Incomplete Design

Transcrição

Incomplete Design

MSc Thesis in Interaction Design
Incomplete Design
- A Design Philosophy in Theory and Practice
Leif Tannfors & René Lundgaard Kristensen
Göteborg, Sweden 2004
Chalmers Department of Computing Science
REPORT NO. xxxx/xxxx
Incomplete Design
A Design Philosophy in Theory and Practice
René Lundgaard Kristensen
Leif T. Tannfors
IT UNIVERSITY OF GÖTEBORG
GÖTEBORG UNIVERSITY AND CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
Incomplete Design
LEIF T. TANNFORS & RENE LUNDGAARD KRISTENSEN
© LEIF T. TANNFORS, RENE LUNDGAARD KRISTENSEN, 2004.
Report no xxxx:xx
ISSN: 1651-4769
Department of Computing Science
IT University of Göteborg
Göteborg University and Chalmers University of Technology
P O Box 8718
SE – 402 75 Göteborg
Sweden
Telephone + 46 (0)31-772 4895
Cover:
[Close-up of Claudio - an interactive installation designed and built by the authors]
[Photo: René Lundgaard Kristensen, The installation is presented in chapter IV (p.61-92)]
[tryckeriets namn]
Incomplete Design
LEIF T. TANNFORS & RENÉ LUNDGAARD KRISTENSEN
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to establish and develop incomplete design as a
design philosophy. The ideas of incomplete design are related to a number of
different theories originating from the arts of philosophy, sociology, fine art,
literature, music and film. A major influence has been artistic activities manifested
as a critique of regulations in society.
Furthermore, this study includes an interactive art installation named Claudio.
The installation is designed and built by the authors. The methodology used
when creating Claudio was shaped in chorus with the thoughts of incomplete
design. The approach which is entitled seismographic design is intended for
relating conceptual ideas with societal cultural developments.
The arguments presented in the paper are predominantly based on the view that
systems and products of today are dictating and homogenizing our actions. This
leads to a world where product users are slowly transformed into passive actors
living their everyday lives in a ‘pre-programmed’ world. In this context designers
experience the establishment of design conventions with social and political
implications. Viewed from this perspective there is an urgent need for democratic
technologies that represent increased diversity and pave the way for individual
interpretation. By exploring ways in which design can incorporate human
qualities, such as creativity and intuition, the concepts of incomplete design
provide a constructive counterbalance to the authors’ critical assessment. In the
end, by seeing the user as a protagonist, incomplete design reorganizes the
conventional relationship between the designer and the user.
Keywords: Interaction Design, Incomplete Design, Design Theory, Critical
Design, Emotional Design, Interrogative Design, Seismographic Design, Political
Design, Poetic Design, Avant-garde Art and Design, Incompleteness,
Imperfection.
Incomplete Design
LEIF T. TANNFORS & RENÉ LUNDGAARD KRISTENSEN
Sammanfattning
Syftet med denna magisteruppsats är att utforska och etablera incomplete design som
en designfilosofi. Idéerna bakom incomplete design är relaterade till ett flertal teorier
som utgår från grenar inom filosofi, sociologi, konst, litteratur, musik och film. Betydande
influenser är hämtade från konstnärliga verksamheter som manifesteras i form av kritik
av reglerande system i samhället.
Därtill innefattar denna studie ett praktiskt projekt i form av skapandet av den interaktiva
installationen Claudio. Metodiken som användes vid utvecklandet av Claudio formades
parallellt med teorin inom incomplete design. Denna metodik, som är döpt till
seismographic design är ämnad för att relatera idéer och koncept med kulturströmningar
i samhället.
De kritiska argument som presenteras i uppsatsen är i första hand baserade på tesen att
system och produkter av idag dikterar och homogeniserar våra handlingar. Detta leder
till en värld där produktanvändare långsamt formas till passiva aktörer i en
”förprogrammerad” värld. I denna tillvaro upplever designers en etablering av
designkonventioner med sociala och politiska implikationer. Ur denna synvinkel finns
det ett uppdämt behov för ”demokratisk” teknologi som representerar en ökad diversitet
och som öppnar upp för personliga tolkningar. Genom att utforska sätt på hur design kan
inkorporera mänskliga kvaliteter såsom kreativitet och intuition erbjuder incomplete
design även en konstruktiv motvikt till den kritiska hållningen. Slutligen bidrar incomplete
design till att omstrukturera det konventionella förhållandet mellan designer och
användare.
Rapporten är skriven på engelska
Keywords: Interaction Design, Incomplete Design, Design Theory, Critical Design,
Emotional Design, Interrogative Design, Seismographic Design, Political Design,
Poetic Design, Avant-garde Art and Design, Incompleteness, Imperfection.
Acknowledgements
This master thesis in interaction design is written for IT-University, Chalmers University
of Technology, Sweden, and has been supervised at Innovation Lab, Århus, Denmark.
Although some of the content is derived from a growing frustration of recent
development of design, the greatest source of inspiration has undoubtedly been life
itself. Emotions, creativity, intuition, joy, and last but not least people and things which
we have tried to place a great deal of emphasis on.
During the process of the project we have had the opportunity to meet and exchange
experiences with a lot of people that in a variety of ways all have contributed to this
study.
Therefore we would like to thank a few people.
Particularly, we owe a great debt of gratitude to:
Lars Hallnäs
Peter Dreyer
&
Supervisor at IT-University, Chalmers University of Technology
Supervisor at Innovation Lab
...all personnel at Innovation Lab
Additionally, we would also like to thank:
Mikkel Bech
Tony Brooks
Ole Caprani
Peter Ljungstrand
For technical support (sound programming)
For valuable discussions about transforming motion to
expressions using different media.
For valuable input regarding digital sound installations.
For technical support (electronics).
Friendly people at:
Pappagallo, Århus, Denmark
Huset, Århus, Denmark
Café LYNFabrikken, Århus, Denmark
For exchange of ideas.
For helpful ideas when we built Claudio.
For letting Claudio visit them.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Aim
Research methodology
Structure of thesis
1-3
3
3
4
What is design all about?
Purpose of design
5-7
6
Part I
A Directed World
The human trap
Enslavement of life
Enslavement of technology
Future responsibility
Deception
Political design
Interaction design as political activity
8-24
8
11
13
15
18
21
21
Part II
Design Revolución
Breaking free
Punk styles and avant-garde movements
25-30
26
27
Part III
Incomplete Design
Incomplete design as a mental cure
The user turns into a co-creator
Imperfection
Openness of meaning
Freedom of future acts
Physical empty space
Politics and incompleteness
Enstrangement
31-61
32
34
37
37
39
40
41
43
Incomplete design and literature
Writerly vs. readerly
Writerly object
The scriptor’s phantamatics
Pleasurable illegibility
Poetic design objects
The post-modern film
45
45
51
53
54
55
57
The death of the designer
58
Part IV
Claudio - An Incomplete Design Project
Introduction
Methodology – Seismographic design
62-91
62
63
Design process
A design process of our minds
The structure chaos of the design project
64
64
65
Result stage one – Five conceptual design proposals
Concept one – Identical objects
Concept two – Identical objects
Concept three – Identical objects
Concept four – Identical objects
Concept five – Identical objects
70
70
71
72
73
75
Creating Claudio
Facial transparency
Choosing material of surface
The heart of Claudio
Identity
Ambiguity
Technology of Claudio
Balancing chaos and order
Final adjustments
76
76
77
78
79
82
82
83
84
Result stage two – Presenting Claudio
Taking Claudio out
Perceptive Complexity
Conversation
85
86
89
90
Discussion
92-96
Introduction
to systematically explore the mental
model of the user in order to meet
their expectations and ease the
interaction. At the same time –
probably not considered when the
design method was introduced – it
was also realized that it was possible
to frame and design the users’ view,
emotions and actions.
Designers have expansively been
glorified and assigned the role as
trouble-shooters. Their objects are
meant to solve all sorts of different
problems: comfort people’s everyday
lives, optimize work flows, impose a
structure on complicated information
networks etc. In the area of
interaction design this is not less
true. Here we often talk about
experts who invent for novices or
less experienced. Consequently,
there has been a call for design
methodologies that could thin the
jungle between designers and users.
User-centered design is one of them,
and it has been proclaimed by many
to be the first design program to take
the human mind seriously. Usercentered design was introduced as a
design method which involves the
end-users in the design process and
by that secures the best possible
user-friendliness. It was a reaction
against bad interface design which
has attached a break to work
processes
penetrated
by
omnipresent technological objects.
The goal was to eliminate all
breakdowns in using these objects
and give the users a hope for
understanding the objects better,
maybe even see them as the miracle
resource which made their working
day easier and improved their lives.
The methodology was meant to give
programmers, interface designers,
industrial designers etc. a technique
However, what seems to be
forgotten is that interaction designers
who adopt the methodologies of
user-centered design – even the
intensions may be the opposite –
turn the users into passive nonthinking percipients. Designers make
people believe that they in an ideal
society can rely on the efficiency of
the technological objects. In this
perspective we see a black shadow
covering real human qualities in
design of technology today. The
discussion about usability and
technology
conceals
the
interrelationship of objects and
society. Interaction designs have left
little or no room for speculation on
the cultural function of new
technological inventions. We want to
stretch the design language by
introducing a critical and imaginative,
approach to interaction design;
incomplete design. This is a
dialectical aesthetic approach that
undermines the idea of the
transparent, user-friendly technology
and provides an opaque, obscure,
1
incompleteness. By following the
footsteps of critical design we aim at
escaping
laws
of
traditional
academic design research and
questioning the notion of the
designer as the expert designing for
the
non
thinking
novices.
Furthermore, we concentrate on
escaping the conform processes
which tries to generate general
intelligible meaning. The leitmotif,
incompleteness, is the constructive
counterweight to the critical views.
We mean that when things remain
incomplete, there is always an
opening for new meanings and
actions
to
evolve.
Through
incomplete design we strive to
liberate creativity and open up for a
bigger freedom of action. The
incompleteness thereby represents
the continuous freedom of future
dreams; a freedom from where
personal and poetic expressions can
evolve.
more poetic and open model of
interactivity. The new approach calls
for an anatomization of the traditional
and
conventional
user-object
relation. We want to dissect how
users interact with objects and how
we as designers can invite users to
become protagonists co-designing
the existential meaning of the
scenery they are a part of.
We argue that, just like an artist
might find it difficult to stop when her
piece is at its best, the objects
around us sometimes tend to be too
overworked, too designed. These
objects are adapted to existing
cultural and commercial values and
leave no or little room for misuse or
abuse in a constructive way. This
results in a sort of ‘have-a-nice-day’
description of everyday life where
new objects become the solution to
every problem, closing every mindchallenging gap. In such a world
people are thrown into an existence
where they are more or less inactive
and inhuman. They are reduced to
passive actors in a stereotyped,
complexity-diminished world. For this
reason the design culture in which
we are trying to reduce problems
and thereby increase comfort results
in a de-humanization of ourselves.
Accordingly, incomplete design takes
off from the ideas of critical design
only to re-balance the focus from
problems
and
conformity
to
creativity, dynamics, opportunities
and freedom. In order to keep a
continuously critical view to the
culture that the ideas derive from, we
also introduce a dynamic design
methodology: seismographic design.
The main idea of seismographic
design is to keep one hand in
connection to the ‘shivers’ of world
With incomplete design, our attempt
to break away from this dehumanization,
we
combine
fundamental ideas of critical design
with the initiative of an open-ended
2
the condition of a group of ‘sufferers’
in society by presenting a dialectical
explanation
of
contradictions
imposed upon the people. Thus, the
interpretation represents a critique of
societal domination. This domination
concerns social organizations as well
as cultural institutions such as
media, religion and academic work.
while the other is reacting to the
same.
Aim
The aim of this thesis is to develop,
express and manifest our ideas of
incomplete design. The means for
doing this includes exploration of
societal development, interpretation,
induction
from
authority
and
manifesting the ideas by creating
conceptual designs & one functional
interactive installation.
The emancipatory value of the
approach is stressed by leaving a
room for possible changes and/or
involving outlines of how to relieve
the domination.
Thus, the entire thesis can be
considered a representation of the
result of the study as all parts are
expressing
ideas
related
to
incomplete design.
By using the approach of critical
theory we reject the narrow-minded
traditional efforts of objectivity. The
method is for that reason validated
by reflective acceptance and/or
resulting action from the reader. The
subjective approach is stressed by
the fact that parts of the thesis are
written like a manifesto. These parts
are typographically stressed to
clearly separate them from the
discussion.
Research methodology
The theoretical approach of the
thesis is based on critical (social)
theory1 which encompasses a big
variety of work striving to interpret
1
Critical theory is a general
term for the theoretical
developments in a variety of
fields, informed by
structuralism, poststructuralism, deconstruction,
Marxist theories and several
other areas of thought. It
encompasses many related
developments in literary theory
and cultural studies,
aesthetics, theoretical
sociology and social theory.
[23]
As the approach is concerned with a
way of thinking rather than a framed
problem there is no specific target
audience. Although the focus is on
design - interaction design in
particular - the thesis is addressed to
anyone who can relate to it or reflect
upon it. A few sections of the thesis
involve
societal
interpretations
presented as allegories such as ‘a
directed world’. These allegories are
3
opaque and open ended model of
interactivity.
In the chapter
Incomplete design and literature, we
go deeper into the discussion by
taking a literary perspective, looking
at design objects as texts. We
introduce thoughts of the French
post-structuralist Roland Barthes.
From this perspective we want
incomplete designs to encourage the
user to experience new narrative
situations
as
a
protagonist.
Correspondingly, in the chapter, The
death of the designer, we advocate
for
an
analogous,
dramatic
reorganization of the user-designer
relationship.
not to be understood as a correct
understanding of the world, but
rather a way of stimulating the
reader to reflect on them. It is though
a mistake to believe that they only
serve as provocations. The ideas
unfold a lot of questions about the
development of society and the
interpretations are related to several
existing theories described by
recognized philosophers, writers and
artists.
Structure of thesis
This thesis consists of four parts:
A directed world
Design revolución
Incomplete design
The incomplete design project
The incomplete design project is a
description of a design project which
we realized during the development
of this thesis. In this part we present
five design proposals illustrated as
conceptual ideas. One of these has
been
developed
further
and
manifested as an (incomplete)
installation,
expressing
an
investigation of the practice of
incomplete design.
A directed world is a critical
description of society discussing
constraints on human behavior
generated from design. The critique
concerns lack of cultural, sociological
and political speculation in the field
of technology and design.
Design revolución springs from the
critique above and treats different
means of questioning and breaking
free from conventional ways of
thinking.
Before tackling the issues of the four
main parts of this thesis, we will start
broadly by discussing the general
conception of design. This creates a
platform for forthcoming issues
concerning how we should deal with
and explore the potential of design.
Incomplete design cares for the focal
part of the thesis. It explores our
version of breaking free; a dialectical
approach that encourages a more
4
What is design all about?
Accordingly, we argue that design
(or designing) involves a chain of
initiations, i.e. a process. This
process can be performed by either
a single individual or by a group of
people. Furthermore, we would like
to stress the fact that design does
not only concern artifacts, but also
acts and processes; entities and
relations. So, when Jones describes
design in relation to changes in
“man-made things”, it is important
that we understand the word “things”
in reference to its generic meaning.
The matter of design is simply a
matter of human activity; the things
that we do. It is an understatement to
say that design is interdisciplinary.
Design can be described as a field of
knowledge, caring for the whole of
life. With this conclusion we leave
the issue of design actions and
explore design as a space of
knowledge where all people, no
matter what background or starting
points they have, can collide. The
designer moving inside and across
the field is often portrayed as some
kind of choreographer or composer
using different materials to plan and
create unique compositions. In order
to assemble many of the different
views of design as a field, area or
space of many different skills and
knowledge, one can use the fine
definition made by Archer:
The above question is difficult to
answer, but the word design gives
some clues, leading us closer to the
heart of the issue. Design is Latin
and comes from the word designare
and the general translation is to mark
out. The prefix of the word demeans away, taking away and
signare is to mark, to put a label on
something. Thus, design is to
liberate the label of something, or in
others words, you start with one
label and transform it into something
else. [1] This concurs with John
Chris Jones’2 view on design to
“initiate change in man-made things”
[2].
But when does the transformation
occur? You can argue that the
transformation is conceived when
capturing the initial thought of
transformation performed by an
individual. This imagery kind of
transformation is though not always
linked
to
an
embodied
transformation. Therefore, one can
also argue that initiations can be
identified in the processes of
selecting, developing and organizing
an idea. In this sense the processes
occur both in the mind, in action and
over time.
“Design is an area of human
experience, skill and knowledge which is
concerned with man’s ability to mould
2
Jones is one of the pioneers
and creators behind modern
design methodology.
5
his environment to suit his material and
spiritual needs.” [1]
answer to: What is the purpose of
design?
Archer chose to define the purpose
of design as well: “…to suit his
material and spiritual needs”. We
agree that the purpose is essential,
but in order to define design we do
not think it is necessary to precise
the purpose. In addition to the
definition of Archer we would like to
accentuate the role of how design is
interpreted through the senses of the
beholder
by
signifying
the
importance of perception. Without
the perception of a transformation, is
it possible to speak of a
transformation at all?
In the struggle to answer the
question many practitioners or
theorists have managed to reduce
the purpose of design to the
aesthetical and the functional. We do
not intend to answer the question,
but we do think that it is time for the
field of design to be responsible for
issues beyond aesthetics and
function; the purpose of design is
about much more than creating wellfunctioning, good-looking bits and
pieces.
The purpose of design is material,
technical, perceptual, experimental,
social,
cultural,
environmental,
ethical, psychological even political.
When we design, we should be
aware of more than what a product
or a system communicates. We
should be aware of more than its
functional or economical benefit. The
design of such awareness – the
ideas behind and even beyond the
products – can be referred to as
meta-design. When we look at all the
areas that design concerns, perhaps
we can manage to do what Jones
once declared to be his hardachieved aim…
In conclusion, our definition of design
is: Design is an arena of human
knowledge which is concerned with
the human-initiated process of
transformation in which intention,
purpose and perception have a
central role.
Purpose of design
As briefly touched upon above, the
word design is in many contexts
used to describe the purpose of
something, ex. ‘a game designed to
appeal to all ages’. In view of that it
is not difficult to understand that the
purpose is said to have a central role
of design. One big question though,
seems impossible to give a simple
“…to design at the scale of life, the
scale of mind itself while refusing to act
at the scale of its hopelessly
disconnected fragments…” [1]
6
By the acknowledgment of the
significance of perception it is
important though to emphasize that
the purpose of design can benefit
from both being imprecise and
incomplete – this thereby becomes
the purpose! In accordance to the
theme
of
this
thesis,
the
impreciseness and incompleteness
will be a main issue later.
7
Part I
A directed world
freedom, the personal
decreases. How can
possible?
Having defined our conception of
design we want to take a look at the
effect of design at present. We will
discuss design in the context of
today’s society. We want to call
attention to the fact that technology
always
has
influenced
its
environment; socially, culturally,
politically,
and
ethically.
The
question
is:
what
are
the
consequences of this influence?
influence,
this be
How to live is affected by
regulations, standards and systems,
all growing into each other. A
network so complex, that no one
seems to be in control. Only the very
structure of the system itself seems
to be in control. We – the humans –
build the system, but who controls
who? Are we being trapped in the
complex structure that we refer to as
society? Are we building this
structure, only to become less
responsible, less active, less thinking
and less personal? We advance in
technology, methods etc. in order to
replace human efforts and for
creating beneficial productivity, but at
what cost?
The human trap
Our knowledge today means that we
have great influence on our future;
there are many ways we can change
our biology, our environment, and life
itself. This human influence is a
powerful force in building our future.
Nevertheless, we do not have the
ethics to allow us to implement our
powers and our responsibilities of
future generations and indeed of all
life [3].
All these questions are very
interesting and relevant to ask. We
want to compile them in one more
dramatic question, initiating the
following discussion: Is the trap of
civilization nothing more than a jail
that we are all in and all constituting?
Michel
Foucault
made
this
interesting and well known metaphor
[4]. He compared the society with
As our powers to affect the world are
growing, so are our powers to affect
ourselves. The paradoxical result is
that individuals are more affected by
their society and that the individual
8
Bentham’s
Panopticon,
an
architectural structure that functioned
as a jail. One must admit that the
comparison is somewhat thrilling.
The Panopticon consists of circular
chain of buildings and in the middle
there is a tower. The tower has big
windows in all directions. The
surrounding building are divided into
cells each with two windows; one
facing inwards towards the tower
and the other one facing outwards
letting light into the cell. From the
central tower you can watch all the
people, which completely individually
are locked into the different cells.
The person in the cell is watched,
but cannot - at any time - see if there
is someone in the tower. By knowing
that he always can be watched, the
power functions automatically. The
surveillance effect is permanent, but
also automatic because there is no
need for permanent action of
surveillance. The surveillance turns
into self-surveillance; it becomes
immanent in each individual. This
function of the panopticon is
efficiently illustrated by Artist Jonas
Dahlberg (Fig. 1-2). The Panopticon
is a technology creating a structural
kingdom with no need for a king or a
master. The people inside the
technology construct the foundation
for the continuation of the technology
that they are in. By itself Panopticon
creates a web of power relations that
the individuals are trapped inside.
Fig.1: The video screens are part of the
installation Safe Zones no. 7. by Jonas Dahlberg.
