Friday 15th April 2011: OPEN DESIGN
Time: 09.30-11.00
Location: Studio Zeta www.studiozetamilano.com
26, Via Fruili 20135 – Milano (Metroline 3, Station “Lodi T.I.B.B.”)
Language: English
Entree: Free
Seats 129 (so please be on time)
Introduction to the MA department of the Design Academy Eindhoven: Gijs Bakker
Contextual introduction to the topic: Paul Atkinson
Professionals attending the discussion: Thomas Lommée, Martí Guixé, Tony Michiels (Studio Joris Laarman), Yves Bèhar
MA head professor information design: Joost Grootens
DAE student/ alumni: Tal Erez
Moderator: Saskia van Stein (DAE, MA Source)
Open design embodies the ideology of a society in which each person can appropriate and contribute creatively by sharing and using information based on the ideology of open source. Given that we have access to the internet, the prosumer can participate in this process of open design. Designing for an open design questions the role, the status and the signature of the designer. During this “Open design breakfast” we will discuss and share ideas on the implications of for instance authorship, copyrights, taste and responsibility of the designer.
When Josef Beuys in the early 70-ties proclaimed “Jeder Mensch ist ein Kunstler” (everyone is an artist) he couldn’t have foreseen that four decades later we would have the tools, the information and the production methods for the self-expression that is part of his social ideology. Yet the possibility of creation that houses within every human being is no guarantee for an output of creative production. At this moment in time, with the emergence of what we now call open design, this potential has greater chances of realization. Sharing information greatly expands the possibilities for creation. Also the contribution of the individual (jeder Mensch) increases when a growing network of people can add their own creative part to a larger sum, combining differentiated talents and knowledge to a mutual ambition or shared idea.
Open design embodies the ideology of a society in which each person can appropriate and contribute creatively by sharing and using information based on the ideology of open source. Given that we have access to the internet, the prosumer can participate in this process of open design. Some consider open design a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology. Either way, its core principle resonates individual empowerment as the end user is drawn into the production processes. Early adaptors designed their own sneakers in a spectrum of colors, materials and patterns in predetermined variables set by the producer, giving the prosumer the idea of designing uniqueness, and the production firms a free insight into upcoming trends. The implications of open design and its production methods however are extensive, and have consequences on the discipline of design.
Designing for an open design questions the role, the status and the signature of the designer. It also has implications for authorship, copyrights, taste and responsibility. Like a composer the designer provides a framework, an open structure, an organization of ideas, where co-creation allows the user to bring the music to life: a certain kind of translations and downloadable appropriation. Influencing distribution systems as we know them and processes emerge from a structural sender driven approach to a non-linear, relational and interdisciplinary approach. The notion of locality in relation to production shifts to hyper local output in a global force field of ideas.
With its democratic potential, design could shift from being a product or service based economy to an idea and network based economy. By generating enough critical mass or peer production and shared information that is linked and connected, projects can take on a larger scale or alternative structure. This will influence a vast amount of potential, from the distribution of ideas, to alternative financing (crowd sourcing) and production (energy) which is until now unrivalled.