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On concepts and art history
No full textOne of the compelling aspects of Real Spaces is the way in which it invites us to interrogate the nature and use of concepts in art history. It does this through its construction of a schema of concepts, of varying levels of generality, all linked to the concept of space. Summers’ replacement of one set of concepts, grounded in the visual and the formal, with another, grounded in the spatial, retains ‘the breadth of the general concept, while denying art’s exclusive and reductive association with sight and vision’. This new schema refreshes the ‘analytic and interpretive tools’ that go beyond Eurocentric associations of formalism, allowing ‘many more kinds of art to be meaningfully approached’ and offering a ‘theoretical basis for a more intercultural art history’. Summers’ approach raises important questions for art history’s use of concepts in an ‘intercultural’ or world art history: questions including their character as generals, or universals, their relation to language, their role as categories, their ostensibly ‘Western’ or Eurocentric nature, and the assumptions we make in employing them. I will sketch some of the outlines of this problematic field and register a few points of critique. Rather than general concepts employed within a general theory, I propose that an intercultural art history requires an investment of concepts as ‘vectors’ of thought rather than abstractions. By ‘vector’ (a concept I borrow and repurpose from Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari) I mean an orientation with direction, which shapes both the direction of thought and the relation of thoughts to each other. Unlike Summers, I believe that insights from critical theory, in particular poststructuralist philosophies of difference, are important for such a project, as is an ongoing engagement with contemporary art
Ecological citizenship in action through design-mediated commoning and polycentric custodianship
No full textAs climate change, biodiversity loss, material scarcity and rapid digitisation converge, many UK design projects are building new ways to care for shared resources. We call these ecological commons and study how design-mediated commoning turns ecological citizenship from an idea into everyday practice. Using an interpretive, multiple-case approach, we look at seven projects: farm-made biomaterials (Ag.Lab), an AI repair assistant for electronics (AI-Fixer), a civic land information tool (EcoLandS), participatory work on water justice (Flow.Walk.Drag), runner-led air quality sensing (Open Air), social housing retrofit (RCA), and a sensory, regenerative home retrofit (Wild House). We show three things. 1) Design does the practical work of care. It creates the guides, standards, toolkits and routines that let people share responsibility. 2) Projects last longer when openness is built in, for example through licences, data trusts and transparent model cards that reduce the risk of capture. 3) Values matter. Pride, pleasure and attachment keep people involved when money and momentum fade. We unite these lessons together as a simple guide for organisations: design for care, govern in a polycentric way with shared roles across communities, small firms, labs and public bodies, and measure success by the system’s ability to regenerate and share benefits. For business and government, this points to a shift from owning to stewarding, where legitimacy comes from holding assets in trust through open standards, participatory governance and resourced maintenance
Code ecologies: Integrating cultural legitimacy analysis in sustainability transitions
Full text linkA persistent challenge in sustainability transitions is the uneven uptake of interventions such as renewable energy projects, conservation measures and rewilding initiatives. These often encounter resistance that cannot be explained by economics, technical feasibility or governance arrangements alone. Instead, they hinge on questions of legitimacy and cultural alignment. Existing frameworks, including socio-ecological systems (SES) and cultural ecosystem services (CES), recognise human dimensions yet miss the symbolic dynamics through which interventions are interpreted, accepted or contested. Symbolic codes are patterned systems of meaning expressed through aesthetics, aspirational values and common practices in a particular context, which influence whether interventions are embraced, negotiated or resisted. This paper advances the Symbolic Ecology Framework (SEF), a conceptual framework for integrating symbolic codes as cultural variables in socio-ecological analysis. This conceptual contribution: (1) establishes theoretical premises for treating symbolic codes as cultural variables in socio-ecological analysis; (2) specifies six attributes (salience, valence, resonance, legitimacy, diachronic status, place-binding) drawn from cultural analysis and environmental research for systematic code assessment; and (3) proposes their aggregation into a Symbolic Alignment Index (SAI) for legitimacy alignment diagnostic purposes. An illustrative case study application to renewable energy siting demonstrates the framework's analytical logic. Finally, the empirical research agenda required to operationalise SEF is outlined, including protocol standardisation, validation studies and cross-context calibration
Qui Xiaofei
No full textPainting is one of the oldest art forms, with roots in prehistoric caves, ancient Roman villas, and Renaissance portraiture. Today, a new generation of artists experiment, innovate, and breathe new life into this enduring medium. From immersive exhibitions with massive wall paintings to quiet, minuscule compositions, Vitamin P4: New Perspectives in Painting brings together 108 artists from 44 countries, showcasing the best contemporary painters around the world. Nominated by high-profile art experts including museum directors, curators, historians, and critics, the featured artists range from established names to emerging stars. Each artist is represented by richly illustrated pages of their work, both individual paintings and exhibition views, as well as informative texts, giving readers an inclusive overview of their practice. Exciting, inspiring, and essential to followers of contemporary art, this new iteration of Phaidon’s renowned Vitamin P books offers the definitive guide to the medium of painting today
Softness is power: A feminist discussion and subversion of softness
No full textI am known as a radical knitter. Knitting is a process stereotypically linked to women and the domestic, although much of my work is produced using industrial machinery, which is usually associated with men and masculine labor. Whichever process I choose, the work that I produce always comes off the needles the same way: soft. I am researching, and writing, about softness while simultaneously hand knitting with the softest yarns that I can buy. These are both natural (silk, wool, mohair, cashmere, and alpaca) and man-made (nylon, acrylic, and polyester), plus mixes of the two. The research is underpinned by my ongoing questioning of notions of “normality” and by an embracing of the non-binary: the subtleties and differences that lie between two defined points. I write as I knit, with ideas linking together like stitches on a needle that grow to become a single work. But I am a much more experienced and skillful knitter than I am a writer. Speaking to an artist friend about my struggles to write about knitting, he asked, “Why don’t you knit it?” All of the ideas contained within this written text are also embodied within my textile work, but many people in Western society don’t know how to “read” material objects. As a society we have long privileged sight over all other senses, and generally we value and trust the written word above all else