Fig. 2: This toilet area is a part of the installation
Safe Zones no. 7 by Jonas Dahlberg. Jonas
Dahlberg illustrates how a fictitious surveillance
generates a power mechanism. People
confronted with the installation believe that
surveillance cameras survey the toilet area. In
reality a small scale-model of the toilet is
surveyed.
9
strategic situation of force relations in a
particular society.” [5]
The surveillance, the permanent
registration, the analysis and the
control of the Panopticon gives
opportunities to analyze, direct,
redirect and control individuals. If
Foucault was right, the Panopticon is
also the model of government
relations to peoples’ everyday life.
This is manifested in a situation with
power centrals and power channels
where organizations and individuals
are placed in relation to each other
and organized hierarchically. We
want to argue that Foucault’s idea of
an ideal theory of a power
mechanism is to a certain extent a
fact today.
“These relations occur at the exact
moment when actors within the specific
situation act. For ex. an agent cannot be
explained to exert power if there are no
other acting mechanisms acting inside
the structures that the power is exerted.”
[6]
In history disciplined structures of
this kind were constructed to
address and fight isolated threats.
Today, they are being used to
increase the benefit of each
individual. The people have become
the tool for increasing the benefit in
each and every sector of society, not
the least for governments. However,
today threats still affect the situation,
but on a much larger scale. The
terror threat of today is an example
of a problem that has resulted in an
accelerator of the intensified state of
power. The aim of intensifying and
making use of the power relations –
of course – is to extend the control of
organizations and individuals for
safety reasons. This is also part of
what can be seen as the main
functions of the Panopticon, i.e. to
control and discipline people,
strengthen the society, increase
growth and production, civilize the
world, neutralize resistance. It is
important though to understand that
this cannot be considered to be a
natural law: “If there is power, there
is resistance…” [4]
We live in a world with an increasing
number of power channels – a
spreading web – in which individuals
are trapped. The power itself is deindividualized and more effectively
inhabited in a complex network of
force relations. The state of power is
intensified
and
automatically
constituted by ourselves and our
actions
within
it.
From
this
perspective, by being the “wheels of
the machinery” the power is
democratically controlled [4]. The
power is like a silent organism,
immanent inside the system, i.e. the
structure.
The
powers
are
everywhere and self-going:
“The fact that the power is self going
and comes from within is though not a
phenomenon of our time. A power
cannot exist by it self. Power is a
10
new inventions provide us with more
independence, they also prescribe a
certain kind of behavior. In this
manner new objects give us both
freedoms and restrictions. Later in
this section we will discuss how we
are constructing a world in which
surrounding objects and systems –
directly or indirectly – tell us what to
do. Let us start from the beginning;
the enslavement of life.
The fact though is that control
methods are more and more
common. The inventions of new
technology make it possible to
increase the beneficial productivity of
human beings. New technologies
make functional to break in and act
on ‘faults’, misbehavior or deviation
since
they
create
extensive
opportunities to register differences.
By continually discovering and
solving divergence problems the
world gets more ‘perfect’. Our
society is in this sense being
homogenized and de-individualized.
There are norms, rules and
standards on how things should look,
be, function, communicate, and even
how we should act. The result is an
enslavement of people to the
disciplining
and
homogenizing
technology.
Already by the fact that we are living,
we are ruled by the restrictions of
life. We must eat, drink, sleep, live,
and die. The amount of restrictions
of what we cannot do because of the
laws of nature is not even possible to
count; we cannot travel in time; we
cannot swim inside the chore a solid
rock; we cannot fly away just by
blowing air with our mouth etc. The
framework of what we can do is
ruthlessly constrained. [8] Since
there is nothing we can do about
these laws of nature, most people do
not think of the restrictions as
enslaving rules. In fact, the only time
we seem to think about them is in
occasional dreams when we break
them: what if I could fly away…?
Enslavement of life
Life itself inhabits a lot of musts;
things that we have to do either we
want to or not. Some of these musts
are simple to point out, while others
are social restrictions adapted to
cultural
roles
and
existing
psychosocial relations. Some musts
are regulated by rules or by nature;
in this context we should mention
‘fabricated nature’. An example of
this could be that we cannot decide
to maneuver an airplane from the
passenger seat because there is no
instrument to do so. Although, many
Alongside the restrictions ruled by
nature, there are social rules
depending on where we live, our
status in society etc. Examples are
that we have to go to school, go to
work, pay tax etc. Social restrictions
also include routines and our
conservative way of structuring
11
certain social involvements. Often
this establishes a definite hierarchy
of activities. Jones has made the
following comment concerning the
enslavement that we enforce on
young people:
you've lost everything that you're
free to do anything”.[9] Although this
enslavement relate to physical
objects, it fundamentally concerns
social behavior infected by our
surrounding objects. In this manner
Fight Club touches upon the dehumanization of us. As a product of
the degrading lifestyle the narrator of
Fight C is struck by insomnia.
“No changes to the design of schools
and colleges, or even to their curricula,
are going to undo the basic error of
education-namely, that it forces all the
youngest and liveliest people to do
obediently what their elders tell them
until the age of about 25, when what
they really need is the know-how to take
over the shaping of life while they still
have the energy and imagination to do
it”. [1]
The
perspective
treated
by
Palahniuk in Fight Club mirrors that
we are constrained by objects
around us. Normally, we walk or
drive when we see a green light, and
we stop for red. We all learn rules
that are not there from the beginning;
rules that are sustained by objects.
For designers and theorists it is
essential to discuss how objects
constrain us or break constraints, at
least if we still think that the purpose
of design is important. Some people
argue that the very development of
man-made things is our human
battle to break us free from the
enslavements of life (whereas others
see the usage of psychedelic drugs
as having the same purpose).
Designers and engineers often aim
to break the barriers of our restricted
freedom. We build airplanes in order
to break the laws of gravity; we
design alarm clocks in order to wake
up whenever we want to and the like.
But even these new freedoms give
us new constraints. Objects create
social demands, such as the watch
which create demands to be on time.
These are not absolute restrictions
since there are means by which
people
can
affect
them.
Nevertheless, the social constrains
decide how we live for the reason
that there are no considerable
alternatives to be outside of the
system. If we choose to stay outside
these rules, we also stay outside the
society.
The novel Fight Club written by
Chuck Palahniuk addresses the
problem of how we choose to live as
slaves of money and work:
“Generations have been working in
jobs they hate, just so they can buy
what they don’t really need”. Fight
Club brings up the question of
enslavement of life based on
commercial values, but it also
indicated that objects around us
impair our freedoms: “It's only after
12
new technology strictly affect the
way we live, we ought to take a look
at the development today. Objects
with computer technology nowadays
inhabit a large part of our
environment and life. The continuous
increase of implemented technology
gives rise to numerous new
freedoms and constraints. We dwell
with technology by using mobile
phones, communication systems,
information systems etc. In this
perspective we let new objects
change our behavior and the
dynamic qualities of technology
elasticize our everyday life. In order
to get a closer look at the effects and
development of technology today let
us rewind a few decades to see what
some of the aims of the development
of technology were then.
Simply speaking, objects around us
indirectly ‘force’ us into specific acts
at the same time as they allow us to
break free from others. On a low
level we use objects in order to
follow higher level ‘musts’. We might
have to use an alarm clock in order
to get to work on time; we have to
get specific cards in order to identify
ourselves; some of us have to get a
car etc. Another example is the
mobile phone which among many
other things increases the freedom
of not having to plan in advance and
the freedom of getting in contact with
people. At the same time many of us
feel the freest when we are not even
near a phone. Suddenly, it becomes
impossible for us to get anything
planned and in the worse case social
relations maybe at issue. These
phenomenon are though not very
astonishing for people. We approve
this; after all it is part of the culture
that we live in. In general we reflect
less on social effects of things after
using them for a while and
consequently they become a natural
part of our everyday life. When we
are confronted with new objects
though, we are more frequently
aware (scared and excited) by their
presence. After a while we get used
to them also and perhaps do not
even reflect on their existence until
there is something new to replace
them.
Enslavement of technology
In the late 1980’s some groups of
researchers started to focus on the
next-generation of computer system.
Within these systems each person
continually interacts with hundreds of
nearby wirelessly interconnected
computers. The goal – explained by
one of pioneers, Marc Weiser – was
to:
“…achieve the most effective kind of
technology (…) which is essentially
invisible to the user”’. [10].
So where does this lead us? With
the conclusion that new objects and
13
efficiency and letting the people play
parts in achieving this, a sort of
ubiquitous enslavement is being
generated. The systems serve us
with pre-programmed opportunities,
enchaining us to a particular
rationality.
This meant that computers were to
inhabit our most trivial things such as
clothes, labels, coffee cups etc. [11].
The idea was named ubiquitous
computing and would according to
Weiser make “everything faster and
easier to do, with less strain and
fewer mental gymnastics” [12]. As a
result – when more or less every
single object either would hold a
computer or contain a tag – gaining
information would become trivial.
Additionally, the idea was to free the
humans from the isolated work
situation of using a personal
computer and thereby relieve us
from our exaggerated focus of
attention on the tool, the computer
itself. The thought was to escape the
GUI-focus and move technology to
surrounding objects.
In the progressive development of
new inventions we have seen an
increasing focus on interaction in
order to design more ‘user-centered’
objects. Unfortunately, this ‘usercentered design’ approach gives us
even more constraints. The risk is
evident that the interaction designer
focuses too much on directing
people’s behavior. The strong focus
on the act, which the interaction
designer is supposed to have,
increases the risk of describing –
handing a manuscript to the user –
instead of creating a formula from
where the users can choose to
create their own interaction: Follow
the sign, press that button, do this,
do not do that; the world is full of
signs and directions telling us what
to do. We follow them blindly and
think that they are adapted to human
factors, because they are easy to
understand, when they in fact make
us inhuman by turning us into
instruments which are manifesting
and strengthening the mechanical,
self-destructive and homogenizing
society. As Paul Virillio points out in
the book The Art of the Motor, the
problem is the strong focus on userfriendliness:
The most prominent qualities of
these forecasts are probably their
accuracy of telling our future. The
intelligent appliances has fortunately
not yet made the big market, but
certainly we see a lot of
interconnected technology creating a
more and more complex web of
information supplies. The idea of
freeing us from the enslavements of
conventional personal computers,
that are not adapted to our social
needs, is a fine one. But as we have
mentioned before – by introducing
new systems and thereby new
freedoms – we also provide
ourselves with (new) restrictions. By
increasing
convenience
and
14
can wonder what will happen when
all of our environment will reflect on
how we live with systems dwelling
with us everywhere, finding ‘errors’
and fixing them. We let programs
carry out more and more actions to
control the world in co-operation with
ourselves. As pointed out above,
there are many positive effects; the
technology can be used as an
extension of ourselves and take care
of complicated situations that we
otherwise would not be able to deal
with. But the self-controlling system
still lack in regard to many important
aspects; we become nonentities to
the system which pervasively
delivers information about how we
should act and what to do next.
Unexpectedly, the pre-programmed
systems begin to program us. So,
what are our options? Let us go
deeper into this discussion by
illustrating some of the dilemmas
and responsibilities of future choices.
“Interactive user-friendliness … is just a
metaphor for the subtle enslavement of
the human being to ‘intelligent
machines; a programmed symbiosis of
man and computer in which …dialogue
between man and the machine scarcely
conceal the premises:… the total
unavowed disqualification of the human
in favor of the definite instrumental
conditioning of the individual.” [13]
Put in a different way, the benefit of
functionality, efficiency and safety
are undermining our human instincts.
Everything is a program of a
program; restaurant-employees are
told what to say, in TV-shows people
are told when to clap their hands;
people are not treated as human but
as numbers and passive organisms.
Therefore, as mentioned before, the
development of technology as it is
today contributes to the deindividualization
and
dehumanization of people: “To deny
our own impulses is to deny the very
thing that makes us human.” [14]
Future responsibilities
In conclusion, the technological
progress is continually changing
what we will call the directed world. If
we previously were enslaved by
personal computers, now we are
entering a world where complex
computer networks and linked
technologies enslave us anytime and
anywhere. The guiding technology is
both pervasive and ruthless and the
focus on user-friendliness has
reached a further dimension in
constraining and enslaving us. One
As we try our best to better the
systems, we optimize them, but for
what reasons? Instead of thinking on
the long term consequences for the
society, systems are programmed
and developed from measurable
qualities. One of the main problems
within design – and system design in
particular – is that developers try to
reach specific results for artifacts or
systems. This means that these
15
developers often abandon people’s
culture and the full experience of the
system, namely what we think and
what we experience. Even if the
designer understands the complexity
of a situation, the focus of attention
results in solutions of precise and
measurable answers that are initially
aimed at. The challenge of taking the
whole of the human being into
consideration is of low concern,
while usability, hunting time, and the
performance of the system are
prioritized. Thus, the enslavement
due to technology is not caused by
technological components, but by
the way we transform it into objects.
instead of becoming the answer to
everything; we have to look at the
effects of design instead of
focusing on pre-design thoughts,
like for instance, setting up goals
of having a definite number of
computers in our surrounding.
However, one difficulty in reversing
the growth of the enslaving snowball
is that new technology makes it
possible to solve severe problems
concerning ethics, and the price we
have to pay for this is many times
freedom. This is a dilemma with no
easy answers. Who can give an
answer to how much a human life is
worth in comparison to the freedom
of the whole of society? Do we want
to live less free in order to be
healthier? If we can use technology
in order to save lives, how much of a
loss of freedom is this worth? In
order to depict the sometimes
double-sided nature of the stage play
we will give two examples. The first
one is a future scenario while the
second one is an example of
implementation
of
ubiquitous
computing today. The examples
concern issues that are related to the
society as a whole, but are not
possible to solve as conventional
problems. Maybe the best alternative
is to find other more imaginative
solutions.
The enslaving culture of the society
is growing like a rolling snowball.
The body of this complex and
networked structure are fed by us
creating
these
‘user-friendly’
systems, and we sustain them by
acting within them. The consensus is
of course that there are resources
and means by which we can slow
the speed of the snowball down and
eventually make it decrease in size.
The means for doing this is a much
stronger focus on the real human
qualities. Today we still treat the
area of technology as a tool. We
concentrate too much on what we
can
solve
with
technology.
Instead, we have to start looking
consistently at technology as a
material of opportunities; we have
to look at how this material can be
molded to enrich people’s lives
16
do a parallel parking. The scenario
still points out the automatism we
have to adapt to in the future. For
some people this is a dream, for
others it is a nightmare. Further, the
scenario does not only show the
development of enslavement but
also some of the positive effects of
technology. Can we really justify
limitations in our human rights in
order to save lives?
Future scenario: Self-going cars
Cars will - in a not too distant
future - be safer to drive when
they are not controlled by us but
by auto-pilots. By the use of
computer programs, tags and
sensors it will be possible to
create a system in which it is
more or less impossible to collide
and/or to break the traffic rules.
Sensors would detect humans,
cars, animals, traffic lights and of
course roads or tracks.
An example of usage of new
technologies that is used today is the
one regarding congestion charges.
This is a mind-triggering proposal
because of its double-sided nature.
In a future time when the cars
also will be communicating with
numerous other objects, every
single movement can be tracked
and analyzed. The scenario
follows the development of today
with focus on more safety, less
freedom, more convenience and
more systemization. The future
car can become a carrier of
information of where you find
tourist attractions, a café in where
you can drink coffee, a location of
entertainment where you can
play games or watch movies or a
mobile work office where you
carry out work.
Scenario of today: Restricting
freedom of driving a car
In cities such as Trondheim,
London
and
Singapore
congestion charges have been
introduced to passengers passing
through the city centre. By
controlling for how long time the
cars are inside the city centre and
by matching their number plate
with a record, drivers are
charged. Hence, this is an
introduction of payment for
entering a zone, and a political
decision in order to affect and
indirectly direct people.
This scenario is in fact not that
futuristic after all. Today researchers
are working on the development of
self-going cars, and in some aspects
they already exist on the street.
Toyota has developed a self-parking
system. When it is used, you do not
have to steer the wheel in order to
The system is beneficial in many
aspects such as economical and
environmental. With the result of
lowering the amounts of congestion,
the system also counteracts health
17
fewer cars, less traffic lights, fewer
rules etc., creating a natural
environment in where people can
move around and live more freely.
problems due to congestion in the
inner city. Aesthetic aims have also
been spotted as the system
decreases traffic in the inner cities.
These objectives are difficult to
hesitate in order to advocate for
some extra freedom.
As we have pointed out, although
new technologies solve for example
political problems (i.e. problems
concerning ethics, the environment
etc.), they enslave people’s lives and
reduce the personal integrity and
freedom; people are subordinated to
the imprisoning, regimenting effects
which often are mirroring biased
determinations. This enslavement
can manifest itself in many ways. In
the following we want to discuss one
of them; deception.
But if the long term development
proves that the car will be a mobile
unit, where you are restricted to
certain zones and only if you are a
‘member’ – or have the money to
become a ‘member’ – you are
allowed to go elsewhere, then a lot
of people would reject the idea.
Already today the question is loaded
with democratic question marks.
Issues like personal integrity and the
intensification of power relations are
two of those. By being detected
wherever you go the personal
integrity is for many people
somewhat eroded. There are also
some minor political dilemmas
regarding future decisions in where
the ethical issues can be hidden by
the balancing of the budget. This is
always a risk when you let people
that are generating health or
environmental problem become an
income for the city or state.
Deception
Are we all being equipped with an
electronic fetter, without even being
aware of it? Technology and new
media increase the means by which
actions and objects are being
performed and controlled non-visible
to the user. As the elastic qualities of
technology pervade our everyday
life, our biology has altered in a
world where abstract information is
the new all-mighty soul of our
environment. This means that we
cannot be sure of if our environment
is the actual truth or only a
manipulated
substitute
to
the
original. What we are addressing
here is the issue of deception. When
our world is comprehensively
One can only hope that the
introduction of congestion charges is
a step towards a society where we
limit constraining objects in order to
give more freedom to the people. If
this is the case, the congestion
charges will result in inner cities with
18
manipulated when confronted with
information.
inhabited by abstract information we
are more likely to be deceived by our
surrounding.
An important question is: Is it
important for us to know if things are
the actual reality or if they are the
manipulated reality? It is reasonable
to argue that deception can be a
gatekeeper to power. The knowledge
or insight of the full truth seems to be
important to us. It is when we get this
understanding of the world that we
can learn to understand our own
actions and reactions. Thereafter, we
are able to manipulate the real world
and be aware of it instead of merely
manipulating what we are deceived
to believe is the real world.
In all times we have been deceived
and in some aspects it is probably
easier to avoid deception now
because of the availability of huge
amounts of information. One might
for example argue that politics is
about deception and that nature itself
is deceptive: “It certainly looks as
though the sun is moving around the
world” [8]. But, when programmed
information
dwells
with
us
everywhere, we are more frequently
thrown into situations where we
perceive information with skepticism.
Perception through our senses is
loosing value and knowledge of
different possible explanations of our
perception decides what we are to
believe.
“Purposefully to keep others in the dark
about some truth is to diminish the
respect and authority of those people; it
is
to
act
patronizingly
and
paternalistically. In such situations, a
few people decide which truths others
can handle”. [8]
The
extensive
growth
of
interconnected and communicative
technology
–
like
ubiquitous
computing – increases the means by
which enormous quantities of
information can be controlled,
surveyed and manipulated. When
these large amounts of information
can be controlled and manipulated,
how do we treat the issue of
reliability in the future? Already today
we perform many acts without
understanding what they lead to. It is
difficult for people to know what is
‘real’ and what is ‘fake’ or
To free the humanity from deception
and enslavement is – so to speak our effort to reach enlightenment.
Buddhists reach nirvana when and if
they are enlightened and understand
the full nature of universe. In the film
The Matrix from 1999 (Fig. 3) the
character Neo is able to manipulate
the world after getting knowledge
about its real nature.
Despite this, some people might
argue that deception is not
necessarily a bad thing. From that
19
you choose it? Is feeling good about
something the thing that matters the
most to us? How much does the
actual situation matter?
perspective deception can be
justified as means to reach specific
purposes. Is it for instance
appropriate for a system architect or
a
group
of
designers
and
programmers to deceive people in
order to make them happier? The
question gets even more loaded
when referred to governmental and
political aims.
In order to discuss this let us take a
look at the question of conscious
experience.
The
Experience
Machine
was
described
by
philosopher Robert Nozick. The
experience machine is a machine
that makes us experience things as
real although they are not; a
machine that can stimulate your
brain so that you think and feel that
you are eating a delicious desert, or
flirting with someone, or reading an
interesting book while in reality you
would just be floating in a tank with
electrodes connected to your brain.
Thus, you would not know that you
were in there and you would think
that all of this was happening.
Nozick’s device also includes the
idea that other people can plug into
the
machine
and
have
the
experiences they want. This would
be a bit like a controlled
hallucinogenic drug, only that the
signals affecting the brain are preprogrammed and enter your brain via
electrodes. Would you plug in? If we
are deceived in a world that makes
us happier than the real world, would
Fig. 3: In The Matrix an apparently real world is
shaped by artificial intelligence. Humans are
reduced to act as actors in a directed world, only
as fertilizers of the system. Instead it is the
machines – which use the humans as batteries –
that present a virtual world that the humans
conceive as real.
The idea is breathtaking, but as
Nozick argues, we want to know that
we are actually experiencing the
reality. Interacting with the real world
is important to people. The
experience machine would make
people passive in a dream world with
pre-programmed experiences. To
relate this with society today, we
believe that too many of the
designed experiences we get today
are pre-programmed. We buy ‘good’
experiences that give little space for
alternative interpretation; you can
say that we are deceived from the
reality of actual experiences.
