re-unite our way of
looking at mankind, our
happiness vision, and a
common vision for achieving
this worthwhile goal.
21. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
We have to invent
systems/ frameworks/tools
which would give us the
possibility to
DESIGN:CREATE:MAKE
new things together.
This must be a shared and
collective ambition.
22. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
More broadly, this implies
to define and built a
complex of socially
established cooperative
human activities in favor of
the completion of goods
reflecting the interests and
practices of each one.
23. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
DESIGNERS
MUST LEAD/PAVE
THE WAY…
24. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
THEY ARE DRIVEN
BY 3 MAJOR
MOTIVATIONS:
25. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
—permit wider
involvement of
users/people,
*user/people engagement,
creative self-empowerment, etc.
26. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
—participatory, contributory and
‘spontaneist’ dynamics/approaches
offering to expand users’ responsibilities,
field of competence, knowledge and
experience.
*open design, Design-It-Yourself (DIY),
fabbing,digital crafts, and do on…
—the new status of object,
the new role of the user: a dual
redefinition.
27. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
—promote
socialization of
invention
*foster innovation
(in the original sense of the term),
-introduce something new,
-make changes (modest or substantial)
in something that already exists.
(new adhocracy)
28. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
“The biggest challenge for designers,
architects, and engineers these days is to
develop a language, a method of actually
letting people participate in the design
and architectural and technological
processes. We have failed in that. This is
not the fault of the people we are
working for or with, but this is our fault
and we have to think about that.”
Victor Papanek,
Lecture at Apple Computer,
1992
29. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
—participate in
building an altruistic
modernity (Jacques Attali)
30. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
—towards a salutary economy in which
objects become the new medium of
social and cultural sharing: from a positive
economy to a new altruistic modernity,
“The positive economy concerns all
activities whose the main decision
criterion (the first point of interest) is
the interest of future generations. It
reconciles democracy, the market and
the long term, that is to say the division
between generations, access and
empathy between players.” — Jacques Attali
31. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
the key direction
is to make the
objet a genuine
system.
In order to achieve this,
32. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
—the object as a system acquires a
new status, a new nature,
—it provides an extremely large number
of possible object (object states: each
object is, in a sense, a state or a
combinatorial pattern of the system).
34. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
—it is a material (combining hardware
and software solutions/components)
framework supporting a conceptual
language (consisting of a vocabulary, a
set of axioms and principles),
—the object-system opens the door to
new formal, functional/technological
combinations (among others) of the
various object attributes,
35. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
—an object-system can involve a
finite (countable) or infinite number of
combinations (states/patterns).
—to each variable corresponds a specific
attribute (form factors, set of
functionalities, etc.) of the object-system
which are all interlinked.
36. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
THE SERIES
WOULD BE LYING
WITHIN THE
OBJECT!
Therefore,
The series no longer refers here to the replication
of a same object but appoints the production of a
variety of object-system states.
37. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
—the first occurrence/state/pattern
of the object-system allows establishing
the foundations of his ‘ad hoc’
combinational logic (leading to
countless generations of object states),
— the object (as a concept) is
intrinsically made of those successive
adjustments: its shapes and functions
(amongst others) can continuously
change.
38. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
This major change follows
2 parallel paths:
1—ARTEFACT CENTEREDNESS
From the object improvement to his
‘parametric mutation’ (the systemic
transformation of the object is mostly
enabled by the new digital technologies),
39. THE SERIES LIES WITHIN THE OBJECT
This major change follows
2 parallel paths:
2—USAGE CENTEREDNESS
From the customization/adaptation of
object to a new type of innovative use
(towards an innovation through practice).
To match each user’s individual
preferences/to the needs of everyone.
45. The OpenStructures (OS)
project initiates a
construction system where
everyone designs for
everyone.
<http://openstructures.net>
Thomas Lommée,
OpenStucture, 2009.
Object OS.
The OpenStructures (OS)
project initiates a construction
system where everyone
designs for everyone.
1—ARTEFACT CENTERDNESS
47. Intrastructures (Belgian exploratory
design studio founded by Thomas
Lommée) is a pragmatic utopian
design studio that generates models,
tools and products for social and
environmental restoration.
“We translate emerging opportunities
into products and services
that are profitable, ecological and
equitable.”
<http://www.intrastructures.net>1—ARTEFACT CENTERDNESS
48. WikiHouse is an open source
building system. Many
designers, collaborating
to make it simple for
everyone to design, print
and assemble beautiful, low-
energy homes, customized
to their needs.
1—ARTEFACT CENTERDNESS <http://www.wikihouse>
Alastair Parvin, Designer
49. <http://www.sketchchair.cc/>1—ARTEFACT CENTERDNESS
Customize or design:
SketchChair is an open-source
software tool that allows anyone
to easily design and build their
own digitally fabricated
furniture.
Diatom studio
(Greg Saul and Tiago Rorke,
designers).
53. <http://www.stretchsketch.com>1—ARTEFACT CENTERDNESS
Stretchsketch lets you view,
adapt and download product
plans or design files for
things. Use these in
lasercutter, plasma cutters,
water cutters, CNC routers or
other Computer Numeric
Controlled devices to cut
plywood into the displayed
artifacts.
. Design files & product plans
. For furniture, toys,
mechanics & more
. Customizable in every
dimension
. Ready for laser cutters,
CNC routers, etc.
Jeroen Dijkmeijer, dutch designer.
56. <https://dugn.org/>1—USAGE CENTERDNESS
With over 15,000 members, the Drone
User Group Network (DUGN, Timothy
Reuter, founder) is one of the world’s
largest networks of civilian drone users.
DUGN seeks to foster interest in the use
of civilian drone technology and
demonstrate its positive potential for
humanity.
58. <https://pumpmakers.com>1—USAGE CENTERDNESS
Pumpmakers provide water and work!
The world’s first Do-it-Yourself Solar
Pump System for everyone.
The PUMPMAKERS PLATFORM (Dietmar
Stuck, CEO) is a virtual marketplace that
helps people help themselves. We provide
individuals, local companies, NGO’s and
volunteers with free access to the easy-to-
use Do-It-Yourself Solar Pump and a global
network to implement projects for everyone
where there is a need of water.
59. The DIY Toolkit has been especially
designed for development
practitioners to invent, adopt or
adapt ideas that can deliver better
results.
Design by STBY
(Design Research for Service Innovation)
http://www.stby.eu/
<http://diytoolkit.org>1—USAGE CENTERDNESS
62. La Paillasse is an interdisciplinary lab
network (for people of all ages, educational
and income levels, and cultures) that offers
the technical, legal and ethical framework
to develop collaborative and OpenSource
projects.
Initiated in a squat in Paris (2011, it is today
the largest network of world citizens and
open laboratories: 750m2 in the heart of
Paris since 2014. The network extends from
Paris to the Philippines.
<http://lapaillasse.org>1—USAGE CENTERDNESS
