The world is in political turmoil. New conflicts arise almost by the day. Furthermore, war in remote areas seem to have deep consequences for our own, westernized world. Information tactics and technological innovation from a warfare context reach our cities with drones and privacy impeachments. This asks for a new engagement of designers. But how do you interfere as a designer in these political processes? How can a design contribute to a more peaceful environment? How do you keep free from biases? This edition of Design Matters will explore the consequence of conflict for the practice of architects, product developers and graphic designers.
Annelys de Vet is a graphic researcher and cultural designer, and runs designstudio DEVET is Brussels. Also she works as a curator and is head of the Design department at the Sandberg Instituut Amsterdam. She is the initiator and designer of the Subjective Atlasses (of Palestine, Serbia but also Fryslân) that map countries and regions from individual perspectives. Recently she has set up the project Disarming Design from Palestine. This is an inclusive design label that presents functional products from Palestine, that provide an alternative narrative from what you might usually find in the high street. The goods are developed and designed and produced by contemporary designers, artists and students in Palestine and abroad in collaboration with local artisans and producers. The first collection will reach the market next month.
Malkit Shoshan is an architect/designer living and working in Amsterdam. She is the founder of the architectural thinktank Foundation for Achieving Seamless Territory (FAST). Also she is author of the award-winning book Atlas of the Conflict: Israel–Palestine. Her most recent project Drones and Honeycombs aims to increase understanding of civil and public space in times of war and reconstruction as well as far-reaching technological and social change. She investigates the moral and legal implications of the use drones in war and peace.
There are more than 110 million active mines scattered across 70 countries. These shocking figures inspired Massoud Hassani to design the Mine Kafon, a wind-powered minesweeper that costs only € 30 to build. This lowtech but high-designed object is composed almost entirely from bamboo and biodegradable plastics, with a skeletal structure of spiky plungers that resembles a giant spherical tumbleweed from another planet. The Mine Kafon is equipped with a gps-tracker, so the route is takes through a minefiled can easily be drawn out on a map. At 70 kilograms, Hassani says his invention is light enough to be propelled by a normal breeze, while still being heavy and big enough - 190cm in diameter - to activate mines as it rolls over them. When exploded on a mine the Mine Kafon can be cheap and easily reassembled. The Mine Kafon was recently acquired by the MoMa in New York for its permanent collection. Hassani is taking the project to a next level with a Kickstarter-campaign. Hassani was inspired by the toys he played with as during his childhood in his native country Afghanistan. His family fled this war-tormented country to the Netherlands, where Hassani studied at Design Academy Eindhoven.
Mine Kafon | Callum Cooper from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.
Annemartine van Kesteren, curator Industrial Design at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, will present a visual column on the upcoming exhibition Conflicted, that zooms in how designers react to a time where fears reigns. Fear for war, immigration, climate change, epidemias, and economic uncertainty. Designers ward off this fear with beauty, humor and downplay. Conflicted is the 9th edition of Design Column, a series of investigative exhibition in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen that covers urgent matters from the perspective of design.
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