“…who causes these thoughts to arise
in my mind?” Descartes [15]
20
Political design
kinds of constraints will become
more and more present. In most
cases the Western culture and
interaction model (an example could
be
the
model
for
Western
typewriting) will be force-fed to the
rest of the world. The design of
interactive technologies by large
multinational corporations for an
increasingly international market
makes interaction design a distinctly
political activity. So, it cannot be
concealed that design is a political
matter and that biased regulations
definitely
exploit
technological
politics.
By establishing the fact that
deception leads to a differentiation of
people who either have or do not
have knowledge, we touch upon an
issue with political importance. What
we deal with here are examples of
social barriers that are sustained by;
or even generated from political
design. This issue is foremost about
how design can create situations, in
where different people are differently
treated and possess unequal
degrees of power as well as unequal
levels of consciousness. Thereby the
main target of the following
discussion is not about enslavement
caused
by
interactive
user
friendliness, but rather a state of
user-hostility. There are many
examples of social barriers that are
supported by design. We will discuss
only a few of them.
Interaction design as political
activity
Interaction design can be very
powerful. In our society we see loads
of examples on political technology
which operates as means of power.
In urban planning and construction
architecture it is well-marked. For
example in most cities the benches
in public space are designed to sit on
but not to sleep on. They are
constructed with elbow rest so it is
impossible to lie down (Fig. 4-5); or
they tilt or the seats are rounded off,
making them almost impossible to
sleep on. A good example of the
latter is the bus benches in Los
Angeles. They are rounded off in a
barrel-shaped form that offers a
minimal surface for comfortable
The social barriers created by
technological design can act as longterm gatekeepers to power. For
example, U.S. military engineers
design airplane cockpits with a bias
against women’s bodies by building
them only to accommodate male
anthropometrics, a practice common
also in automobile design until very
recently. These constraints have a
direct effect on women’s upward
mobility in the field of flying. In these
globalization times where we see
cultural transfers everywhere, these
21
Fig. 5: Bench in Central Park, New York
sitting, while making sleeping utterly
impossible so homeless people
cannot sleep on them. Another
invention
is
the
aggressive
deployment of outdoor sprinkler
systems in some areas of Los
Angeles. To ensure that the areas
are not used for sleeping, the city
has installed an elaborate overhead
sprinkler system programmed to
drench unsuspecting sleepers at
random during the night. The system
was immediately copied by some
local businessmen in order to drive
the homeless away from nearby
public sidewalks.
These
inventions
function
as
hindrances throughout the city.
Obviously, it is because the local
politicians do not want tramps and
homeless people to sleep in public
space, and therefore they construct
‘homeless-proof’ benches, making it
difficult for the homeless people to
live in the city. The politicians want to
spare the ‘normal’ citizens the social
mess their politic have contributed
to. They want a ‘clean’ city and a
normalization of its citizens.
In the digital world we also find loads
of political technology though in a
more abstract form. The Internet and
computer networking is one of the
greatest examples of a political
technology. The computer network
which is often presented and
perceived as a world without
boundaries is in fact culturally and
political bordered. Power can be
grounded in information; a realization
that has caused that networking has
become the modern concierge to
bureaucracy. Since records became
official reality we have been nothing
but files – education files, medical
files, military files etc. – which float
around in a soulless world. We have
got ourselves a state-and-corporatecontrolled
doppelganger
that
somehow has managed to become
more real to society than ourselves
as humans of flesh and blood. To the
society our data bodies are superior
Fig. 4: Bench in Los Angeles
22
puzzle that I would like to take the first
steps towards solving.” [16]
to our physical appearance; the data
bodies identify us, they judge us, and
dictate our status in the world. It
pinpoints an era where we
experience
the
triumph
of
representation over being [16]. The
consequence is the formation of an
information
reality
where
we
experience an authority that actually
prescribes our behavior, and a
legitimacy that cannot be opposed.
The information network considered
as a superior form of being is then a
political
resource
because
it
becomes a monstrous function of
control for the class of the regulators.
One of the reasons why some
people categorized electronic civil
disobedience as terrorism can
originate from their unthinking
assimilation to the world of computer
networking. They identify themselves
through their data bodies which
conserve their status in civil and
professional life. A disruption of
cyberspace feels like a threat to their
data bodies. Therefore, what they
fear is the erasure of their existence
in society which will turn them into
social ghosts – seen and heard, but
not
recognized.
Cyberspace
becomes a territory where some of
the most dangerous criminals are
considered to be. They are the ones
who can delete normal peoples
numbered identities, and suddenly –
despite physiology, souls etc. – we
have been robbed our very
existence. On a higher level the fear
of disruption of cyberspace could
originate in that the request and
action is found extremely political; a
radical strategy that could distort the
power structure of the information
network. It indicates that the control
of virtual space, control of the net
apparatus, is the new locus of
power. If you can control autonomy
in the digital world you can reduce
political objections and by that
eliminate counteractions against the
conventional formation of power.
And thus, you can lower the
individual sovereignty.
A member of the art group Critical
Art Ensemble gives a very good
example of the political dimension of
the network society. At the Terminal
Futures Conference in 1994 he
suggested
an
‘electronic
civil
disobedience’ and was confronted by
a disagreeing audience member who
argued that what he really was
suggesting was pure terrorism. He
found this statement very curious
and has later described why he was
astonished:
“I could not understand who (or more to
the point, what) this audience member
thought was being terrorized. How can
terror happen in virtual space, that is, in
a space with no people – only
information? Have we reached a point in
civilization where we are capable of
terrorizing digital abstractions? How was
it that this intelligent person had come to
believe
that
electronic
disruption
equaled terror? This is an unusual
23
These technologies – digital or
not – have one thing in common:
they are means to accomplish
political goals. They are a way to
convey a fixed, complete, closed
meaning of technology and
society, not allowing different
viewpoints to come forward.
Through eliminating any misuse
they constitute the enslavement of
human beings to the values the
technologies embody. They are
products of a culture that is
shaped by the constraints of
dominant ideologies – ideologies
that privatize architectural public
realm and electronic space in
order to satisfy the bourgeois
society’s demand for increased
spatial and social insulation. It is a
directedness that reinforces a
loss of public-spiritedness; it
makes
human
behavior
determined
instead
of
voluntaristic.
These means of power, these
existing political technologies,
need to be disturbed. We need to
question the control of the
system, the way regulations and
norms overtake our behaviors; we
need to break away from the
directed world. There is an urgent
need
for
more
democratic
technologies, representing more
diversity, opening up for new
interpretations.
24
Part II
design revolución
Fabio Novembre is a contemporary
Italian
designer
&
architect,
presenting himself as the Che
Guevara armed with beauty (Fig. 6).
The main issue of designing new
inventions is about breaking free
from
existing
creations
or
composing them in a different
way. This should include not only
the constant manipulating of
shapes and functions, but also the
way we interpret our entire world.
We have to look at the whole of
life and not the least, how we live.
=
We need to break free; free from
the enslavement of our souls; free
from the routines and the
standardized patterns of our lives
where everything is a standard, is
a product, is a number… We need
to
escape
these
debasing
guidelines of life, not completely,
but enough so that we can diverge
from them. By making design
more respondent to all of life, we
want design to be more human.
Novembre is looking for meaning,
visions, theories and dreams behind
design. The proclamation “Be your
own messiah!” [18], clarifies his
viewpoint. Novembre does not refer
to design as a special area of
interest. He explains that the
important thing is not what you do,
but that you have a vision behind the
things you do, that there is an
underlying poetry. The perspective
he suggests blurs the boundaries
between
profession
and
life,
accordingly work becomes the
medium of every person’s own
expression. [18] In this sense we do
not necessarily have to refer to
‘design revolution’. It could be ‘bank
revolution’, ‘office revolution’ or
‘engineering revolution’ (Fig. 7).
To propose a revolution might be
seemingly utopian, but the need for a
‘design revolution’ is recognized by
others.
“The messiah
Wodiczko [17]
interrupts
?
Fig. 6: Che Guevara & Fabio Novembre
history.”
25
things that stimulate people, i.e.
objects which can be used for
people to create their very own
personal acts and narratives. In
order to do that, we need to find
ways to free the human mind.
After all, design is about life, not
to manipulate shapes.
Breaking free
Fig. 7: Poeticism and eroticism are important
aspects of the design by Fabio Novembre.
How do we change the soul of the
world? Can we change it? There are
many theories, philosophies and
politics on this matter, but if we want
to see a change we need to focus on
how we can affect things.
J. C. Jones goes as far as saying
that the design methods he once
fought for has made life “more rigid,
more homogenized, less human…”
[1]. Today he proposes a world
where people have a bigger space to
create their own environment. He
reacts
resolutely
against
the
“hopelessness
of
relying
on
professionals and specialists and all
kinds of police persons to change
the culture as a whole.” [1]
The world is constituted, produced
and reproduced continuously by
ourselves [19]. History can be seen
as an open project in which the body
and soul of the world changes
constantly. Every time you make a
choice, every time you act, you affect
the body and soul of the world.
Although highly dependent on a
power, we will always have a certain
amount of resources which will
enable us to affect how the powers
are
being
executed.
This
phenomenon
is
described
in
Learning to labor by Willis [19]. In
this book the main characters are
students of a school. The way the
students act on the regulations of the
school affects how it is managed.
Furthermore, the students of the
school create a social identity and
Not unlike Novembre and Jones
we proclaim that ideas are not
enough; that there has to be
thoughts behind them. Designers
have to stop searching for the
‘lowest common denominator’
and in its place venture to be
more diverse. In a homogenizing
world it is time to stop being
afraid of acting and creating
differently. Instead of relentlessly
following standard recipes of how
to design, we need to create
26
consequences3 of actions create the
conditions for future actions [19]. In
this sense people do not have much
controlling power, but there is an
important voluntary element since
the unintended consequences make
changes possible.
opposing views to the ones
presented to them in school. They
carry these views entering a
professional life. Willis example
shows that people can possess big
powers, even when they formally
have no power. Therefore, to be able
to act differently is the ability to
intervene in the world (or in some
situations the option to refrain from
intervening) with the result of
influencing. By influencing the world,
we also influence the states, rules
and structures that control us [19].
The picture is clear; our means of
power are questioning and acting
against the existing. The role of
designers must be: to show
alternatives, or rather, to enable
that people can create own
alternatives; not just to hand them
a new alternative where there is
no room for action, breaking
routines, and raising questions;
not just to solve problems and
hand them answers. This is our
means by which we want people
to be more active, freer, more
aware, more reflecting, more
creative, more human.
We have the power to affect the
world, to make a difference;
nevertheless, we cannot control the
world. In order to change the world in
a specific direction we need to be
conscious about present conditions.
When changes occur, we get more
aware about the existing situation.
Our reaction to the changes enables
us to reflect on them. Thereby we
also reflect on the situation before
the change. Not until a break of
routines occurs, we consider the
reason to the outcome of a specific
act or intention. [19] This contributes
to the constant production and
reproduction of the society.
Punk styles & avant-garde
movements
Designers of all kinds have always
created alternatives for people. Not
as many have focused their effort on
criticizing conventions in society.
One can say that all of history is a
moving wheel where every new
direction is a reaction to the past;
Even though we try to change the
world in a specific direction, the
shaping of the society and the life as
a whole occurs in the most
unpredictable ways. Unintended
3
The notion unintended
consequences is borrowed from
functionalism
27
concerned
culture,
sociology,
politics, gender, psychology etc. We
will present a few of the most
important of these movements.
Although this is a highly simplified
and laconic historical description, it
will give some idea of how the
different movements have treated art
and cultural critique in various
manners.
therefore it is a bit difficult to identify
the styles and ideologies that break
free from existing conventions, in the
start all cultural currents are
reactions to the past. Despite this
fact there are some styles that
always recur as examples of
objecting beliefs questioning earlier
dominating currents.
If we take a look at the twentieth
century, we find a number of
movements focusing on artistic
activities as a critique of regulations
in society. Although these ideologies
never became the leading doctrines
of their time, they have had a
significant influence on their future.
The early critical avant-gardism is
eminently characterized by Dadaism.
After being initiated during World
War I, Dadaism shaped into a
mother of critical art. Its artistic
interference concerned a total
critique of art and all its institutions.
By desiring more spontaneity and
advocating art with no meaning,
Dadaism rejected the bourgeois
cultural system and was for similar
reasons also self critical. The
Dadaists wanted to give art back to
people by proclaiming that art was to
be valued completely from the eyes
of the beholder. From Dadaism and
on art could be anything or
everything. However, this would also
call on more effort for the future of
avant-gardism. The problem they
now had to face was that, when
everything could be labeled as art it
was more difficult to apply new
concepts.
Since the end of 19th century the
avant-garde movements have been
transforming culture and presenting
alternative views to some of the
regulations in society. A broad
spectrum
aim
of
avant-garde
movements has been to make
people surprised and stimulated to
reflect. Thereby, and by disturbing
the balance of aesthetics, a critical
shockwave has time and again been
sent to the establishment as such.
These movements have manifested
art so that people have not known
how to relate to it or how to accept it.
Within the avant-garde movements
we find some of the most
considerable conceptions regarding
critique of society, emerging from
creative arts. The critique has
After a few decades of vibrant
activity established from conceptions
of art, the critical movements were
reduced to a lesser extent. It was not
28
strategies of art as a cultural critique.
Although Lefebvre saw Lettrism as a
joke [23], the movements that
emerged from it came to be more
closely related to his theories. One
example is Situationist International
(SI), a small neo-avant-garde group
that was shaped in 1957. Their ideas
were developed at the same time as
the immensely criticized Vietnam
War was causing victims and
numerous avant-garde movements
grew stronger.
until the end of the next world war
that
the
critical
engagement
seriously started to take shape
again. In 1946 Henri Lefebvre stated
that it was time for the avant-garde
groups of young people to continue
the work that was initiated by the
previous generation. He pointed to
the fact that there was no critical
reflection accompanied to the
separation between man and the
products of his efforts. On the
contrary, man was gradually more
buried in his alienation4 only to
become increasingly conformist.
Contradiction had been replaced by
the cult of the new for its own sake.
[21]
The situationists aimed at completing
the efforts of the Dadaists, by trying
to bring the notion of art as a
separate expert activity to an end. To
them art was revolutionary or nothing
at all. [23] They argued that the
limitations imposed on life, which
reduced human beings to the level of
an object, caused everyday life to be
entirely banal; time and space had
been
restricted
by
capitalist
fabrications into an “immobile
monotony”. [24] The rebellious and
critical characteristics of situationist
international were according to some
analysists also the reason to their
final fall. After the rebelling month of
may 1968 in France, they continued
to direct critique in all directions
while their artistic agenda was
getting more obscure. A few years
later the group was dissolved. At the
same time another big movement
ascended the critical staircase. Punk
rock, which bears comprehensible
During the following years various
avant-garde movements gained
strength. Among the movements
Lettrism5 was perhaps the most
important one concerning the
responsiveness
of
re-initiating
4
Alienation means the
unresponsiveness of the society
as a whole to the individuality
of each member of the
society.[22]
5
Lettrism movement was founded
in the mid 40s by and from the
ideas of the young Isidore Isou.
Lettrism directed a critique of
industrial society including a
proposals for humanizing it with
poetry as the main language.
Painting directly on cinematic
film and use of fluid letters in
art were some of the dynamic
expressions conceived by
lettrism.
29
contained a massive amount of
criticism
towards
existing
establishments. Papanek who cared
for social and moral responsibilities
claimed that industrial design was
one of the most harmful professions
there was:
influences from the situationists,
entered the stage of social critique.
The movement, which was born in
the early 70s, rejected massconsumerism and conformity by
advocating
for
musical
self
expression. Their belief was rooted
in a “do-it-yourself” 6 attitude. The
mind-set was a reaction to the music
industry of the time, which treated
artists as tools to make profit from.
The strategy of punk was to
represent the politics of boredom,
stemming from people outside of the
social network who no longer cared
to be directed (into boredom).
Instead they used the boredom as a
fertilizer to create their own identity.
There are professions more harmful
than industrial design, but only a very
few of them (…) In the age of mass
production when everything must be
planned and designed, design has
become the most powerful tool with
which man shapes his tools and
environments (and by extension, society
and himself). [25]
One of many proposals he presented
was that every single designer
should afford to use only one tenth of
her labor designing for many and not
for money. Papanek’s ‘friendly’
approach of asking for social and
cultural responsibility gives us
reason to take a deeper look into the
underlying target of critique: The
hope for the future.
Punk rock was not alone. During the
early 70s a diversity of professional
groups started to take notice of ideas
related to sociological studies. In
1971
Victor
Papanek
finally
managed to get his book Design for
the real world published. His ideas
were not as rebellious and chocking
as the avant-garde movements
mentioned,
nevertheless
they
6
Do it yourself or DIY is home
improvement done by householders
without the aid of paid
professionals. The term was
coined in the 60s by British TV
presenter and craftsman Barry
Bucknell. [23]
30
Part III
Incomplete design
Incomplete design will introduce you
to and discuss a philosophy outlined
within the areas of design and
technology.
These
areas
are
diverging, questioning and breaking
free from existing notions. Despite
the level of criticism the focal point of
incomplete design is that designers
have to take responsibility for
investing the possibilities for people,
not only problems.
designers have to be conscious
about creating a greater gap of
imagination. In doing so, we open
up for the future to be created by
people themselves. This ‘freedom’
can be named the future space – a
place
where
dreams
and
achievements can be fulfilled.
Here questions can be arisen and
new
meanings
established.
Accordingly, incomplete design is
an instance of non-directing
design.
We want to dissociate us from
conventional design thinking by
introducing incomplete design.
Incomplete designed objects aim
at creating a bigger space for
interpretation and more freedom
of action. In this sense, the
incomplete object does not tell us
what to do. Instead it stimulates
our mind in order for us to think,
feel, and act upon something; it
makes us stop and react.
Incomplete objects give people an
option to improve or perhaps even
complete the object in the mind
and in use. With the introduction
of incomplete design, we want to
escape
homogenization
and
enslaving technologies and create
a bigger room for the real human
qualities. We want to argue that
“…incompleteness is something to be
taken seriously.” Jacques Derrida7
7
Jacques Derrida made this
comment on architecture and
city-planning
31
Incomplete design as mental cure
yet another human wound: a health
problem of the western society
today, namely stress.
The bandage has often played a
symbolic role within critical design.8
The
bandage,
metaphorically
speaking, does not only protect its
wound, but it also reveals its
existence [17]. By introducing
incomplete design we make an effort
to signify this function, namely to
indicate or reveal the wounds of
design and represent the optimism of
revitalization.
Thus,
incomplete
design is a critical design practice
and mental cure for our ‘damaged
souls’. The critical substance of
incomplete
design
is
the
comprehensive rejection of many of
the existing conventional views on
design.
Many scientists have identified an
intensification of stress and stressrelated diseases. An American
survey in 1983 showed that the 55%
of the participants experienced great
stress at least one day a week. In
1996 that number was increased to a
total of 75% [26]. Today (2004) the
amount of self-rated (experienced)
stress is still increasing. The
contemporary stress is – according
to the American Institute of Stress –
“pervasive, persistent and insidious”
[26]. This is in crucial contrast to the
original function of stress: to escape
physical threats (as an example
when we are confronted with a
dangerous animal). Today – on the
other hand – stress is related to
psychological
tensions.
Social
threats
like
decision
making,
arguments,
choices,
demands,
schedules, traffic jams and so forth
make our bodies react with the same
biological functions as when we are
confronted to a physical danger (Our
blood pressure rises and so does our
heart rate. The body fuels energy in
some parts of our body while others
are emptied). With this increasing
amount of pervasive stress, our
needs for routines and simplicity
grow bigger. Therefore, we want
objects in our surroundings to be
convenient and easy to use. As a
result,
when
producers,
We have already identified several
human wounds – or ‘damaged souls’
– that are infected by design: a
homogenized, directed world that
enslaves our lives. As mentioned,
some of the aims of incomplete
design
are
to
escape
homogenization, break away from
enslavement and give more freedom
(of action) to the people. To signify
the role of incomplete design as a
bandage, we will start by addressing
8
Critical design is a design
genre where artifacts try to put
a question mark against their
surrounding or themselves
instead of exclusively focusing
on solving problems in the
surroundings.
32
ourselves
into
routine-based
machines, less thinking and by this
means less human. We carry out
more functions in a shorter period of
time, but as the stress grows we
spend more time living routinely
without thinking or provoking our
soul. As the spiral continues in an
ostensibly perpetual orbit, stress as
well as the need for routines is
increasing. As a result our everyday
activities
are
more
or
less
mechanically performed.
manufacturers and advertisers talk
about optimizing flows, minimizing
workload, and efficiency rates we
swallow their words and consume
their products, because they help us;
they help us with spending less time
on all the necessary needs, and in
favor we get more time for
enjoyment and amusement.
Interruption……zzzbbzbzbrh323626
56326#####rewind*
Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?
Accordingly, we live in a culture with
an increasing amount of both
information and human stress. This
creates a stronger need for routines
that are simple and effective. If the
routines are too difficult we
experience more stress. Even lack of
information is regarded as stressful
because we are used to having
many things to choose from.
