Week Two, The Outside World

Social issues are hard to ignore for me, but I also haven't known how to acknowledge them in my designs in the future. Responding to the history of a space is one thing but what about in our current world? How can I help these causes in a significant way that I probably am lacking information about anyway?

Luckily, I've signed up for subscriptions from a variety of architectural website newsletters because one of these did more than answer my questions, it gave me a real world example.

There's an Austrian designer named Bernard Lenger, and I'm so excited about his work. There's a lot that he does that invites other people to question and think about the world around them. Not all of his work is what I have on my mind for political issues, but the We Are Human Rights project most certainly is. It invites designers to be change makers, but not on their own. It pairs them with actual activists working on a variety of issues and from a variety of places so they can work in tandem to create environments and tools for change that are effective. It places designers as "cogwheels in an enormous machine" and allows us to be a part of these greater things that may be lacking the tools we can provide. How to help is no longer a hopeful shot in the dark or limited to the issues that affect the designer, it's worked out through months of close interaction and communication. It's breaking down the barriers created by time and resources for information.

We hear a lot about communication and collaboration at Fay Jones, but I've taken that as collaboration between the different majors or sometimes clients who like to be more hands-on; the We Are Human Rights project opened my eyes to what collaboration can really be. More than just the different styles and experiences of other designers, but even of people who experience spaces in more in-depth ways than I've been able to, these people who have done more than study and imagine themselves in different places, but have dedicated their lives to it and are inside the problems themselves.

Sources:

https://www.dezeen.com/2018/01/26/bernhard-lenger-dutch-design-week-designers-not-heroes-interview/

http://www.bernhardlenger.com/about/

https://www.dezeen.com/2017/10/12/good-design-bad-world-details-announced-free-talks-dutch-design-week-2017/

http://www.bernhardlenger.com/portfolio/we-are-human-rights/