Planetarity: Designing for coexistence
No full textHow can design shine a light on humanity's relationship with the planet, its ecosystems and inhabitants, now and in the future? Global challenges like climate change and ecosystem degradation are proving that a singular disciplinary approach is inadequate to respond to issues where societal behaviours, individual choices, political decisions, economic, technological and scientific developments are so densely entangled - not least in design. But what happens when we turn things around and decentre “the human” to look at our relationship with the planet, its ecosystems and inhabitants beyond the capitalist human-nature binary worldview? Design Beyond the Human is a collection of essays by international scholars, designers and engaged citizens traversing activism, anthropology, conservation, creative writing, design practice, design theory, economics, education, environmental humanities, ethics, history, indigenous knowledge, law, philosophy, poetry, politics, regenerative agriculture, science, sociology and technology. Divided into three sections - We Are Not Alone, Design Beyond the Human, and Mediating Human–Non-Human Relations Through Design - the text generates conversations capable of thinking about life on planet Earth, challenging the Anglo-European anthropocentric conceptualisation of design that dominates practice, education, and academic discourse. Each section is unique: charting the transdisciplinary cultural perspective that is required to comprehend our predicament, the critique of human-centred design and its interdependence with capitalism, and the nascent practices and projects that are attempting to reconcile humanity's possible relationship with the planet, its ecosystems and inhabitants. The book offers the reader an opportunity to engage with expertise, knowledge, methodologies and lived experiences from across disciplines shaped by shared concerns and provides an opportunity to question if design in a more-than-human way might reimagine design's relationship to capitalism and contemporary lifestyles. Will our planetary future be merely an ecologically aware version of today, or, in going beyond the human, might we develop a transdisciplinary perspective capable of imagining an alternative vision of life on Earth
Circular shirt builder: An apparel configurator to support healthier consumption boundaries in the textiles circular economy
Full text linkThe fashion industry faces urgent challenges related to overconsumption, material waste, and consumer detachment from garment lifecycles. While circular economy (CE) principles offer a promising alternative, strategies that actively engage consumers in circular practices remain underexplored. This study presents the Circular Shirt Builder (CSB), a physical apparel configurator designed to promote circular behaviours through modular garment design and embodied customisation. Using a Living Lab methodology, 19 participants engaged with the CSB in a stakeholder engagement platform in a retail-like setting, assembling modular shirts from a predefined library of components. The study employed a dual analysis approach: inductive thematic analysis and a deductive evaluation using the wellbeing framework for consumer experiences in the circular economy of the textile industry. Findings suggest that the CSB can foster emotional attachment, support learning about garment construction, encourage creative self-expression, and prompt reflection on consumption habits. Several wellbeing dimensions, such as playfulness, agency, and prospective thinking, appeared to be activated through the hands-on interaction. This research indicated that configurator tools grounded in circular and wellbeing principles may support long-term product use, more mindful consumption, and greater consumer involvement in transitions toward a circular textile economy
Emergent methodology: Bridging the ocean tangibility gap with experimental design methods
Full text linkThe ocean covers 71% of our planet, yet we know more about the moon. While climate change tipping points in the ocean are likely to be some of the most powerful future drivers for human adaptation to change, the ocean remains a distant dumping ground, badly understood and disconnected to human experience on land. Design can make ocean issues tangible and co-design can leverage lived experience into more adaptable solutions. We set out on a long term design project researching across a series of ocean voyages connecting coastal communities across the Atlantic Ocean. We report on our emergent methodology and the decision making and reflexiveness that was required. Tensions between wandering and research direction were explored as a process for re-focussing our goal refinement. Reflecting on the knowledge production emerging from our methodology we recognised design for future transformation as a quality that may be claimed retrospectively
Towards trust-driven trust-adaptive astronaut-agent medical collaboration interfaces
No full textAs human-agent medical collaboration evolves with the rapid ad-vancement of AI systems, careful trust considerations are needed to overcomebarriers to adoption and usability. Although human-automation interaction andinterface design have been widely studied from the perspective of human→agenttrust, effective medical collaboration requires mutual trust. Transdisciplinary ef-forts are needed to design medical systems and user interfaces (UIs) that considerhuman↔agent trust as a fundamental part of the interaction.The design of medical systems for astronaut-agent teaming on long-durationhuman spaceflight (LDHSF) represents a well-defined and focused edge case thatallows for specifying key aspects for mutual justifiable trust-informed interactiondesign and offers opportunities for broader applications. While astronaut-agentcollaboration and the integration of emerging technologies could enable crew in-dependence from ground medical support, effective teaming requires the agentto be aware when the human is unable to perform a task or requires assistanceadaptation.Applying a human-centered design approach, we conducted qualitative inter-views, stakeholder meetings, and design workshop sessions. The Subject MatterExperts (SMEs) represented diverse fields, including astronauts, space medicine,human factors, computing, human-computer interaction, engineering, and spacesystems.In this paper, we discuss key insights related to trust challenges and opportu-nities of astronaut-agent medical interfaces, presenting selected outputs from co-design sessions related to medical interaction during LDHSF. We illustrate prac-tical examples from a case study development of a trust-driven, trust-adaptiveExploration Medical Ecosystem Design Interface (ExMEDI), and highlight op-portunities for future work