Paradoxically, our breaks of rest are
becoming stressful as well. We
believe that this development partly
should be identified or even
acknowledged as a kind of
downward spiral. As we optimize
processes, we also reduce our
patience of dealing with unwanted
breaks of routines. Therefore, many
people more easily get stressed
today compared to a decade ago; for
example from a few seconds of
cueing in a line.
zzzzzzz..Interruption####”#!245……
… reaction, action, reaction
What if we could design objects that
when used could stimulate people to
utilize their creativity, imagination,
intuition and senses? Would that not
be a good alternative to reduce
stress via optimizing objects and to
stop the downward spiral of our
automatic world? Instead of turning
ourselves into mere numbers, why
do we not try to make a world where
people can exploit their full capacity
as human beings? According to
Jones we need to look at the real
human qualities:
“…instead of designing everything on
the assumption that people are going to
behave like machines – that is, without
love, hatred, anticipation, intuition,
imagination, and so on, the very
qualities we associate with being
human… I’d like to see machines,
systems, environments of all kind
designed in such a way that if they are
to work well, everyone who uses or
By reducing the (un)necessary to the
effective and suitable, we turn
33
inhabits them will be challenged to act at
her or his best.” [1]
Do we want to answer that
completely, no! We do not aim to
define a law describing how to
break away from existing laws of
design, but we argue for a new
mode of thought. Everyone seems
to be preoccupied with problems;
why are there not more ‘doctors’
that show people alternatives and
opportunities? There are so many
that only cure problems, when
what many people need is to be
shown opportunities. This is what
we want to do with design:
discover and show opportunities.
In order to do that, we will point out a
few ingredients in this mental cure.
Just because an object that we
use is supposed to be effective
and easy to use, why do we forget
the romantic values? Why do our
actions have to be reduced if they
instead
could
be
made
emotionally
interesting?
By
means of incomplete design we
want to rediscover the interesting,
the romantic, the erotic, the poetic
and the exciting in everyday life;
we want to rediscover real human
qualities. In our palette of life we
want to reserve empty space for
playfulness, humor, absurdness
and joy. In a world where cueing
for a few seconds, waiting for a
green light, feels like great a
stress buster, we want to create
opportunities
for
greater
experiences where people are
allowed to create their own
scenarios; in a way be their own
designers. As Jones, we see the
presence of our other self as the
main obstacle, protecting us from
our “overspecialized selves and
enforcing rules of behavior and
design which assume the users
know nothing and producers
know all”.
The issue of incompleteness is
complex and difficult, and therefore it
holds many ingredients. It involves
imperfection and openness in
appearance, ambiguity, space for
interpretation and freedom of action.
Incompleteness is about grasping
opportunities and creating a creative
environment where people find their
own ways of interacting; it is about
creating objects that are dynamic
and evolve over time as people use
them.
Furthermore,
incomplete
objects relate to cultural and social
issues as well as the whole of life. Of
course, incompleteness can never
be a rule or a standard; there will
always be ‘good’ as well as ‘bad’
incompleteness. If an incomplete
object fails to stimulate or make
people somewhat interested it looses
value.
The user turns into a co-creator
So, what is the ‘medical description’
of incomplete design…is there one?
34
To start with, the seeking for a bigger
space for interpretation is intended to
realize
the
escape
of
the
predominant design view of making
things more understandable and
easy to use. This is a matter that
concerns, not only the design area,
but all forms of creating. A good
book is, in this regard, one in which
the reader is not only a reader, but
also the co-creator of the story. This
means that the reader becomes an
extension of the writer. Thus, the
reader creates and completes the
story by interpreting, filling in,
imagining and. There is undoubtedly
a significant difference in the amount
of interpretation of different novels
and stories, but literature must – in
this sense – be considered a good
medium because it always leaves a
big part of the story to the reader.
Within post-modern cinematography
you can address similar conceptions.
The film viewer is thrown into a sort
of balance situation of being a
passive receiver and a creative and
active interpreter.
the user completes the object in
interaction and over time, we will
reach further.
Fig. 8: Robots in residents. Installation by Mark
Polishook The user speaks via the robot-figures.
The expressive language of the installation is in
the end created by the user.
Umberto Eco’s essay The Poetics of
the Open Work grasps different ways
of understanding and interpreting art
and architecture. Not so far from our
time, the viewer or interpreter of a
work has been directed by the
artist’s intentions with the work as
she has tried with different artistic
effects to prescribe a definite
experience or interpretation. Today
we are well-versed with a diverse
form of plurality concerning art. Art or
architecture does no longer establish
one fixed form of life but bases on
new and contradicting paradigms
which reinforce dynamic elements.
Eco’s express manifesto is that it is
necessary that art takes a step
towards more openness by means of
which art engages its recipient and a
new form of dialectic arises [28]. In
In the same manner we believe that
designers should give people
opportunities to use their own
creativity and intuition in order to
furnish the freedom of shaping
their
own
expressions.
Furthermore, we must treat the
design object in relation to
objectives beyond the good looks
and function of object. By looking
at the acts of the user, in which
35
mind-stimulating
situation.
The
intention is that the user is able to
create her own understanding and a
highly personal interpretation of the
object and her act. A big portion of
the so called intentions are thereby
placed within the mind of the user.
accordance with Eco, we state that
we have to find ways of making
design objects more dynamic.
To put it briefly, we want a shift of
the main focus from understanding
to interpreting and co-creating (Fig.
8). We argue that in order to make
the palette of design more complex,
design should look more at, and
learn more from, other areas of
interest,
especially
art.
The
conversation
and
educational
methods of design would benefit
from many notions found in art. The
shift in focus will lay the foundations
of creating a dynamics where the
user9 has the ‘power’ to decide how
to appreciate the objects. We believe
that it is vastly achievable to
increase the number of designed
objects that engages the senses of
the user. This, though, does not
mean that the user should only feel
and not think. The focus of
understanding that we want to
escape includes the assumption that
objects are so ‘well’ designed that
we should not even think about their
existence. These objects merely
make us act at the same time as we
are being directed by the object.
Instead we aim to generate a kind of
‘non-understanding’,
creating
a
Sometimes it seems like designers
forget that people interpret things
differently, and maybe that is not a
strange thing. Many design practices
declare that as a designer you have
to have a clear intention with every
single part of the designed object.
With this kind of educational focus,
designers are from an early age
stimulated to design objects that
make people go in one explicit
direction, use their hand to pull in a
specific way, get a certain feeling
etc., i.e. designers are learned to tell
people what to do or how to feel.
What is often neglected though is
how people interpret and experience
their acquaintance with the object.
Therefore, it has to be acknowledged
that it is difficult for the person
experiencing a design object to
understand the intentions of the
designer
completely;
and
the
question is: is that interesting at all?
9
In accordance with the
discussion of art users could
very well be called
interpreters, but we want to use
the designation normally used in
the context of design.
36
Imperfection
As mentioned earlier – in some
aspects
–
incomplete
design
corresponds to imperfection. Artists
left strive for perfection long time
ago. When art objects started to look
too much like reality it was less
interesting and less personal. To
think about perfection within art is
somewhat meaningless. Art should
be personal and expressive, not
perfect. By including imperfection
and expression in art objects
tensions are sparkled, imagination is
stimulated, and sometimes even
confusion hits the mind of the user.
Modernism is a genre of art that
made a self-conscious break with
previous genres. It involves a lot of
different movements and ideas to
make art and literature expressional
rather than just a representation of
reality.
Symbolism
and
expressionism were two of those.
Symbolism
was
a
modernist
movement in the late 19th century,
which instead of representing
objects, tried to create ambiguity,
mysticism and evocative works. It
rooted in literature such as poetic
texts of Baudelaire supposing ideas
could be expressed not only through
meaning but also in their sound and
rhythm.
Expressionism was a
follower of symbolism, focusing on
inner experience (Fig. 9).
Fig. 9:
Woman seated, Egon Schiele,
Expressionism one of the Modernist genres.
Openness of meaning
Personal aesthetics, ambiguity and
expression are both important and
desirable, but mere some of many
important aspects of incompleteness
derived from the field of art. In fact,
an anti-art movement has much
more in common with incomplete
design than modernism. Dadaism –
which paradoxically turned out to be
a forerunner of modernism – used
‘no style’ to break from its
predecessors. This is brilliantly
exemplified by the ‘ready made
objects’ by Marcel Duchamp. The
title ‘ready made’ implies the
opposite of incompleteness, but to
draw this conclusion would be a big
37
by saying: dada. Dadaism was said
to self-die for this contradictive
reason, but for us it will always live.
The transition, to turn ideas and
norms completely around, to take
something and make something else
out of it, is not that what we have to
do if we want to understand our own
world? Dada was critical towards art
and the world. Instead of becoming
an anti-art form as it was proclaimed
to be, it turned itself into an art
movement and changed the world of
art all around. From that and
henceforth everything might and can
be titled: art.
misunderstanding. Indeed, when
Marcel Duchamp exhibited his
fountain (Fig. 10) he used a ready
made
object
to
create
incompleteness. He shows the world
new ways of looking at things by
shocking and stimulating the mind of
the viewers and discussing notions:
How do we look at the world? What
is art? Etc. In one set-out – without a
demanding process of developing
his piece of art – he creates an
astonishingly
mind
stimulating
situation.
The interpretation of dada relies
completely on the viewer. As
Duchamp
once
has
stated,
acknowledging the importance of the
active viewer: “The spectator makes
the picture”. [29] Art was thereby
brought back to the people. This – in
turn – brings us back to the dynamic
values mentioned by Eco. In a
similar manner to views of Eco and
Duchamp, we argue that it would
be more natural, even ethical, if
objects open up for a more
democratic
perception
of
meaning. Instead of forcing
people
into
a
general
understanding of objects we aim
at opening up a bigger freedom of
interpretation for people; a sort of
democratic design approach. The
parallels between Dadaism and
incompleteness are more: Just like
within Dadaism incomplete design
Fig. 10: Fountain 1917, 1964 replica. The
porcelain urinal signed R. MUTT chocked the
world of art. Made by Marcel Duchamp; the first
person to call himself a Dadaist.
The Dada movement succeeded in
being both an intellectual (anti-) art
form, at the same time as it deintellectualized the social order of art
38
infuse a more life-like character into
the object. The living design object
changes its state and appearance
over time and in this manner
develops its own life and own
identity. This should not be mistaken
for trying to replace human qualities.
Instead these objects should be
seen in a context where they make
things more interesting and from
which people can share experiences.
aims to blur the boundaries of
different areas of interest, but in
contrast to the varying works of the
Dadaists, incomplete design objects
are not objects without meaning. You
cannot just take any object and call it
incomplete design. There is a higher
‘obligation’ of dynamic qualities.
Freedom of future acts
Looking back at the development
within art, our view is – as suggested
before – that a perfect depiction is
less personal and less interesting.
As within Dadaism, the artists’
choice of viewpoint always gives
some space and some opportunities
to involve incompleteness. The
context, the epic element of pictures,
and the empty spaces give the
viewer opportunity to be creative.
Another form of art is though more
effective and more interesting when
it comes to describing temporal
spaces. Photography is often said to
be about capturing the moment, but
what it also is about is spaces (Fig.
11). What was before the picture?
What comes after? These are the
empty spaces the viewer fills in.
What is around the picture,
physically and mentally?
It should be clear which an aspect
the importance of dynamics within
incomplete
design
has.
This
somehow requires a kind of endless
lifeline of the incomplete objects in
order for them to grow dynamically.
But the temporal qualities of
designed
objects
are
often
neglected. Objects exist in many
situations like when we use them,
see them, interpret them, carry them,
in conversation, in getting to know
them etc. Objects live in our
memories and in coexistence with
other objects and people. The
different way of perceiving a specific
object gives it a soul-like character.
This is even more evident if the
object changes its state as well. A
stereo that is turned off can for
example be looked upon as a piece
of furniture or a sleeping (and
dreaming!) object, far from its
technical qualities described in the
brochures.
Especially
within
technology there is a lot of space for
experimenting with the changes of
state. Thereby, it is also easier to
39
future plans. A collection of sport
pictures could in fact be more
interesting if one picture is missing.
Then, the possibilities, the dreams
are still in the object, as well as the
stimulation of mind: Who is missing?
Why? Etc.
The importance of physically empty
spaces is described by the French
philosopher Jacques Derrida, whose
work originated the school of
deconstruction.10 He points out the
dilemma of completeness within the
areas of architecture and cityplanning. Using the city as a
reference he states that “the most
frightening danger when you make
plans for a city is to saturate space,
physical space.” [30] Therefore,
Derrida declares that it is imperative
that things remain incomplete. With
incompletion in mind, the city will still
function – as it so urgently must – as
a place non-identical to itself, i.e. a
place with no drawn limits, open for
aliens and future hospitality. In
conclusion, it can be stated that the
empty spaces of design are the
temporal acts of the future,
constituting the future space which is
not yet completed.
Fig. 11: Lady bugs by Bo Tannfors. Although this
is a still picture the viewer fills in the action.
The temporal and psychological
questions need to be discussed
within design as well. The empty
spaces of design are the temporal
acts of the future, constituting the
future space which is not yet
completed. By keeping an opening
for future actions, then designed
objects
can
be
made
less
predetermined for the user. By letting
the user control and choose her
interaction over time, you let her
transform the design herself. The
user thereby becomes the codesigner.
Physical empty space
In order to reach these empty
spaces, one can also apply the use
of physically empty spaces. The
physically open space carries more
dreams and more possibilities than
the saturated. An empty spot in a
garden gives sparks to dreams and
10
Deconstruction contributes to
the post-structuralism,
suggesting that the reader
deconstruct rather than
construct it, i.e rather than to
put it together in order to
understand the intension of the
author.
40
Politics and incompleteness
permanently exploits the energy of a
host.
In reference to the view on political
design described earlier, we want to
discuss incomplete design from a
political perspective. In the section
‘Political Design’ we sketched out a
landscape of political objects that are
directing use with the intention of
regulating human behavior in favor
of a bourgeois ideology. With
incomplete design we want to
introduce
a
more
diverse
topography,
one
that
raises
questions instead of giving answers.
We aim at exploring how we can
design more democratic objects by
offering an incomplete room where
existing meanings can be queried
and new ones established.
Fig. 12: paraSITE shelter for homeless people
made of transparent plastic bags and tape
already available on the streets. The
transparency helps them look out for the police.
The project paraSITE by architect
Michael Rakowitz [31] shows an
intelligent provocation of existing
politics towards the homeless people
in the United States. paraSITE
proposes the appropriation of the
exterior ventilation systems on
existing architecture as a means for
providing temporary shelter for
homeless
people
(Fig.12-13).
Homeless people are often seen –
especially by the politicians – as
aliens or parasites that should be
hidden away in order that the
‘normal’ citizens can be protected
against them. The project borrows
from the concept of parasitism
described as a relationship in which
a
parasite
temporarily
or
Fig. 13: paraSITE shelter for homeless people
can be built in exactly the shape and color you
like. They still cost around three dollars to
produce.
The
paraSITE
shelters
are
incomplete designs because they
open up for a discussion of a
formerly fixed solution. Besides
providing a temporary shelter they
function as a station of dissent and
empowerment; they are considered
personal agitation devices, making
more visible the unacceptable
41
Wodiczko argues for a critical view
that questions the miniaturization of
interactive objects. He says that
designers have to break away from
creating miniature communicative
devices, but instead visible, playable
artifacts that make it possible for
powerless people to disturb the
mass and communicate with the
non-expelled citizens. [17] The goal
would be to create a wider and more
open political spectrum. It is the
opposite of a transparent interactive
device that gives a vastly more
narrow ground for debate simply
because of its intended invisibility.
Wodiczko’s project Alien Staff (Fig.
14) is a piece of storytelling
equipment and a legal and ethical
communications instrument and
network for immigrants; it mediates
their voices in official public space
and gives them a chance to address
directly anyone in the city in order to
communicate
their
opinions,
demands, and needs. The Alien Staff
is equipped with a mini video
monitor, loudspeaker, and electrodes
for electric field sensing. A laptop for
digital video indexing, field sensing
circuitry, and batteries are located in
a designed should bag. Since the
small image on the screen is
designed to attract attention and
provoke observers to come very
close to the monitor and therefore to
the immigrant-operator's face, the
usual
distance
between
the
immigrant will decrease. When
coming closer to the monitor, it will
circumstances of homeless life within
the city. The visibly parasitic
relationships of these devices to the
buildings like their alien forms
confront you and demand an opinion
from you. These shelters cannot be
denied. Here you are forced to
define your position towards the
problem instead of just ignoring it as
you may have done before. It
questions existing politics, and it
wants you to take part in the
question: is it just another parasite (a
kind of double parasitism or doublealienation where the city parasite has
find himself another parasite as
shelter), or is it a way to bring the
homeless people closer to the rest of
the citizens in a constructive
encountering? By asking questions,
by not being a solution but instead a
provocative proposal for affordable
housing, paraSITE is a good
example of political, incomplete
design. It conveys a symbolic
strategy towards a serious political
problem, echoing the non-existing
relationship
between
homeless
people and citizens with homes.
This non-existing relationship or
expulsion of aliens in the city is also
what has interested Krzysztof
Wodiczko, an educated artist from
Warszawa who now is Director of
‘Interrogative Design Work Group
MIT’ and professor in the ’Visual Arts
Program’ at the MIT Media Lab.
42
up for a political debate we will not
accept as completed.
become clear that the image of the
face on the monitor is the actual face
of the immigrant. The double
presence on the screen and in reality
requests a different perception of a
stranger as ‘imagined’ (a character)
and ‘experienced’ (an off-stage
actor, a real life person). Since both
views are increasing through the
decreasing distance his or her
presence becomes both legitimate
and real. This change in distance
and perception might provide the
ground for greater respect and selfconfidence,
and
become
an
inspiration for crossing the boundary
between a stranger and a nonstranger.
This openness, this incompleteness
is about non-regulation, and instead
setting things free so the real users
can make stories of their own. We
constantly
need
provocation,
disturbance and never regulate in
order to accomplish certain political
goals. That is why incomplete design
can be the (incomplete) solution to
the endeavor of attaining more
democratic objects.
Estrangement
The comparison of design with
architecture is relevant. Architecture
is often mentioned to be the mother
of design. Just like the buildings
around us affect the way we live,
also objects that we dwell with affect
our way of living. From transportation
such as cars and trains to
communication instruments and
mediums like the TV and the
telephone to objects in our house
and in the city. Krzystof Wodiczko
gives the city a central role when
designing. In the process of his work
he studies the relations between the
inhabitants and symbolic structures
of the city as well as the
psychosocial relations. He proposes
a design practice that interrupts the
processes of the city and eventually
contributes in healing the city’s
wounded psychosocial relation and
Fig. 14: Immigrants using the Alien Staff
instrument are confronting ’normal’ citizens in
order to start a dialogue and decrease the social
distance.
Wodiczko’s work crosses not only
ethnic
borders
but
political
boundaries as well. It debates
existing politics by confronting it in a
real life scenario. Like Michael
Rakowitz’s project Alien Staff opens
43
their semantic knowledge to make
products that are easy to use or
products that are coherent to a
company’s brand. This knowledge is
also important if you intend to break
from earlier connections to the
product. We find inspiration in trying
to create objects that we are
strangers to or perhaps objects that
are strangers to us. It is important to
understand that in view of that things
can be both too easy and too difficult
to understand. If they are too easy
they are not strangers to us and if
they are too difficult they will not
make us interested; a total chaos
that is not making any sense to us
will not keep our interest on a high
level, unless we are not captured by
the perceptual expression itself. In
order to be effective you need to
combine the familiar with the
unknown.
its catastrophic reality. He focuses
on the experience of strangers using
himself as his main tool.11 By sharing
the experience of a stranger,
Wodiczko means, that the city
revives and establish consciousness
and democratic hope for us all.
His observation leads us to a few
questions:
What can we learn from the
stranger?
Are we too blinded to understand our
own world?
Is it possible to look at ourselves
from a distance?
These rhetorical questions are not to
be answered here and now, but the
fact is that eyes from inside in
combination with eyes from the
outside are important both for the
general understanding of objects as
well as for the design process itself.
When a designer creates something
new her starting point is things and
activities that she already knows.
According to semiotic principals we
find things easy to understand and
use if the object and it parts does not
deviate too much from the ‘current
product
sign’.
This
is
a
communicative matter; if we break a
lot from existing ‘signs’, we will not
understand it. Many designers use
Wodiczko recognizes this balance
and identifies the importance of
focusing on the experience of a
stranger to a city. Just like Wodiczko
we find it important to study the
experience of strangers to an object.
The unrecognized qualities of the
object do not only stimulate the user
to reflect on the object, they also
make it possible for the user to
interpret the object differently from
time to time. There is no easy
answer to what all parts of the object
are. Therefore, the mood, the
situation, and the environment have
more
importance
than
when
11
Wodiczko’s starting point was
immigrants; by being an
immigrant and visiting new
places he himself was also a
subject of exploration.
44
structuralist Roland Barthes.12. In
S/Z – Barthes’ most important and
certainly his most sustained critical
analysis of a literary text, and a
landmark text within the history of
modern literary theory, lying as it
does precisely at the borderline
between structuralism and poststructuralism – Barthes introduces
two terms: readerly and writerly text
[34].
someone sees a common object. An
interesting discussion is how and in
what ways the designer can create
things in order to keep tensions over
time and develop the acquaintance
with the user?
Incomplete design and
literature
The classical or readerly text utilizes
hermeneutic codes to produce a
narrative logic which takes readers
through to a conclusion and as a
result to the impression of a final,
closed meaning. Such texts produce
what Barthes calls irreversibility in
The agenda of incomplete design
should be clear; beneath the
polished surface of design objects
we need to find a strange,
incomplete world driven by real
human
qualities
like
intuition,
emotion, imagination, and creativity.
