Margot Harrington
Solar Eclipse, Kansas City 2017
This collage (found and Japanese paper, fluorescent red sun, and gold leaf) was made in response to the eclipse to convey the delicate balance of the earth, the planets, and the passage of time. The eclipse was one of the few events in the last few years that brought thousands together, and it was because of science, not sports or politics. View more of Margot Harrington’s work here.
Design After the End of the World
Speculative Design and Climate Reading Group
INSTRUCTORS: Renee Albrecht-Mallinger and John Jung
HOST: LATITUDE | Chicago, Illinois
Where traditional design attempts to solve problems, speculative design attempts to open our minds to new ways of thinking and being, to construct spaces for discussion, and to inspire imagination. Design After the End of the World: Speculative Design and Climate, a reading group hosted by Renee Albrecht-Mallinger and John Jung, will explore the pressing issue of climate change through the lens of speculative design. Readings will explore both climate and design from a variety of perspectives, whether creative, philosophical or personal. Participants will be encouraged to push their thinking on both climate and design forward through group discussions and design activities. The course will also be a chance to look at design from a critical perspective and to see if it might be useful to begin to confront a truly massive, “wicked” problem.
Syllabus
Week 1 - Introduction
Introductions
- Establishing ground rules for group discussions.
- Individual share out of art & professional practices:
- What are you working on?
- What do you want to be working on?
- Something you want to integrate this work into
Activity
Week 2 - What is Speculative and Critical Design?
Readings
- Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby. Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction and Social Dreaming. Preface, Chapters 1–2.
- Julian Bleeker. “Design Fiction: A short essay on design, science, fact and fiction.”
Week 3 - Indigenous Futures
Readings
- Shelley Streeby. Imagining the Future of Climate Change: World-Making through Science Fiction and Activism. Chapter 1.
- Native American and Indigenous Initiatives > Community Organizations
- Anamata Future News
Week 4 - Design Justice
Guest: Anne Knafl
Readings
- Design Justice: Towards an Intersectional Feminist Framework for Design Theory and Practice
- Design Justice Network Principles
- The Yes Men, New York Times Special Edition
Week 5 - How Speculative and Critical Designers Inspire Action
Readings
- Superflux, Future Energy Lab
- Stewart Brand, Selections from The Clock of the Long Now: Time and Responsibility.
Activity
Week 6 - More on Climate Change
Readings
Activities
- Stuart Candy, The Thing from the Future
- Albrecht-Mallinger, Ma, Tendolkar, Zhu Notes from the Sea, 2218
Week 7 - Afrofuturism
Guest: Stacie Williams
Readings
- Shelley Streeby. Imagining the Future of Climate Change: World-Making through Science Fiction and Activism. Chapter 2.
- Octavia Butler, selections from Parable of the Sower
- Sun Ra, selections from Alton Abraham Collection