Instead of transparent and userfriendly objects which turn the users
into non-thinking percipients, we
need more opaque, obscure, mindconfusing objects that trigger and
stimulate. To introduce light and
shade into the discussion we want to
discuss incomplete design in the
perspective of literature, thinking
about the design object as a text.
12
It is a simplification to
categorize
Barthes
as
purely
post-sructuralist when Barthes
during the 1960s had been deeply
involved
in
the
project
to
establish a structural analysis
of narrative. [32] During the
latter
part
of
the
1960s,
however,
Barthes
had
grown
increasingly skeptical about the
structuralist
approach
to
language,
literature
and
cultural sign systems in general
and – influenced by early poststructuralist theorists such as
Jacques Derrida, Julia Kristeva
and Jacques Lacan – had begun to
develop a new approach to the
analysis of narratives which he
styled ‘textual analysis’. In
this thesis we intend to mainly
to discuss and make use of
Barthes’
post-structural
thoughts.
Writerly vs. readerly
To understand our distinction
between transparent, easy-to-use
objects and opaque, incomplete
objects we want to introduce critical
thoughts on the literary text put
forward by the French post-
45
ourselves writing, before the infinite play
of the world (the world as function) is
traversed;
intersected,
stopped,
plasticized by some singular system
(Ideology, Genus, Criticism) which
reduces the plurality of entrances, the
opening of networks, the infinity of
languages. The writerly is the novelistic
without the novel, poetry without the
poem,
the
essay
without
the
dissertation, writing without style,
production without product, structuration
without structure.” [34]
their narrative momentum. They do
not locate the reader as a site of the
production of meaning, but only as
the receiver of a fixed, predetermined,
reading.
Thus,
approaching political issues, Barthes
argues that readerly texts are
products rather than productions,
and they support the commercialized
values of the literary establishment,
promoting a view of text as disposal
commodities: “the commercial and
ideological habits of our society (…)
would have us ‘throw away’ the story
once it has been consumed
(‘devoured’), so that we can then
move on to another story, buy
another book” [34].
The writerly text therefore resists the
commercialization
and
commodification of literature:
“Why is the writerly our value? Because
the goal of literary work (of literature as
work) is to make the reader no longer a
consumer, but a producer of the text.”
[34]
Standing in opposition to the
readerly text as a conventional and
conservative
value,
Barthes
introduces the writerly text. The
writerly text is that text which refuses
the narrative logic of the readerly text
and which presents the reader with a
proliferation of meanings; a plurality
of meaning that cannot be closed by
the reader. It therefore forces the
reader into an active, on-going
production of meaning rather than
the traditional idea of a passive
discovery of stable meanings
somehow locked inside the text. The
writerly text turns the reader into a
writer of the text:
Barthes ‘textual analysis’ marks the
distinction
between
traditionally
literary works such as the classical
novel and modern literature; but you
can expand the view and say that
they
distinguish
between
conventionally artistic work and
modern forms and styles which
violate the conventions of realism,
forcing the reader to produce a
meaning or meanings that are
inevitably other than definitive and
‘authorized’.
Behind
these
distinctions lies an aesthetic and
political project: The championing of
the
artwork
which
usefully
challenges traditional conventions.
“The writerly text is a perpetual present,
upon which no consequent language
(which would inevitably make it past)
can be superimposed; the writerly text is
46
In interaction design the readerly
seems to dominate. The readerly
object – we can call it – supports the
idea crucial to the conventional
design society and what Dunne calls
the Human Factors community (both
present in the academic and
commercial
establishment)
that
objects convey an ultimate, stable
and singular meaning, and that they
therefore must be understood rather
than interpreted. It is a semantic
design
approach
where
the
interaction designer metaphorically
refers
to
already
known,
recognizable
objects
(typically
physical, non-technical objects like a
desktop, pen, book etc.). Dunne
gives an example of such semantic
design
product:
Lisa
Krohn’s
designer for a phonebook and
answering machine which shows
how a literal use of analogy results in
metaphors with a single meaning
(Fig. 15). The product portrays their
definitive functionality, limiting the
user’s interpretation of the object to
the designer’s, and the power of
these borrowed images to sustain
interest is weak. As Dunne
expresses “(…) they are the material
equivalent of one-liners. Once the
viewer grasps the connection there
is little else to engage with.” [13].
Fig. 15: Lisa Krohn’s Phonebook Answering
Machine. It is a combination of telephone and
answering machine which transcribes and
thermally prints any messages. Its uses a book
format with the pages serving as switches for the
different functions. It shows how a literal use of
analogy results in metaphors with a single
meaning; the product becomes depictive of what
they do.
is pre-encoded by the designer. The
readerly object is without an outside;
it is a closed door! The matter of the
readerly is an absolute, complete
matter, a room without any opening
or crack, a closed form. It does not
welcome the creation of a locale
interpretation.
The perspective of the Human
Factors community lies in the goal of
bridging the gap between people and
technology [35]. This view has been
manifested by different design
methodologies, for example ‘usercentered design’ which we have
already mentioned. In building up
general design guidelines to secure
the perfect humanized technological
design, we see a reproduction of the
readerly object. Consider these
examples:
The semantic approach is a
reactionary and freezing approach
because it indicates only one right
way to understand and use a
technological object, and that is what
47
neglect it. They do not leave
anything to the users themselves. In
fact the guideline decides what we
as users will encounter:
“The system should speak the users’
language, with words, phrases and
concepts familiar to the user, rather than
system-oriented terms. Follow realworld conventions, making information
appear in a natural and logical order.”
“…we no longer design objects, we
design the user’s perceptions of what
those objects are, as well as the
meaning that accrues from their physical
existence, their function and the sense
of possibility they offer.” , Dunne [13]
“Users often choose system functions
by mistake and will need a clearly
marked ‘emergency exit’ to leave the
unwanted state without having to go
through an extended dialogue. Support
undo and redo.”
Using a term of Donald Norman –
one of the greatest contributors to
the writings of the Human Factors
community – R. Robinson explains
the problem like this:
Two of ten usability heuristics by the
famous user interface designer Jakob
Nielsen. [36]
“Affordances, to use Norman’s term, are
individually, socially, and culturally
dynamic. But the artifacts do not merely
occupy a slot in that process, they
fundamentally shape the dynamic itself.”
Dunne [13]
These heuristics tell us: a system
should mediate natural, real-world
conventions; and that systems
possess
an
unwanted
state.
Accordingly, it is believed that it is
possible
to
make
an
exact
conceptual model of the world of the
user and the situation of use. The
goal is to speak the user’s language.
Thus, the conventional design
methodologies say: analyze the
social, cultural, and linguistic context
of a certain domain, formalize this
fluffy sphere in logical parameters
and embody these in an interactive
technological system. The idea is
that the system should mirror the
context of use. That reduces the
work of the interaction designer just
to create a mediation of the realworld. But although the point of
departure of these systems is to care
about the human mind, they actually
If this continues to be the general
principle the only thing we will be
served with are readerly objects
designed as a transparent window
onto ‘reality’ – that authentic play
about one true world where we are
destined to adapt to predetermined
roles. If we do not fit the designed
‘reality’ and try to compose our own
reality – our fiction – or simply do not
understand the proper use of the
object, we enter an unwanted state
in the system. The clearly marked
“emergency exit” needs to rescue
the user, as if the user has to be
saved from exploring a dangerous
terrain that may be poisoned with
48
user-unfriendliness.
Giving
example Dunne expresses
dilemma in this way:
What is declared here is that
challenge and frustration is not to be
attached to the use of interactive
objects, and that objects must be
understood and there is a ‘normal’
process of doing this. It emphasizes
the idea of interactive objects
embedding only one stable meaning.
This fear of abnormality creates a
mind-numbing interactive sphere. As
stressed earlier, individuals become
more and more directed – almost
healed from the genuine reality of
existence – and less human. In this
topography, we place ourselves on a
platform overlooking the beautiful
valley we call humanity – the
complex and messy matrix of
confusing compositions. And on this
platform it is filled with one-size tshirts which just have to fit us all!
an
the
“…while using electronic objects the use
is constrained by the simple generalized
model of a user these objects are
designed around: the more time we
spend using them the more time we
spend as a caricature. We unwittingly
adopt roles created by the Human
Factors specialists of large corporations.
For instance, camcorders have many
built-in features that encourage generic
usage; a warning light flashes whenever
there is risk of ‘spoiling’ a picture, as if to
remind the user that they are about to
become
creative
and
should
immediately return to the norm” [13]
Thus, the play cannot afford
spontaneity,
so
the
designer
becomes the paranoid director telling
us not to fantasize beyond the
manuscript.
The
readerly
object
–
the
transparent, easy-to-use object – is
penetrated by the one-size-fits-all
design phenomenon. It can be
argued that the idea is derived from
the Western thought that there is a
general, objective explanation to all
our problems, some kind of universal
reason to every action. This Western
principle of causation results in a
belief that when we can diagnose a
mental sickness behind certain
misbehaviors, we can also design a
common cure against it. We believe
that is the reason why we see more
and more products trying to serve us
with answers to all our problems. We
see all these new technological
The methodological conventions not
only prescribe what our goals are as
interaction designers, they also
categorize well and poor design.
Donald Norman writes in his famous
book “The Design of Everyday
Things”:
“Well-designed objects are easy to
interpret and understand. They contain
visible clues to their operation. Poorly
designed objects can be difficult and
frustrating to use. They provide no clues
– or sometimes false clues. They trap
the user and thwart the normal process
of interpretation and understanding.”
[37]
49
inventions designed for a more
comfortable life like the intelligent
refrigerator which suggests recipes
and orders the ingredients needed
(Fig. 16). According to Dunne this
approach is a serious problem
because of its uncritical acceptance
of the “American Ideology”; the
ideological
legitimating
of
technology. Dunne borrows the term
from Bernard Waites who writes:
“All problems whether of nature, human
nature, or culture, are seen as
‘technical’ problems capable of rational
solution through the accumulation of
objective knowledge, in the form of
neutral or value-free observations and
correlations, and the application of that
knowledge in procedures arrived at by
trial and error, the value of which is to
be judged by how well they fulfill their
appointed ends. These ends are
ultimately linked with the maximization
of society’s productivity and the most
economic use of its resources, so that
technology, in the American Ideology,
becomes
‘instrumental
rationality’
incarnate, the tools of technology.” [13]
Fig. 16: The Electrolux Group’s future refrigerator
Screenfridge. Screenfridge has a built-in
computer that helps you buy groceries, it
suggests recipes and menus, it knows exactly
which groceries there are in it, and also works as
a communications centre for the whole family.
The refrigerator also has cable TV and a radio
and is also connected to the outdoor camera that
serves as a security system for your home.
Wright referring to Wodiczko’s work
sees the perspective of the society
not in the light of the principle of
causation but in relation to
commercialism.
He
expresses
people’s problems with perception of
deviating design objects:
“The minute you present a proposal,
people think you must be offering a
grand vision for a better future. They
can’t see a thing like the Homeless
Vehicle of the Poliscar as the
‘concretization’ of a present problem, a
makeshift transitional device, or an
aesthetic experiment. Instead, they think
50
The writerly object
it must be designed for mass
production, and instantly imagine
100,000 Poliscars taking over the cities.”
[13]
While the readerly object is
characterized by transparency and
user-friendliness,
a
more
differentiated and ambiguous model
is embedded in the writerly object.
Due to the writerly object’s derivation
of the writerly text it provides us with
a variable, open-ended meaning of
the object in use. Without speaking
of the readerly and the writerly,
Dunne has pointed out the difference
in relation to technological objects:
The perspective forms the dominant
mode of aesthetics under function
that characterizes the readerly
object; function becomes the answer
to almost everything. It considers the
users to be not-thinking actors who
in an ideal world could rely on the
efficiency of the technology. Andy
Clark has said it very precisely:
“Our brains make the world smart so
that we can be dumb in peace!” [38]
“The values and ideas about life
embodied in designed objects are not
natural, objective or fixed, but manmade, artificial and mutable.” [13]
It gives us the impression of
designers as those who change
processes, social life and even
history, and users those who are
meant to adapt to the intended
structures. It seems to be that
designers make the world and
people imitate their constructed
intensions;
the
possibility
of
skepticism
is
eliminated
and
unthinking assimilation of the simple
generalized models rooted in
technological objects is supported:
The writerly object is an endlessly
ocean of cultures which people can
dive into and give new meaning to. It
is an enormous arena of artistic
codes and meanings in which people
can build their own playing field.
Speaking with a barthian tongue: It is
a “galaxy of signifiers13, not a
structure of signifieds14 it has no
beginning; it is reversible; the code it
mobilizes extend as far as the eye
can reach.” [34]. That is why the
designer of the writerly object can no
more than trace a field without origin,
“Although transparency might improve
efficiency and performances, it limits the
potential richness of our engagement
with
the
emerging
electronic
environment and encourages unthinking
assimilation of the ideologies embedded
in electronic objects.” [13]
13
A signifier; in French
significant, is the form that
the sign takes.
14
The signified; in French
signifié, is the con it
represents.
51
We want to characterize the
incomplete object as a writerly
object, emphasizing the open-ended
meaning that incomplete design
embodies. The incomplete object
possesses the possibility of an
explosion
of
meaning.
The
introduction of the writerly object in
interaction design states a shift in
focus: an aesthetic design approach
more concerned with interpretation
than semiotic functionality. Dunne
has described a similar shift in focus:
without the answer, and tries to
materialize opportunities and not
constraints.
Instead of drawing on authentic and
factual images the writerly object
utilizes synthetic elements. That is to
say, the function of the writerly object
is to counteract the focus on
authenticity encouraged by routine
modes of perception. It is more
fiction than reality; the writerly object
acknowledges its artifice by calling
attention to the various expressional
techniques which produce the
illusion of realism. It does not serve
us with a pragmatic clarity, but
instead
we
experience
an
opaqueness reflecting an imaginary
world which stimulates us to vision
our own thoughts.
“The emphasis shifts from optimizing the
fit between people and electronic
objects
through
transparent
communication, to providing aesthetic
experiences through the electronic
objects themselves.” [13]
This new approach aims not at
providing the incomplete object with
traditional aesthetics but with what
Dunne calls an ‘aesthetic of use’; an
aesthetic
which,
through
the
interactivity made possible by
computing, seeks a developing and
more nuanced cooperation with the
object (source: Dunne, 1999). It is an
aesthetics that attends less on the
object’s appearance than on the
writerly performances emerging in
the interaction. This aesthetic
conveys the ‘complicated pleasures’
we often experience in literature and
film. In the following we will present
examples of these ‘complicated
pleasures’, as we see them to be of
great inspiration to interaction
The writerly object invites the user as
protagonist and co-producer of the
interactive experience. It gives the
user the opportunity to pursue the
drama. In ancient Greece the drama
differs from the pragma which
defines the everyday true-life reality
of a person. In interaction design this
pragma is the true, real interaction
with an object and the interaction
that visualizes a ‘better world’ [13].
The drama is the exact opposite:
users desire for a better world; it is
the visualization of all the alternative
utopias; it evokes a world of fantasy
where users can dramatize reality
with the intention of exploring their
own needs.
52
design. First, Stefan’s use of the
word-processing program can be
considered a misuse of functionality.
Originally the functionality was
implemented to help the user to
correct her writing or enriching her
text by suggesting correct spelling
and synonyms. When Stefan worked
on transforming the text to
something more exiting, he explored
a new way of working with the
program. He deviated from normal
use of the programs functionality and
he did it in a creative mode. It may
be unconscious but still he did not
follow the standardization of writing
by reproducing existing ways of
using a word-processing tool.
design, giving the incomplete object
an enigmatic, euphoriant flipside.
The scriptor’s phantamatics
“He lost one af sin eager. You can’t
hurry love, lod the balls hope. Should
girls have trans parents T-shirts på, når
det er så hotfuck? Ingenue noise
deroppefra. The telephone collapsed.
Gig en spule rastlæst around.
Dørtelephone chimed agent. Fondue no
chimera. Det var after eight his
fødselsdag, syntax han næsten at sige
til sig selv. Chlorine var circa 3. “Wake
op din Sinatra.” James’ blik was slurred,
he cut se Peters thin face some place
delude. James sampled sin body og
rejste sig (…) han drak det sadist af sin
øl. He saw Peter disappear I
skumringens dusk og gik så selv derind.
Even horses ends, tænkte han!”
[39]
Second, you can say that Stefan
opposes official orthography and
instead builds his writing on
orthographic aberrations. For Roland
Barthes these abnormalities are
happy spelling mistakes which make
the scriptor enjoy writing. In his
essay Freedom to Write [40] he
asks:
Originally this text is a short story
written in English. Later it has been
transformed
by
poet
Stefan
Kjerkegaard because it bored him so
much that he felt the necessity of
changing it. By exploring the
functionality of a word-processing
program he found out how to use the
encapsulated
dictionary
and
thesaurus in order to transform the
text. Some words and whole phrases
are translated into either English or
German while others are replaced by
synonyms and maybe thereafter
translated.
“…just think of the kind of intoxication, of
baroque jubilation which explodes in the
orthography
“aberrations”
of
old
manuscripts, of texts by children and the
letters of foreigners: might one not say
that in such efflorescenes as these the
subject seeks his freedom: to trace, to
dream, to remember, to understand?”
[40]
You can argue that our language is
adequately nuanced to hold linguistic
For us this text contains several
points in relation to incomplete
53
thoughts and to concretize them. But
the problem is that these structures
to often become a mantra which is
obeyed
without
reflection.
It
becomes a checklist that guarantees
you the most optimal design; a
manual which is difficult to break
away from when first acknowledged
and incorporated. What we need is a
more imprecise hymn in order to
take advantage of the world of
ambiguities
and
contradictions.
Instead of obeying reductive laws put
forward by most academic design
research we have to feel our own
pulse
to
find
a
mysterious
commandment that comes to us
from our very own intuition and
imagination.
freedom but in fact we are all slaves
of the consistent spelling and
grammar
directions,
even
arbitrariness is statutory. Writing is a
creative act – no one doubts that –
but somehow education institutions
have succeeded to impose rules for
how creative you can be if it has to
be considered legal. In some sense
orthography has had the value of law
in the eyes of these institutions (and
maybe the State). As Barthes
believes,
this
makes
spelling
restrictive and imprisoning:
“…legalized spelling keeps the
scriptor from enjoying writing, that
euphoric gesture which permits
putting into the tracing of a word
a little more than its mere
intention to communicate.” [40]
Pleasurable illegibility
We need to escape this reductive
law and liberate creativity. It is
important to listen to the subject’s
desire; in creative processes it might
constitute a very positive practice of
expression; it might enhance artistic
physiognomy to acquire poetic value,
insofar as it emerged from the artist’s
phantasmatics
and
not
from
uniformity.
At the time we learn to spell we are
told to write with a certain hand. In
the Western education system all
scholars’ handwriting is corrected
after certain rules. Few hands are
tolerated. Script writing – the easiest
to decode – is the most applied, and
ruled paper is used to standardize
the handwriting. Diverging pupils
often hear: “Oh, you write a shocking
hand”. Understood, a script which is
not readable is a paradoxical and
useless one. It does not seem to be
about an aesthetic handwriting with
unique qualities but about a
conformal script that prioritizes
This constructive resistance is
important in design. We want to
encourage designers to create
‘spelling mistakes’. To some extend
designers have to be guided by
methods and structures. It helps
designers to arrange their fluffy
54
earlier, this requires a whole new
mindset in order for designers to let
their perversity come alive. Important
is it that the new approach is not to
be legalized as just another law. Let
us not talk about aberrations or
incapacity but about diversity and
inconsistency.
language as a tool for conveying
general, intelligible meaning.
It can be seen as a consequence of
excessive ethnocentrism that we in
the Western world ascribe the script
to pure communicative functions. In
the ancient cultures of Asia initially
the script was ritual as a medium for
the forbidden contact with the
subterranean world’s punitive and
avenging Gods. The script was
thought as a way of hiding the
communication to the surrounding
world and was for that reason
referred to cryptography. According
to Barthes in his essay ‘The pleasure
of the text’ that is where the true
nature of the script is buried: on its
reverse side as a pleasurable
illegibility; as concealed erotic
processes
(think
about
how
handwriting like the voice changes
character at the time of pubescence)
based on the rhythm of the hand. It
supports the anthropologists theories
about that humans made abstract
and rhythmic inscriptions in the
caves before the birth of the actual
and certified script. [41]
Poetic design objects
ASDF
JKLÆ
ASDF
JKLÆ
This is a poem by the Danish poet
Simon Grotrian [42]. In Danish it is
named Håbløshed (in English
Desperation or Hopelessness). At
first glance it just seems like arbitrary
letters apparently placed in an
illogical order. But if you relate the
letters to the poems title and you try
to take to mean why he has chosen
exactly those letters, you realize that
the poem try to describe the
desperation you feel when sitting in
front of your keyboard ready to write
wise sentences and you just cannot
write a single word; the letters
connote the starting position of your
fingers on the keyboard. Now an
ostensibly
uninteresting
poem
becomes exciting and starts to
involve our mind in many levels.
Visually it kicks us because it
somehow manages to trick our
normal conceptions of a poem or a
If we have to escape the reductive
laws of interaction design we have to
liberate us from the checklists and
evaluation schemes which today
seem
to
penetrate
design
methodologies as user-centered
design. Instead, we should look at
diverging forms and try to design
pleasurable illegibility. As underlined
55
become more aware of language than
we are when we are confronted by
language in its other functions. To
introduce another term dear to the
formalists, in literature language is
‘foregrounded’. This, as Jakobson
stresses, is the tendency of literature,
much more fully recognized in poetry
than it is in prose. In the everyday use of
language it will seldom be practical and
may even be found impolite to
‘foreground’
language.
Everyday
language is usually informative and
instrumental; there is no call for either
the speaker/writer or hearer/reader to
dwell on the form of what is said/written
since if a piece of information has been
successfully passed or some action
successfully instigated, the words by
which this has been managed can count
as ‘transparent’. With the poetic function
comes a certain opacity, for the writer is
no longer passing information nor
seeking to instigate action. There may
also come an intentional ambiguity.” [13]
text. It is not readable in a normal
sense because it does not contain
any readable words and is almost
impossible to pronounce. It also
comments on the society we are
living in. Before computers and
typewrites the visualization of a
writers complete writing blockage
would have been different (a blank
piece of paper would have been the
most overtly).
This poem shows how a text speaks
back to us in different ways. It
involves us, and if we accept this
invitation and start a dialogue with
the text we will continuously discover
new meanings. It forces us to
engagement and pushes us to
search for some kind of meaning.
We become active investigators
instead of passive recipients. That
makes poetry more than simply
enriched involvement. It can offer a
complex,
ambiguous,
and
incongruent experience.
Contrary to transparent and userfriendly design which tries to
background the existence of an
object to ease the use, poetic
interaction foregrounds the object
and the whole interactive sphere
between object and user. Objects do
not always have to convey expected
functionality. The poetic design
object can furnish design with an
incongruent complexity which goes
beyond conventional definitions of
functionalism; it can even question
the very same functionalism. A
frustrated Donald Norman asks
about
the
ineffectiveness
of
everyday objects:
Penetrating objects with an intrinsic
poetry we can create something
unfamiliar and let the users make
their own discoveries in this strange
sea. The object does not have to
fulfill our expectations, it can surprise
and provoke. According to Sturrock
poetry provide that provocation by
not using words in a transparent
way:
“The poetic function of language has as
its effect that when we read literature we
56
“Could the whole world be mechanically
incompetent?” [37].
Presuming
mechanically
incompetent means interactively
ineffectual it is tempting to answer
with another question: If just some of
the
world
were
mechanically
incompetent, would the whole world
not be a more poetic place to live?
Fig. 17: Picture from David Lynch’s Mulholland
Drive. Who is the man in the background?
The post-modern film
Nobody understands Mulholland
Drive, and it is reasonable to argue
that understanding Mulholland Drive
is of any use. As incomplete objects,
Mulholland Drive might have no strict
explanation. And, if it does, the
explanation can only make Lynch’s
film a worse film; less hypnotic, less
disturbing and less exciting. In actual
fact the lack of general explanation
opens up for a plurality of possible
meanings. Lynch’s movies, and
especially Mulholland Drive, put the
real human qualities in perspective.
He opposes the transparent film that
can be seen as similar to the glasslike, mind-numbing interactive object.
According to Lynch humans really
want to think:
In exploring a space between fine art
and design, so far concentrating on
the ‘complicated pleasures’ of
literature, it is interesting to widen
the focus to include film. We want to
look at the incomplete object through
the optic of post-modern filmmaking.
The most pure example of
incomplete or writerly filmmaking is
the films of the well-reputed and
intelligent post-modern filmmaker
David Lynch. A David Lynch movie
makes the viewer – if she takes up
the challenge – exceptionally active.
Lynch uses absurdity and ambiguity
to
give
the
viewer
many
opportunities to involve her own
intuition, creativity and emotions in
interpreting the movie. In this way
the viewer decides what the movie
is, not the filmmaker. Let us take a
closer look at his film Mulholland
Drive (Fig. 17-18).
“Well, there are many kinds of films.
Most of them, nowadays, don’t demand
much thinking. That makes me very,
very upset. It makes me upset that they
think the audiences have grown unused
to thinking and that they only want
things spelled out for them, in a platter.
That’s bullshit, and a big one. People
love to think. We are all detectives. We
57
The death
of the designer
love to observe, we love to deduce. It is
great to pay attention. (…) After an
experience like seeing this movie, each
person gets an intuitive, personal
knowledge, which may lead to a
personal conclusion”. [43]
As we have outlined, the incomplete
object reorganizes the relationship
between the designer and the user.
By seeing the user as a protagonist
you remove the pedestal designers
have been put on and restore the
place of the user; the user is
regarded a producer of the object. In
accord with Barthes’ writings about
the writerly text he has emphasized
a similar restructuring of the
conventional relationship between
the writer and the reader. Earlier, an
author was someone who wrote a
book. In the essay ‘The Death of the
Author’ [40], however, Barthes
demonstrates that an author is not
simply a ‘person’ but a socially and
historically constituted subject. An
author does not exist prior to or
outside of language. In other words,
it is writing that makes an author and
not vice versa; it is language which
speaks, not the author. Thus, the
author cannot claim any absolute
authority over his or her text
because, in some ways, he or she
did not write it:
Fig. 18: David Lynch balances fantasy with
realism.
It is when we are already filling the
tale’s apparent gaps with our own
imagination that David Lynch begins
to play with our ability to follow a
narrative, or with the movies’ ability
to create, in our head, different
narratives.
The
complexity
of
qualities
co-created
between
filmmaker and the viewer’s construct
different meanings and experiences.
If more designers would act like
David Lynch, we imply that people
would be given more freedom and
more opportunities to create their
own environments and their own
storylines of life. Why should so
many professionals tell us what to do
and how to think and act?
“…a text consists of multiple writings,
proceeding from several cultures and
entering into dialogue, into parody, into
contestation; but there is a site where
this multiplicity is collected, and this site
is not the author, as has hitherto been
claimed, but the reader: the reader is
the very space in which are inscribed all
58
the citations out of which a writing is
made; the unity of a text is not in its
origin but in its destination…” [40]
Barthes’ utopian dreams of a writing
liberated from the omniscient author,
the incomplete object is the
realization of designing liberated
from the designer; it is the ‘death of
the designer’. The ability for each
user to participate in the construction
of the meaning of the object opens
possibilities of collective designer
ship (derived from authorship) that
breaks down the idea of designing
as originating from a single fixed
source; the designer and user simply
play equal roles. Similarly, in the
case of the writerly text, the ability to
plot out unique patterns of reading,
to move through a text in a nonlinear fashion, serves to highlight the
importance of the reader in the
‘writing’ of the text: each reading,
even if it does not physically change
the words, writes the text an
alternative meaning simply by rearranging it, by placing different
emphases that might subtly inflect its
meaning.
You cannot speak of a text before
there is a reader; the reader is what
gives the text a meaning, the reason
to call it a text. In reference to the
writerly text Barthes believes that to
give a text an author is to impose a
limit on that text, to provide it with a
final meaning, to close the writing.
He suggests distancing the concept
of the author. Actually, he is quite
more radical saying that the birth of
the reader must be requited by the
death of the author [40]. That
prescribes a new conception of the
relation between writer and reader.
The reader no longer has to search
for the intended meaning of the
author hidden in his work; in fact it is
pretty pointless because it cannot be
done:
“…the claim to ‘decipher’ a text
becomes entirely futile. (…) In multiple
writing, in effect, everything is to be
disentangled, but nothing deciphered,
structure can be followed, ‘treaded’ in all
its reprises, all its stages, but there is no
end to it, no bottom: the space of writing
is to be traversed, not pierced; writing
constantly posits meaning, but always in
order to evaporate it: writing seeks a
systematic exemption of meaning.” [40]
If we, in accordance to Barthes’
thoughts, throw the emphasis away
from an intending designer as the
site of production and on to the
interacting user, in consequence, the
modern designer can no longer be
attached the role as artistic problemsolver. A restructuring of the
relationship between designer and
user demands to put both designer
and user under a new, different
optic, the optic of the incomplete. In
doing this, for obvious reasons we
Barthes’ refutation to assign a
‘secret’, an ultimate meaning, to the
text, is similar to our denial to
complete design objects. While the
writerly text is an attempt to realize
59
This view also makes Weil’s designs
incomplete designs. As Thackara
says drawing on Weil’s inspirations
from Duchamp:
can rewrite a formulation by Barthes.
In linguistics he has formulated the
characteristics of the modern scriptor
(scriptor
replacing
the
anthropocentric author):
“In Weil’s view the object has a
conceptual story which the person
owning it has to complete… his
approach is heavily influenced by
Duchamp’s conception of the ‘unfinished
picture’ … for computer designers, as
for Duchamp, the focus of their work
now is the process of use of computer
systems… security is not the objective.
He offers a degree of understanding of
technology, but control and domination
over it are not assured.” [13]
“…he modern scriptor is born at the
same time as his text; he is not
furnished with a being which precedes
or exceeds his writing, he is not the
subject of which his book would be the
predicate; there is no time other than
that of the speech-act and every text is
written eternally here and now.” [40]
Our re-formulated sentence in
relation to our conception of the
designer and his or her work will be
this:
Weil’s designs are open-ended, and
challenge the user to engage with
them. As Dunne emphasizes two
projects from the 1980’s are good
examples of that [13]. The ‘Four
Boxes and One Radio’ (Fig. 19) from
1983 is a literal expression of the
fact that all radios are packages in a
box. By questioning this fact and our
then-existing
relationship
to
electronic products, he expresses
how the value of the material is
acquired through the authorship of
the designer and the user. A not so
straight-forward project, is his ‘Small
Doors’ (Fig. 20) from 1986 which
challenges the user to participate in
constructing its meaning. The users’
questions,
interpretations,
and
critical views become part of the very
meaning of the object.
The modern designer is born at the
same time as his design; he is not
furnished with a being which precedes
or exceeds his forms, he is not the
subject of which his object would be the
predicate; there is no time other than
that of the design-act, and every object
is designed eternally here and now.
A good example of such a modern
designer is Daniel Weil who shows
what can be achieved if the notion of
the object as writerly text is
actualized, echoing the ‘death of the
designer’. Weil’s designs could be
defined as a writerly text in Barthes’
definition: a ‘space’ of chains and
layers of meaning between the
object and the user, continuously
expanding with no fixed origin or
closure. When the boundaries of the
work are demolished, the text opens
out onto other texts.
60
The two projects are good examples
on the variety of incomplete objects
we can encounter. Some objects can
be very reasonable incomplete
objects almost so undemanding that
they can be categorized as
completed. The ‘Four Boxes and
One Radio’ is an object almost
screaming
the
apparently
symbolism, and by that they do not
leave so much up to user. Others
seem constantly expanding the
never-ending space of diverging
meanings such as ‘Small Doors’
which continuously seems to speak
to you.
Fig. 19: Daniel Weil, Four Boxes in a Bag [1983]
Fig. 20: Daniel Weil, Small Doors [1986]
61
Part IV
Claudio
An Incomplete Project
With incomplete design as an ideal,
we started by trying to reach beyond
conventional design. The starting
point was therefore not based on
common project requirements but
was depicted as a manifesto
representing the spirit of the project.
The starting point is described in
[appendix I].
Our frame worked intentions were; to
develop a few concepts within the
area of our theme the incomplete
and to manifest at least one of them
as a functioning prototype or
installation. The installation would
not only work as a manifestation of
our ideas but also as a subject of
discussion, in relation to our
theories.
Fig. 21:
Physical manifestation, a way of
reaching peoples’ senses directly.
Introduction
Already before we started to work on
this paper we decided to combine
theory and practice. The physical
presentation of an object which you
can
feel,
interact
with
and
experience with all your senses is
often far more effective than any
written words (Fig. 21). At the same
time the expressions on paper offers
qualities that are hard to achieve
simply by designing an object. The
black and white print make it easier
to precise and communicate the real
intentions and plant the idea in a
philosophical, cultural and artistic
context.
62
Methodology
Seismographic design
have a feeling of movements and
quivers in our environment and
society as a whole. “Designers must
work in the world rather than about
or upon it”; to quote Krysztof
Wodiczko, one of the pioneers of
critical design.
When the world
changes, then we as designers must
also change. It is therefore important
to communicate the process to other
people, and sometimes, let other
people communicate the process to
the designers.
However, we bump into some
problems concerning this metaphor.
The difficulty, with reference to the
seismograph, is that when the earth
quivers everything that we otherwise
would consider as solid and non
movable will shiver as well. So there
will be no field, in relation to the
movement of the earth’s surface,
which can be arbitrarily measured.
The situation is the same regarding
our fixed position to the world around
us. We would also be in danger of,
quivering with the tendencies that we
try to detect. In the construction of
the seismograph these problems are
escaped by making use of the inertia
of very heavy metals. In the same
manner it is important that we find a
solid point in the swamp, from where
we can take things to a higher level
and behold from a distance. It is
impossible to reach the absolute
objectivity, but in order to maintain a
critical
viewpoint
and
change
Fig. 22: Sensing the world is an important factor
within seismographic design.
During the development of the
project we tried to implement and
develop
our
own
design
methodology: seismographic design.
The notion covers the fact that we,
as designers, try to feel the world in
order to depict tendencies and big
and
small
breaks
from
the
development within design and new
technology.
Just like the seismograph is an
apparatus that senses quivers of the
earth, we are sensors detecting
quivers in the surrounding world. We
feel the world in order to detect both
small and big deviations (Fig.22).
The objective is not necessarily to
await the big quake, but rather to
63
Thereafter we collect upon it, but
only to loose our footing again.
ourselves we have to see things
from a larger perspective.
We have to look at what the
seismograph have registered in
the
history
to
get
an
understanding of where we find
ourselves today. It is not until
when we get this insight that we from top to bottom - can criticize
and change it. Hopefully we can
contribute to an increase of
human
influence
on
our
environments; hopefully we can
represent the quivers of the world.
“To dare is too loose one’s footing
momentarily. To not dare is to loose one
self…” - Søren Kierkegaard. [44]
Let us use the painter as an analogy.
To bring matters to a head, she can
act in two ways. She can grasp a
motif in her head and thereafter
approach her canvas to depict the
idea onto it. Or she can proceed
towards a motif by an intuitive
process in which idea and material
combines to a symbiosis. These two
perspectives indicate a difference
between the painter’s perceptions of
the ingredients of the art work. The
artist that creates in the mind uses
colors, brush and canvas as tools in
order to depict her ideas. On the
contrary, the daring artist works with
her material. In the latter example,
she will try to explore the limits of the
material possibilities in a creative
and experimental manner during the
escalation of the art work.
Design process
A design process of our minds
If one of our designing hands –
metaphorically - is touching and
sensing the world, then the other is
creating and reacting to the
perception. However, this does not
mean that the designer always have
to keep one hand in connection to
the world. On the contrary, the
design process requires many letouts. A design process is not a
continuously proceeding process,
from which you learn more and
more. It is more complex than that. A
design process can be described as
a zigzag movement between intuition
and reflection. We throw ourselves
into things without knowing what it
brings us, but with the feeling that
what we do is appropriate.
It can be difficult to let go, especially
when you are in a process that you
would like to be the master of.
Nevertheless, this is exactly what we
as designers must do. We must not
understand insecurities and anarchy
as destructive for a structure, but as
elements immanent in a structure.
This reflection corresponds to ideas
concerning
chaos
of
Greek
mythology.
Herein,
chaos
is
understood
as
the
only
64
Field 1 - Sensing the world:
This field of design activity is an
essential part of the seismographic
design methodology. The aim is to
view and feel our process from
different perspectives. Thereby you
are able to bring new meanings into
a project continuously. During the
incomplete project we attached
mental electrodes to different levels
of our environment, so that we could
detect and feel the different currents
in everyday culture.
hermaphrodite
phenomenon
in
cosmos, and for that reason it is self
producing and will not allow being
wiped out. Thus, there is an
explanation to the eternal battle that
we express against disorganization
in hope of creating order. It is a
battle that we cannot win. Instead of
combating the instable situation, we
can only bring order and disorder in
closer relation.
The structured chaos of the
design project
The approach was to sense a
complexity of activities, making it
easier to resist objectives without a
steadfast root. The following pictures
illustrate some of these activities
(Fig. 23-29).
There our many ways of depicting a
design process. Commonly, many
designers use itinerary metaphors to
explain how the creative process
diverges
and
converges
in
reoccurring loops. We have chosen
to portray our process from four
different fields of activities. Put
together they combine in a fruitful
symbiosis. We have worked with the
fields
both
concurrently
and
shiftingly. These are the fields:
Sensing the world
Free Fall
Awakening in free fall
Bringing chaos towards objectives
Fig. 23: Sensing Technology: The NEXT Trendshop in Copenhagen, Dec. 2003, offered a lot of
opportunities to explore trends, new media and
technology. The picture above exposes the
accessibility of making personal clay-animations.
65
Fig. 24: Sensing People: A workshop was aimed
at exploring expressions of acts and relations
between movements, sound and the spatial. This
participant is an actor expressing (…)
Fig. 25: Sensing Design: ‘Design Action Forum’
is a creative channel for expressing dreams and
thought and questioning notions within the
creative arts. The picture is from a session at
LYNfabrikken, Århus, Denmark 2004.
Fig. 26: Sensing Entertainment: Entertainment
& experience economy was the main issue
discussed at this experience congress. People
from totally different backgrounds gathered at
‘Skandinavisk Upplevelsekongress 2004’ in
Borås, Sweden. The picture above shows Cirkus
Cirkör performing one of their balloon tricks.
Fig. 27: Sensing Music: The solo artist Björk
never stops experimenting with materials and
expressions of her music. Couldn’t designers
learn from that?
Fig.28. Sensing Expressive Arts: This picture
shows one moment of a video generated in realtime from body movements. Performance artist
Tony Brooks works with handicapped people
giving them ‘instruments’ to create their own
artistic language.
Fig.29 Seeing: Watching both nature and
fabricated shapes was an important part of the
project. Photography was how we represented
the art of seeing.
66
Field 2 - The Free Fall:
The free fall is the design action which is the very resemblance - of
creating chaos. Herein we enter an
imaginative world without the
restrictions of reality (Fig. 30). The
Free fall is not to be regarded as a
literally free fall, but more as a
metaphor for freeing the mind from
the achievable and the possible,
primarily when generating and
developing ideas.
During the project we partly relied on
well tried design methods such as
brainstorming, context environment
relabelling15
and
extreme
characters16. As counterbalance we
also explored new inventive design
methods. [Appendix II].
Field 3 - Awakening in free fall
This part of the design process is
about bringing the ideas closer to
reality. The awakening is directly
connected to the free fall (Fig 31).
Fig. 30: This picture illustrates the free fall, where
imagination is the only reality.
Fig. 31: To comprehend a situation is often a
joyful experience.
The start of a design process
involves a big portion of free fall,
whereas later in the process this
activity is reduced to minor - but yet
important - falls. In order to avoid
‘falling in love with your ideas’, we
find it important to loose ones footing
from characteristics or specific parts
of the ideas during all of the design
process.
15
The design concepts were
combined with a number of
attributes, environments, acts
and objects.
16
The design ideas were given
scenarios including ‘extreme
characters’ like the one of
Homer Simpson. By trying to
imagine what the design idea
would be like if Homer was the
user the scope of the idea is
extended.
67
world is a ‘reading’ activity, the
awakening includes speaking back
to the world. The two put together
result in an extended understanding
of the ideas and the whole of the
design process.
We can compare this with having a
good experience. When you have a
good experience you forget time and
existence, then you step back and
think ‘wow’.
In the design process the free fall is
when you enter the flow of a good
experience and forget about all
references. The awakening is when
you step back to realize and
comprehend the experience. From
the moment that you try to
comprehend the situation you initiate
a new form of activity; that is, in
order to grasp the ideas you put
them into a context. This includes
combining ideas, organizing them
and polishing them from unrealistic
dreams (Fig.32-34).
Fig. 33: Form studies. This is one of many scale
models that we created during the process.
Fig. 32: This is an early sketch, representing and
communicating the shape of an idea.
Fig. 34: A miniature model.
Furthermore, the awakening part of
the design process embraces
communication with the world. By
communicating the ideas to the
world, one can understand the ideas
from a big perspective. In this
manner the awakening qualities
counteracts on the sensing of the
world. Whereas the sensing of the
68
Field 4 - Bringing chaos towards
objectives:
The final of the four fields of activities
is simply to bring the ideas closer to
the objectives. In so doing we
discuss, evaluate and develop the
design concepts in relation to the
objectives (Fig.35).
penetration on the public. In this
sense, daring incompleteness is
more effective than the logical
contrary completeness.
The process of guiding the ideas
towards objectives is normally made
by clarifying separate milestones.
The major milestone was - in the
developing stages - to describe a
few conceptual design proposals.
The symbiosis of the design
activities mentioned above led up to
five design concepts. This milestone
was also the first stage of our aimed
result.
Fig. 35: This design proposal and manipulated
thread model was discussed. How could we use
our idea of flower-analogy later in the project?
Although this is an activity - where
you consciously and purposefully
develop your concepts - it does not
lack pitfalls. One of them is that the
designer exaggerates the impact of
logical solutions.
We argue that it is important to
understand that physical objects and
meanings have different languages.
In order too reach one’s aim you risk
loosing expressive values which are
immanent in the design object.
Objects
are
perceived
and
experienced by people, and for
people to have an emotional
experience must be considered
preferable to a perfect match
between aims and ends with no
69
Result, stage one
Five conceptual design
proposals
infuse their very individual meaning
of an object. There is no right or
wrong way to use or percept these
objects. Instead the users/creators
are given a big space for personal
interpretation, actions and creativity
(Fig.36-38).
The design concepts are all
investigating poetic, humoristic and
experimental
approaches
of
interacting with objects. They are
ranging from the open-ended
installation to a sheer gadget.
The
objects
react
differently
depending on how you interact with
them. If you touch one object you
affect it, but also it’s twin soul; the
other
object.
Heat,
shape,
movement, touch, sound, light are
means that you and the objects
communicate with. Some of the
responds are ‘controlled’ reactions,
i.e. rational, while others are
seemingly random. Surprise and
unexpected moment are important
when stimulating peoples’ mind. A
complete chaos would though only
give the user a feeling of no
meaning.
Further, they all have in common,
that they each one of them,
represent ways of expressing
incompleteness.
Concept 1
Fig. 36: Sketch-model of Identical objects.
Identical objects
The main idea of this concept is not
about understanding the two objects
and it is not about solving a problem.
We want to give people conditions
for having a good experience and at
the same time stimulate them to
Fig. 37: Sketch of one of the identical objects.
We also aim at stimulating people to
get in contact and communicate. We
70
Concept 2
use the installation in order to create
a social context, where people can
interact in a different way. If two
people not being aware of each
others impact, both are playing with
one object each. They will – sooner
or later – become aware of that they
affect one another. In this surprising
moment a contact between them are
established and maybe they will
explore the possibilities to - in a
playful way - create a more extended
‘language’ between them.
Instrumental Room
The act of using the objects can be
seen as an exploration of human
communication or the exploration of
how we can use creativity to find a
soul of the objects; to create your
own meaning.
Fig. 39: Sketch of instrumental room
The Instrumental room is - as you
can hear from its name – a room in
where you can play music. The room
is equipped with sensors detecting
your placement and movements
within the space. By moving your
body you play music. This occurs
when
the
instrumental
room
translates the expression of your act
into a musical expression (Fig.3940).
The instrumental Room is designed
of two walls, which are placed
opposite each other. Both walls are
provided with infrared sensors that
constantly sense bodily activity
within the space. This activity is
decoded into patterns and expressed
through a sound landscape. While
you play, you can try to synchronize
or disharmonize the relations
Fig. 38: Sketch of one of the identical objects.
71
technology. It engages people’s
minds, emotions and senses in a
more stimulating way.
between movements and the rhythm
of the sounds. The walls will also be
projected with artistic pictures and
light contributing to a greater
atmosphere.
Concept 3
This installation explores the relation
between body movements, the
spatial and music. It is an alternative
music instrument that gives joy to the
user and the audience at the same
time.
In
consequence
the
Instrumental Room can be used as a
device for composing music as well
as a communication media; the
aesthetics is felt both by the user
and the viewer.
SMS Drums
Fig. 41: Sketch of the sms drums
Why do we not create a more
interesting and a more creative world
to live in? Why do we not play drums
in order to send text messages?!
(Fig. 41-42)
The SMS drums are drums placed
like the buttons on a mobile phone.
Each and every drum also works just
like the button of a mobile phone,
when sending a text message. The
difference of course, is that they also
are drums with individual sounds.
Furthermore the drums are triggered
so that different beats start
depending on how fast you are
playing/writing, what words you are
Fig. 40: sketch of instrumental room
We aim at creating a space where
people can be creative and
spontaneous. The user is in total
control of her experience and she
can create artistic expressions just
by moving her body. By that people
get in touch with a more poetic point
of their personalities using this
72
playing/writing and so on. All in order
to give the player an experience,
which is joyful in a situation where
she can create her own music in a
challenging way. We also want
people to express themselves
through their body and thereby
creating a musical expression. When
they at the same time are writing a
message, this will have a most
interesting outcome. For us though;
the act, the mind, the communication
and the total experience are far more
important, than the actual outcome.
These SMS drums are intended to
be placed in a public environment in
order for people to have a joyful
experience at the same time as they
are doing something with a
functional cause; sending a text
message.
One can imagine that the SMS
drums also help in creating an
aesthetic expression of the textual
language. The player/writer might while sensing the rhythm of the
music - affect both the message and
the musical expression. Maybe the
message will be: ‘Im si si si..tting
here, co co come now, come 2me’; A
poetic language breaking free from
existing norms and rules.
Would you like to have your own carrier
pigeon? In J. K. Rowling’s famous book
series ‘Harry Potter’, messages are sent
by owls. Hedwig - Harry Potter’s own
white owl - only needs to here who to
give the message to and she delivers it
without knowing the address. Maybe the
future will bring us our own carrier
pigeons! We have created two
conceptual ideas both describing a
product – a personal gadget – related to
the idea of a carrier pigeon in the shape
of a toy. Humor, creative communication
and object identity are important factors
to be considered from a contextual
perspective.
Concept 4
Voice carriers
Fig. 41: Sketch of the sms drums
73
Fig. 42: Perry, the speaking parrot
In fact Carrie is a fully functional,
carrier pigeon (Fig. 43). She can fly
away and find your friends and leave
messages, fly back and leave
another
message
etc.
The
intelligence of Carrie is complex. She
does not only remember old
messages, she also learns to
recognize voices, finding different
places and persons. She orientates
using GPS, and ‘reads’ physical
patterns and tagged information
(maybe she can even be seduced by
others!).
Perry, the speaking parrot is a toy
parrot and a communication gadget
(Fig. 42). Perry receives and can
also speak voice messages. When
he receives a message this is
indicated to its owner. For ex. Perry
shows this by singing, opening his
eyes, laughing, or by moving his
wings. His owner can listen to the
message whenever she wants, just
by saying so or by stroking his beak.
Perry speaks the message through
his mouth, using the voice of the
person sending the message. If the
owner wants to answer the message
she can do that just by telling it to
Perry. When the owner is bringing
Perry while she is traveling, she
listens to messages by placing him
close to her ear and at a low volume
he ‘whispers’ the message to her.
Perry is both a communicative
medium and a personal friend. He is
intelligent and remembers old
messages.
Fig. 44: Mary, the digital monkey
Fig. 43: Carrie, the carrier pigeon
Carrie - a toy bird and a personal
friend - is the future version of Perry.
74
Concept 5
The final concept – Claudio
Initially emerging from concept 2 the instrumental room – we started
working on a concept where a
sculptural form was to function as a
musical instrument responding to
body movements. As we wanted the
‘instrument’ to have a soul-like
character we transformed it into an
alien-like organism, who we named
Claudio.
‘
Fig. 46: Early sketch of Claudio
Claudio
shares
curves
and
appearance with a jellyfish. He
consists of a transparent exterior
surface, which uncovers the entrails
of the organism: the electronics – or
guts of you like – are made rough.
Most visible to people will be motion
sensors, which measure different
movements in the region of the
organism. The motion sensors are
implemented as flowers on a plant
that spreads its branches in all
directions and captures activity from
various angles. The plant consists of
wires, chips etc. Claudio is also filled
with light, which contributes to a
more living and warm-hearted
organism.
Fig. 45: Early sketch of Claudio. The shape of a
Jellyfish was an early source of inspiration.
Claudio is an organism and an
alternative music instrument. In order
to play music or to communicate with
Claudio, people have to use their
body movements. We would like
people to play with the instrument;
that is to communicate with it instead
of using it as a tool. We aim at giving
Claudio a mental life and by that
involving people’s minds, emotions
and senses (Fig 45-47).
In spite of Claudio’s resemblance to
an earthly form it will appear more
like an alien. We want people to
explore sense and experience the
exotic. Playing the organism by
moving the body, people can
establish a personal contact with
Claudio, who responds by creating a
nuanced sound landscape. Further,
people get in touch with each other
75
Creating Claudio
in a new way using Claudio as
communication
medium.
These
relationships are signified by a
common language and can both be
harmonious and chaotic depending
on how people and/or the organism
unite.
The final step of communicating the
idea of Claudio was to create him.
Claudio was to become an
electronic, but yet organic alien,
designed for the human senses.
Since the interaction with Claudio
was a focal point an initial
specification of how to interact with
Claudio was outlined as a basis to
work from [appendix III]. Thereafter
the sound system and physical body
of
Claudio
was
developed
concurrently.
Claudio aim at stimulating people to
be creative and intuitive. We want to
enable that people make their own
scenes and personal narrative; with
the organism and/or with other
people.
Facial transparency
With the jellyfish as an allegorical
target it might seem natural to create
a transparent shell, but the
underlying
reason
was
not
connected to the metaphor of a
jellyfish, but to aspects of using a
facial transparency. These wideranging
effects
are
perfectly
illustrated by the transparent radio
Radio in a bag designed by industrial
designer, Daniel Weil (Fig.48).
Fig. 47: Early sketch of Claudio
In this context communication
between individuals is explored in a
new and exciting way. By exploring
the tension between chaos and
harmony, break and co-existence, a
connection can be made through
both physical and mental dance with
Claudio.
76
coincides with the ideas which are
deeply absorbed in the chapter of
the readerly object. Even though
transparency
optimizes
performances and usability, it
decreases our commitment to the
rapidly
rising
technological
environment. These environments
result in unconsidered assimilation of
the ideologies, which are immanent
in technological objects. Instead, we
argue that the distance between us
and technologies can be poeticized17
to encourage a skeptical sense
towards the values and ideas that
our environment set up.
Fig.48: Radio in a bag, Daniel Weil (1983)
The well functioning radio discusses
the role of the designer as a
cosmetician of technology. Weil
departs from the commonly accepted
cosmetics of electronics where
colored buttons and levers - socially
constructed metaphors - represent
the inner skeleton of the product. By
the design of Radio in a bag Weil
demystifies the electronic object. The
essence of the electronics is
signified at the same time as the
radio
communicates
certain
nonchalance towards the electronics.
The example illustrates that by
playing with the facial design and by
breaking from the conventional
semantics of the product then, the
very cosmetics of the product also
bring interesting qualities.
Choosing material of surface
The process of choosing the facial
material for Claudio developed from
procedures of examining, testing and
evaluating different materials and
processes. We elaborated with
transparent and semi-transparent
materials and discussed their
expressional significance. Eventually
we chose to form the shell by
heating and shaping a thin Poly
Carbonate (PC). Our method and
choice of material enabled a process
in which we could control, develop
and shape our jellyfish step by step
(Fig.49-51).
Claudio similarly tries to demystify
the inner skeleton of electronic
components, circuits and immaterial
software. By using a transparent
shell, we ironically symbolize a
critical view upon the ideal of
transparency.
This
standpoint
17
To express design and
technology in a poetic manner is
a description which is borrowed
from Anthony Dunne.
77
The heart of Claudio
If the veins of Claudio are the circuits
of electrical currents, then the heart
and pulse is the power supply and
the
continuous
execution
of
computer programs. Regardless of
the inclusion of computer programs
and abstract information we aimed at
giving Claudio a living soul. Thereby,
we oppose the so frequently
fabricated, lifeless representations of
electronic objects. The idea of
representing a digital soul springs
from a project that we participated in
Gothenburg 2003 (Fig.52).
Fig. 49: Test of liquid latex as the skin of Claudio.
The latex was painted onto a shape and then
dried.
Fig. 50: Test of transparent Poly Carbonate as
the surface of Claudio– The material was heated
in water and then shaped.
Fig. 52: Digital patina & bottled souls, by Los
Gestaltos 2003, discussed the sterility and soul of
technological products. Wine-bottles where
tapped with sound (!), which matured and
developed with time.
The interactivity and the dynamic
qualities of technology launch great
opportunities of fulfilling a soul-like
character of an object. Despite this,
the way technology is being applied
today our culture contributes to an
increase of lifelessness and sterility
of produced objects. The abstract
Fig. 51: The final choice of material was a thin
poly carbonate board, size 2000x1000x1 mm. It
was heated by a hot air gun and shaped inch by
inch. This was a long demanding process, but
very rearding regarding many possible end
results. The plastic on this picture is the same as
the one in the final appearance of Claudio.
78
Even though identity is not fixed to
an essence people tend to depict
qualities to the nature of things from
their biases.
information is becoming the ‘soulless’ character of technological
objects.
By giving Claudio a living character,
we wanted the beholder or user of
Claudio to be challenged to think of
what Claudio is or may be. This point
corresponds to our aim of seeking a
big space for interpretation and a
freedom of future acts. For that
reason, our challenge was to give
Claudio a life-like identity.
We argue that this is a ‘balance’ that
is good to break. However, in order
to do that though, one must sustain a
balance
between
break
and
assimilation
(compare
with
estrangement). This means that one
also needs to take use of peoples
biases. An example of that is that we
have created a rough and organic
appearance of Claudio’s inner to
contribute to a life-like personality.
The metallic skeleton is built from
flexible steel-arms which are welded
onto hollow chore. The steel-tubes
are normally used in lamps. By using
ready-made parts in the structure
Claudio attains more narrative
qualities. By using the flexible steeltubes in a different context and in a
different way, with respect to its
original purpose, our aim is to
stimulate the mind of the beholder
(Fig.53-57, 59-60).
Identity
Foucault once wrote that people
didn’t have a fixed identity within
themselves; that would just be a way
of talking about the self; a discourse.
From Foucault’s perspective ‘identity’
is a shifting temporary construction,
communicated
to
others
in
interaction. [45]
This means that identity is a fluid
relation, which can be deployed; or
an action which individuals can
engage in. Therefore, identity is not
possessed. It is exercised.
The idea of transforming the function
of an object completely around has
been used within art for a long time.
A fine example is bicycle wheel
introduced by Duchamp already in
1913 (Fig.58). By using a similar
approach with Claudio, although
lacking the simplicity of Duchamp’s
artwork, we aim at criticizing existing
usage of materials and media.
We assume that objects also have
an identity; and if it is not immanent
in the object, why should we not
dialogize the interaction with the
object instead of creating transparent
user interface, where you in the best
case try to make their appearance
non-present?
79
Fig.53: Structure of the metal skeleton of Claudio:
The base [c] was cut from a solid steel-plate and
its inner ‘circle’ was carved using an electric high
pressure tool. Then a steel tube [b] acting as a
shaft was welded onto the base. The rounding
top [a] was shaped by hand using a wooden
hammer. The top and the flexible steel arms were
processed and then welded onto the tube.
Fig.55: Claudio is shaped in a symmetrical way
corresponding to the way living organism are
shaped. The measurements are though irregular
and eye-measured for the same reason.
Symmetry occurs in most species, but it is by no
means a perfect symmetry.
Fig.56: Close up of top of skeleton. Holes were
drilled on the top in order to be able to mount the
flexible steel tube from the inside. Before the
metal skeleton was constructed at Huset, Århus
Denmark, a wooden model was made as a
prototype.
Fig.54: Sketches illustrating some of the ideas
and plans for how to present Claudio.
80
Fig.57: The qualities that the beholder relates to
the ready made parts, in this case flexible steeltubes, descend from her memories, past
experiences and biases.
Fig.59: Part of Claudio…or is it a lamp..??! The
ready made objects of Claudio confuse the user.
Fig.58: Instead of hiding and protecting the
electric components inside the hollow skeleton
we positioned them outside of the skeleton. This
picture shows the base of Claudio from
underneath. The cords are purposely not placed
inside the whole appearing in the picture
Fig.60: Bicycle wheel, 1951. The original art work
from 1913 was lost. Duchamp made this late
version nearly four decades later. His ready
made objects Criticized existing notions.
81
Ambiguity
Claudio. The essence of the
interaction is evidently created by
technology and computer programs.
The hardware of Claudio consists
mainly of one microcontroller and
four sensors. The microcontroller is a
basic-x chip which is connected to a
USB-port via a USB serial bridge. It
transforms the readings of the
sensors and sends them to a
computer (Fig. 62-63).
Fig. 61: Final shape of Claudio
The software consists of a number of
separate modules. The sound is
produced
by
sound-program
MAX/MSP, which creates four
different samples. Each sample is
connected to a sensor, which
continuously is measuring the
distance to objects near Claudio.
The measured data are captured by
the microcontroller, which contains a
program written in BasicX’s own
language. The data are transported
via the USB-port to a Java-program
which translates the data so that
MAX/MSP can read them. The Javaprogram is accordingly equivalent to
an interface between BasicX and
MAX/MSP.
In order to make the visual
appearance of Claudio ambiguous
and multifaceted, we developed the
shape to express a number of
contrasting
qualities.
Claudio’s
organic soft personality is blended
with an alienated persona, the
unknown and the fairly unfriendly
bomb-like
appearance
(Fig.61).
Some examples of contrasting
qualities are listed below:
Organic – unnatural/electronic
Kitschy – functional
Simple – complex
Chaotic – harmonious
Soft/kind – harsh
Technology of Claudio
When a sensor is affected, that is
when the incoming data changes,
the amplitude is regulated by the
valid sample. The amplitude is
proportional to the distance between
object and sensor; if the distance is
small, then the volume is high. Thus,
different sounds are modified at the
Claudio speaks through sounds. In
order to trigger the sounds you need
to move your body near Claudio. The
resulting interaction - a mental and
physical dance with Claudio –
creates a very personal relation to
82
same time depending on which of
the sensors are affected and how.
The result is a nuanced sound
landscape, which is constantly
changing (Fig. 64).
Fig. 64: Experiments with the sensors
Balancing chaos and order
Fig. 62: Ultra sound sensors of model SRF04
from Devantech Ltd. in England. The sensors
transmit signals and receive echoes returning,
when an object is reflecting the signal. Thus, the
sensors can measure the distance to moving
objects in a space. SRF04 measures
distances up to 3 m within an angle of about 35
degrees. Our test results showed that they are
fairly precise and quick – they transmit signals
ten times a second.
Before the interactive system was
integrated to Claudio, its parts were
tested
separately.
The
total
expression of the system was then
checked and analyzed during a
workshop
where
participants
experienced the soul of Claudio by
interacting and communicating to the
system. [appendix IV]
The correspondence between users’
body movements (mainly armmovements) and the sound from
Claudio was evaluated. We found
that if there was too much
correspondence between the users’
body movements and the sound
from Claudio the user will quickly
loose their interest, as Claudio then
merely is an instrument. On the other
hand, if there was too much chaos,
the user will also loose interest
because of lack of meaningful
Fig. 63: An experiment board was used during
the test period. The sensors were tested in order
to characterize their function in relation to the
other programs.
83
response. Then Claudio would
appear more like a random sound
machine.
Final adjustments
When the essential parts of Claudio
where constructed, there where still
some features to put in. These
included a podium, in where
computer and loudspeakers safely
could be placed.
The sensors and all the different part
were assembled to Claudio and the
podium. In order to give Claudio
more warm hearted appearance we
also integrated a light to him. The
qualities that the light within Claudio
brings appear mainly when he is
placed in a dark surrounding. The
light-conditions are supposed to
emphasize the energy of Claudio
and his warm-hearted nature, but
also stress the mystique of his
appearance (Fig.65-69).
Fig. 66: Claudio standing on a podium. We built
the podium at Huset, Wholes with pieces of fabric
were sown at Huset. Computer, loudspeakers,
and cords were safely placed inside the podium.
Additional space was added for equipment.
Fig. 67: Close-up of Claudio in darkness. In the
dark the environment of Claudio is characterized
by mystique – the interaction turns slower;
cautious act.
Fig. 65: the sensors were assembled on Claudio
84
Result stage two
Presenting Claudio
Already when developing the shape
of Claudio we took him out to the
streets of Århus, Denmark to see
how people reacted. Claudio was at
cafes, bars, in streets and in different
sections of huset, a culture house
situated in the heart of Århus. The
joyful response of Claudio was a
useful input when developing him
further. Eventually, when all his
organs were put together we decided
to take him public again.
Claudio is not designed for a specific
environment, instead we see him as
a
traveller
visiting
different
environments. Café LYNfabrikken
and the premises of Innovation Lab
was Claudios first acquaintance with
people. During the time Claudio
visited these placed we observed the
people approaching him and wrote
down some of the comments that
they said while using and discussing
Claudio. Thus, these comments are
not a response to any questions and
not even directed to us (the
creators). Instead they are part of the
communication around and with
Claudio.
Fig. 68: Close up of Claudio from above.
Fig. 69: Claudio on podium from above.
85
The comments are representing
peoples personal interpretations of
Claudio:
-
It is a bit cute
It sounds abit like our toilet
It looks like a bee-hive
It is like a being, a creature.
A big hit for a party!
It is a bit slow
I’m thinking about a brain
It is a bit living.
These two are wild (referring to
sounds)
It’s almost a shame he is here by
himself.
Isn’t it is a strange thing, having to
turn him off?
It looks a bit like a jelly fish.
Fig. 70: Claudio in daylight LYNfabrikken, Århus.
If one or two people (friends) approach Claudio
the act is playful and active.
Although there is a lot of valuable
response found in these comments
one must acknowledge that the most
expressive and significant use of
Claudio is the physical act.
Respondingly, the most important
feature of Claudio is the sound.
The act of interacting with Claudio is
very different depending on person
and social context. One noteworthy
condition to have in respect is the
difference of interaction with Claudio
depending on the number of people
that approaches him (Fig.70-71).
Fig. 71: A group of people are slowly getting
close to Claudio. Curiosity is mixed with caution.
Before getting to know claudio people tend too
move slowly just like approaching an animal.
Innovation Lab, Århus
86
sound can make it highly stimulating
and/or intrusive.
Although there is no general
description of how a person uses
Claudio there are some reoccurring
incidents. To start with, when a
person gets near Claudio she can
hear a pulse beat. If she decides to
come closer, the sensors of Claudio
will register this and responds by
giving a dynamic sound from at least
one of four different sound loops.
Altogether the sounds of Claudio
express a certain energy and alienlike mysticism. A focal point has
been to balance harmony and chaos.
Individually the four different sounds
express the following:
By intensifying the sound of Claudio
when the interaction and closeness
to him increases our aim is to
stimulate playfulness in a somewhat
unobtrusive way. One can say that
both Claudio and the user edge up to
each other. In case the user
approaches Claudio fast, then also
the response will be stronger. The
palpability is of course also
correlated to the volume of the
sound,
which
is
dynamically
synchronized (and disharmonized) to
the
different
occasions
and
environments that Claudio appears
in.
Sound south
Bubbling water, whistling wind, helicopter
wings
Furthermore,
we
have
taken
advantage from the fact that sound
stimulates people to move. Simply
speaking when people hear music
they start to move. By turning this
relationship
around
we
have
generated
a
communicative
(interactive) usage of Claudio. The
user moves to create music, but also
responds to the sound that she
creates. By playing with Claudio and
by generating sounds people
express themselves in their action.
This is expressed through their body
language,
applied
both
in
movements and postures (Fig 70).
Sound north
Ultra waves, dolphin communication, choir
singing
Sound west
Radio waves, bits ’n’ bytes, defect organ
Sound east
Jungle, heavy information flow, aggressive
insects
When discussing how people
experience the sounds of Claudio
one must also be responsive to the
impacts of using sound as a
medium. A common understanding
of sound as medium is that it
mediates a fundamental presence to
our perception of the surrounding
reality. This palpable characteristic of
In contrast with many other things
that people meet during a normal
day, Claudio offers a context where
87
With
all
these
different
categorizations of acts one must
point out and conclude that the user
is the only one who eventually
decides what Claudio is, not we (the
designers). In this sense there is no
right or wrong way to use or interact
with Claudio.
users through personal expression is
stimulated to use intuition and
creativity
instead
of
being
transformed into a mass conformity.
This quality relates to the aim of
deliberating people from there
homogenized actions of everyday
life.
Since spontaneity forms how people
use Claudio, there are many different
ways to express the interaction.
Through observation, we have
categorized these into the following
acts:
-
-
Cautious approach
(at start, a mix of curiosity and fear)
Exploring Claudio
(what? How?)
Interpreting Claudio
Moving
(slow / fast movements)
Sensing Claudio
(seeing, feeling etc)
Communicating and playing
(with Claudio)
Communicating and playing
(with other people)
Composing music
(by controlling Claudio)
Dancing
(movements related to the sound)
Posing, expressing
(using body postures related to
sound)
Sharing experience
(with other people)
Developing skill
(Developing skill to ‘use’ Claudio)
Prove oneself to others
(Performing ability to ‘use’ Claudio)
88
Perceptive complexity
people - when meeting Claudio direct their focus of attention through
both visual and auditive stimuli.
Additionally Claudio invites users to
involve their movements in a playful
way to create an advanced but yet
natural form of tactics.
Many designers argue that their
products or systems are designed to
apply to the senses. For example
Daniel Weil argues that “design is
about touching people”. [1] The way
designers reach the senses of
people take many different forms.
Most designers try to apply an
expressional
visual
language.
Thereby many products have a
strong
focus
on
the
visual
appearance. Another big area of
focus is – as mentioned previously the design fields in which designers
focus on either ergonomics or
usability with the intention of
minimizing hinders. This is a more
scientific form of design where the
designer is strongly ruled by peoples’
cognitive and physical constraints
when designing things. This view is
unmistakably
characterized
by
Norman:
So, on one hand people are finding
out how to sense Claudio, how to
play with him or how to use him in
communication with others. On the
other hand the user is continuously
experiencing Claudio. This results in
a kind of simultaneous learning and
experiencing activity. By making
people more involved Claudio offers
the same function as you may get
from solving a problem, playing an
instrument, devoting to a sport or
performing any other activity that
engages body and mind. Namely,
that it beside from the joy of
performing the action also offers a
break from mental strains. Claudio
does accordingly not follow the
conventional
salvation
to
the
problem by making the surroundings
calmer and less interfering. Instead
he engages people to break from the
pervasive stress completely and
provides the alternative; an activity
that employ the body and mind with
hardly no demands.
“Well-designed objects are easy to
interpret and understand.” [37]
When designing Claudio, we have
focused on the sensual experience
to create high commitment among
users. By this we do not mean that
people get devoted to Claudio, but
instead - at least for a moment - get
devoted to what their senses are
experiencing. Therefore, Claudio
relies on a perceptive complexity
which actively involves more than
one of the senses. This means that
This is a deliberate example of
exploiting opportunities, instead of
trying to minimize problems. During
our process of building Claudio we
had the opportunity to meet Tony
89
Conversation
Brooks, an artist and performer who
has worked within this area for many
years (Fig.72).
Although Claudio could be seen as
an incomplete design object acting in
the world through his existence, the
main reason for his existence is not
the effect of his actions which would
only reach a few people in a very
short time limit. Instead Claudio is
primarily a subject of discussion.
This discussion is founded within the
context of the very social and cultural
issues discussed through the entire
thesis.
Fig. 72: A photo of the Four Senses performance
showing some of the projected video generated
during the performance. Tony Brooks.
What may have come to light are
some of the topics that needs to be
discussed within the area of design
and technology. The following
categories are to represent some of
the most important starting points
that Claudio is intended to intrigue.
Many of these topics separately
relate to other topics and certainly
they also overlap each other.
Brook works with disabled people,
but his reasoning may well be
translated and applied to all people.
Commonly, when projects are aimed
for disabled people they are focused
on trying to diminish their problems.
On the contrary, Tony brooks takes
use of their skills. Through use of
artistic instruments disabled people
are stimulated to move their body
and express their feelings. Brooks
uses sensors that detects a person’s
movements and translates it into
sound, music and pictorial art.
#The role of technology
#Questioning transparency
#Expressional appearance
#Aesthetic of use
#Objects with a soul
#Incompleteness
#The politics of design and technology
#Space for creativity
#Humor
By experimenting with interactivity in
a similar way to the artworks of Tony
Brooks, Claudio touches users
mentally without physically touching
them. The means for doing this is by
transforming the interaction into a
personal body language.
The last topic, humor,
important. Numerous
whom many seem
earnest self image
90
is not the least
designers - of
to have an
- treat their
design items in a similarly humorless
mode.
In fact, humor is one of the most
powerful tools that designers can
utilize. Humor is one of many
emotions that can be enthused in
order to create a good experience for
people. In contrast to some of the
other feelings humor and joy also
have positive and spreading effects
on other people.
Thus,
the
fellowship
and
conversation of an experience is
often more central than the
interaction
with
the
object.
Schlossberg did the following remark
on the matter:
“The most powerful experiences are
ones in which you sort of elbow the
person next to you and say, ‘did you see
that’ or ‘can you believe that’ or ‘I never
understand anything like that.” [1]
As Schlossberg points out a
designer has reached far if she can
assist people to enter that kind of
interaction and conversation with
other people in space.
91
Discussion
architectural culture ideologies have
been the starting point for the
construction of houses and future
homes. Architectural programs have
been formed with the conviction of
making
people
happier.
The
establishment as such has been a
directing instrument in trying to
control people’s behavior; a sort of
dictating architecture in the very
heart of a democratic society.
Everything is in a sense incomplete.
There will always be a forward
direction of life imposing chaos on
existence. One of the main problems
regarding
the
matter
of
incompleteness is that everything every object that is created - has a
cause on life. If everything speaks to
us, then what is incompleteness?18
Can we create something that does
not direct us?
The result has been a constant
failure of trying to make people
happier
by
intervention
of
architectonical actors. The physical
means of deciding behavior of large
groups of people might have resulted
in that a few groups of people have
believed that they actually were
happier. Nevertheless, the general
effect has been quite the opposite.
People have disliked the mass
production of conformity, no matter
how fine the ideologies that they
have been based on were in theory.
The truth is that this thesis is not only
a comment on design, but also a
design program for others to follow.
One must admit that there is an
inevitable contradiction in trying to
direct people to be ‘non-directed’.
The dilemma can be related to the
predicament of trying to make
something with no meaning. Already
the intension of having no meaning
inflicts meaning to a subject. So,
once again: What is incompleteness?
So, can we thereby conclude that
design should not have an
ideological objective?
In the Scandinavian countries there
is a strong tradition of trying to direct
people through design of spatial
constructions. Architecture is the
most evident field carrying extensive
symptoms of this practice. Within this
The question is double edged. Since
design has such a strong relation to
its purpose it is impossible to free the
matter completely from purpose.
What one might object though is the
conscious aim of trying to force
ideological content onto people.
From this point of view design should
not be mass produced from a
18
Incompleteness should in this
context be referred to as the
broader meaning of incomplete
design.
92
investigates and questions the role
of the designer.
predetermined and static role model.
The moral point of this dilemma can
be explained by declaring that
ideological objectives should never
be isolated from the real world, but
coexist and develop from it.
Therefore, Incomplete design makes
a distinction between the acts of
designing objects that dictate
people’s life and designing objects
that affect people to form their own
expressions (in interaction with
objects). Incomplete design let
people decide how to act instead of
letting the designers have that
function. This sort of ‘non-designing’
design does not mean design
without intentions. Instead, it is a lot
of thought put into the object without
letting the objects do the thinking for
others.
The underlying matrix of incomplete
design is the society and the way it is
being transformed. Thus, incomplete
design must be responsive to
activities and changes in the society.
Just like a person, the society needs
different things at different times.
Therefore, as the world changes also
the notion of incomplete design must
change. We have referred to the
society as a place where people are
homogenized into a conformity
shaped by surrounding relations.
The fact is that we are also taking
part of an individualized culture.
Giddens refers to ‘a modern
reflexivity’
existing
both
on
institutional and personal level [19].
He points to the fact that we use
knowledge about history more than
previously. In traditional societies
religion and family traditions played a
bigger role. In such way life was
more predetermined; the son grew
into his fathers work, and people
knew to a certain extent what to do
with their lives etc. Today, we have
to choose the meaning of our
activities ourselves. We choose our
jobs, our lives and in a way we
decide more on our own what the
meaning of life is. This might seem
to be a very interesting task, but it is
also emotionally demanding. When
people have many choices to choose
from, it is more difficult to decide
what to fill one’s life with. Thus, the
In this way incomplete design is
acting as a starting point for
questioning the functions which
defines our perception of the world.
In past societies our trust has for the
most part been defined by local
rules, family and traditions. Today
we still put trust in tradition, religions
and family, but there is a large part
of our trust that is passed to abstract
systems and relations to experts.
Mutual systems and cooperation with
other systems affect society to
change rapidly year by year.
Nevertheless the experts and expert
systems are not broadly questioned.
For that reason incomplete design
93
effects. This logic declares that the
mind is far more important than the
item. In the same way objects do not
have a meaning if not experienced.
reflexivity should not be mistaken for
that we have a better understanding
today. Instead it is related to our lifesituation in where reflexivity has
replaced common sense.
If we take a closer look at present
phenomena in today’s culture, there
are quite a few observable states
that incomplete design aims at
unsettling. One of them is associated
with human fear. The global political
instability
has
generated
an
increased fear among people.
Governmental policies use the fear
to strengthen power relations and
restrict human behavior. Control of
deviation
and
a
subsequent
regulation creates a culture in which
governmental policies firmly dictates
and restrains human life. The control
methods are founded in economical
networks, interstate relations, military
alliances, global distribution of work,
information technology etc. The fear
however is strongly linked to the
massive amount of mass medial
information and propaganda that is
exposed on each individual. One
could wish for a more stable global
environment in where human fear is
not used and misused to take undue
advantage of. Furthermore, one has
to question how a society that
applies multi medial risk-propaganda
can constitute the foundation of a
risk society (?!). In this social order
both nature and economy is
constantly
challenged
to
the
boundaries. By this means, the
society is undergoing a permanent
In this individual society routines and
effectively performing systems and
products are also needed. But
routines too can be opened up for
personal interpretations. On one
hand people should be challenged to
avoid
mechanically
performed
actions leading to a persistent
lifelessness. At the same time we
have to be careful about not creating
too complicated objects leading to
stressful situations. The element of
voluntarism within incomplete design
is for that reason a critical area of
study that needs to be explored
further. The individuality of the
society is also a phenomenon that
we need to be responsive to. Maybe
we (each individual) simply have to
stop looking at what we need from
the society and start looking at what
the society need from us! In the end
is what the society needs not
equivalent to what we need?
One of the consistent qualities of
incomplete design is that it disturbs
the balance of existing norms. By
showing alternatives existing models
are exemplified in a new way. This
contributes
to
an
increased
consciousness of prevailing states.
The actions and reaction are the vital
94
information are in this fashion
causing long term social effects that
we are yet to discover the full effect
of. Although Claudio is a fabricated
medium he stimulates direct human
conversation. Thus, he is an
illustration of how technology and
mediated communication can be
used to make the distance between
people narrower.
state of risk including activities such
as loss of energy, investment of
stocks etc.
Capitalism, surveillance, information
control, military development etc. are
some of the key dimensions that
engrave our lives. The capitalistic
activities generate a concurrence
situation, resulting in a constant
technology innovation, because it
can increase benefit. The broader
dimensions of the development
seem to create a sort of selfdeveloping matrix slowly shaping us
into tools or numbers. In this
spectacle people are being used as
equipment in order to reach the aim
of hunting time, efficiency, usability
etc. Incomplete design represents a
reaction to this culture and the
means of criticism are primarily to
create something different; to be a
constructive counterbalance.
The parallel of the human being and
Claudio can be drawn to a further
extent. Claudio could for instance be
interpreted
as
a
brain
and
intelligence. If you look at him, you
will notice that the outer shape is
fairly similar to a brain and the inside
bears the electrodes that are
supplying the ‘brain’ with information.
Furthermore, the name Claudio
means the lame one. Thus, he could
be seen as intelligence, but because
he is lame he cannot move. Is this
simply a depiction of us? If truth be
told could not this be a metaphor of
the ideas of Descartes? Are we just
brains in vats? - Brains in a floating
tank with electrodes connected to
our brains?
Claudio - who is a manifestation of
some of the ideas of incomplete
design - forms a representation of
the alternative. Strangely enough,
Claudio is a fabricated medium that
discusses the development of
human conversation. This is linked
to the present globalization which
has effects on our interaction with
other people. The fact is that
communication
is
increasingly
mediated
through
artificially
fabricated
environments
and
performed without direct contact with
people. The requests of distributing
Just like Claudio we are not fully
connecting to the world around us.
Claudio symbolizes us, but also the
role of incompleteness. The likeness
of intelligence means that the
concept of Claudio questions
everything: What we are, our
connection to the world, how we
communicate etc.
95
In action, Claudio uses the
movements of other people to ‘come
alive’. This too can be understood as
a mirror of human behavior. Is
interaction with other people not
what makes us come alive? Joy,
creativity, imagination and being able
to interact with the world must –
along with love - be some of the
most important ingredients in life.
Perhaps what we lack in this regard
is only to get in contact with the lame
part of ourselves. Fortunately, that
will not happen - completely. But, yet
again that is for you to decide.
“We don't see things as they are, we
see them as we are.” Anaïs Nin
96
References
[1]
Mitchell, C Thomas. (1996) New Thinking in Design. New York. Van Nostrand Reinhold.
[2]
Jones, John Chris. (1992) Design Methods. 2
[3]
The Hawaii Research Center for Future Studies, HRCFS. HRCFS Vision Statement.
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REPORT NO. xxxx/xxxx
Appendices
Incomplete Design
René Lundgaard Kristensen
Leif T. Tannfors
Chalmers Department of Computer Science
IT UNIVERSITY OF GÖTEBORG
GÖTEBORG UNIVERSITY AND CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
Appendix I
Manifesto & Starting Point
[18/11/2003]
Rene Lundgaard Kristsensen
& Leif Tannfors
Just like an artist might find it difficult to stop when her piece is at its best - the objects
around us sometimes tend to be too overworked – too designed. These objects are
adapted to existing cultural and commercial values and leave no or little room for misuse
or abuse in a constructive way. This results in a sort of ‘have-a-nice-day’ description of
everyday life where new objects become the solution to every problem.
In such a world people are thrown into an existence where they are more or less
inactive, inhuman and not thinking. They are reduced to passive actors in a stereotyped
world. For this reason the design culture in which we are trying to reduce problems and
increase comfort results in a dehumanization of ourselves.
By doing something incomplete, we want to be a diverging influence. Incomplete objects
create a bigger space for interpretation. The object does not in this sense, tell us what to
do, instead it stimulates our mind in order for us to think, feel or/and act upon something.
It makes us stop and react. We want to escape homogenization and create a room for
the ‘real’ human needs. Incomplete objects give people an option to improve or perhaps
even complete the object in the mind and/or in use.
We argue that designers have to be conscious about creating a space for imagination. In
doing so, we open up for the future to be created by people themselves. We call this
‘freedom’ the future space – a place where dreams and achievements can be fulfilled.
Here questions can be arisen and new meanings established.
“…incompleteness is something to be taken seriously.” Jacques Derrida on city planning & architecture
Appendix II
Workshop – Sound & Motion
[5/2/2004]
& Leif Tannfors
We conducted a workshop in which a group of people - all dealing with expressions and
sensual experiences - participated. We explored relations between sound, motion and
space by giving the participants exercises to carry out. The workshop was part of our
aim with reference to seismographic design.
Method
We used methodological exercises developed by Hallnäs & Redström [46]. In general
the methods aim at increasing the awareness regarding aesthetical choices when
designing computational things and to incorporate reflection on how functionality and
expressions of objects relate. These methodological exercises focus on:
+ Discovering functionality in given expressions
+ Discovering ‘expressionals’ in given appliances
The exercises that we carried out include some steps that are not described by Hallnäs
& Redström. An example of that is the translating of an expression from one media to
another. The basics are though the same.
Aims
We wanted to explore how other people who worked with creating expressions
interpreted sound, motion and space. We also wanted to find out more about how they
looked at creativity, methods etc.
Areas of exploration:
How expressions in motions can be translated into sounds.
How expressions in sounds can be translated into motions.
How relations between sound, motions and other contextual influence was related.
(Appendix II)
Participants:
2 actors
1 architect
1 chaos-pilot
1 photographer/ multimedia designer
1 musician
Exercises:
In the first exercises we let the participants capture an expression of one media and
translate that expression to another media.
1a:
Participants were shown film-clips. Their task was to translate the motions into
sound.
1b:
Participants listened to sounds. Their task was to translate the sounds to
motions.
In the next set of exercise the participants captured an expression transformed it into a
function and created an appliance for it.
2a:
Participants listened to sounds. Their task was to translate the sounds to
expressions of any media. Thereafter they were told to create a communication
medium from the expression.
2b:
Participants were shown film-clips. Their task was to translate the motions into
expressions of any media. Thereafter they were told to create a communication
medium from the expression.
In the last part of the workshop the participants were given the opportunity to reshape
the idea we had by using extreme characters.
3:
Participants were told to create an interactive sculpture/creation and to
show/perform the result. The interactive creation was aimed for Madonna and
Robin Hood.
(Appendix II)
Conclusion:
The temporal qualities of sound and motion create similarities in their expression. Here
are some of the most significant relations.
+ Tempo and rhythm created a strong relation between motion and sound.
+ Rhythmical changes of motion can be compared to a musical composition.
+ Direction, power and size often decides the identification of motion-patterns.
+ The carrier of motion or sound shapes the associations
+ Narratives in motions and sounds affect the mental picture.
After the exercises we continued to discuss different ideas and thoughts related to the
workshop. The workshop gave a lot of helpful input. Some of the conclusions were later
used as key information when developing the installation and the ideas further. An
example of that is the specification of the interactive system described in appendix III.
Appendix III
Specification – How to Translate Motion into Sound
[6/4/2004]
& Leif Tannfors
This specification functions as a basis to work from. Different ways of modifying the
sound due to motion have been worked out. From this basis a creative process of testing
sound and interactivity will decide further progress.
Focus:
Modifying sound in relation to motion/distance
Possible qualities of sound to modify:
Tempo, volume, frequency
Modification of sound due to human motion/distance
- Example of possible translations:
Distance to organism Distance to organism Vertical motion*
Motion toward organism
No motion
Quick motion
Quick motion (2)
Quick motion (3)
Slow motion
Slow motion (2)
Slow motion (3)
increased/decreased volume
increased/decreased tempo (ex. pulse)
increased/decreased frequency
increased volume
silence
short ‘dry’ sound (short time)
higher tempo
higher frequency
long ‘soft’ sound (long time)
lower tempo
lower frequency
* Not possible using our construction of sensors, since they will not be placed to measure motion
in vertical direction.
Appendix IV
Workshop – Experiencing & Playing with the Interactive Sound System
[23/5/2004]
& Leif Tannfors
We conducted a workshop, where a group of people was gathered to experience the
interactive sound system that was created in MAX/MSP.
Method
Evaluation of the interactive sound system composed on MAX/MSP: The participants
had the opportunity to create their own sounds/music by using our sound system. The
four sensors were placed and directed in different angles. By affecting them the
participants controlled and played the sounds that were connected to each sensor.
Aims
We wanted to explore how to balance chaos and order so that the interaction resulted in
an interesting tension between ‘Claudio’ and the user/users. By doing this our aim was
to try to keep the interest of the user for a longer period of time. For that reason we
focused on the personal experience of the participants when interacting with the system.
Result
We modified the interactive sound system in order to create more tension for the user.
In order to that we had to simplify the output. Extra effects were reduced and we decided
to use volume as the only variable (Fig. A & Fig. B).
Fig A: Before workshop: Each slide bar is
connected to a sensor. The extra effects on 2 of
the sound loops (bob & ultra) were withdrawn
after the work shop.
Fig B: The new modified system with four sounds
Volume is now the only variable.

Incomplete Design

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