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Maker Utopias: speculative design futuring in a polycrisis through miniatures
Umeå University, Faculty of Science and Technology, Umeå Institute of Design.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-7417-0745
Umeå University, Faculty of Science and Technology, Umeå Institute of Design.
Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Department of Creative Studies (Teacher Education).ORCID iD: 0000-0003-1235-5485
Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Department of Creative Studies (Teacher Education).
2025 (English)Conference paper, Poster (with or without abstract) (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

This poster presents an artistic research project called Maker Utopias and interim findings from an ongoing study. We explore the material, aesthetic, technical and conceptual dimensions of maker culture futures, through the creation of miniature dioramas. Makers and hackers are technology subcultures who encourage others to actively participate in locally relevant and socially good design and production, often termed grassroots innovation. Their narratives envision replacing empty consumerism with more empowering, creative, circular, democratic and community-based production in shared workshops (fab labs and makerspaces), according to local needs, materials and resources. We ask, what does it take to build tiny sustainable solar societies in the interstices of unsustainable macro structures, in the face of hypercapitalism and the polycrisis? What do sustainability transformations and industrial transitions really look like at the grassroots? Perhaps we as a society can only create such utopias in miniature form. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2025.
Keywords [en]
maker culture, design culture, artistic research, technology, miniatures
National Category
Design Crafts Visual Arts Science and Technology Studies
Research subject
design; sustainability
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-247169OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-247169DiVA, id: diva2:2018527
Conference
Dealing with the polycrisis - UTRI Conference, Umeå, Sweden, November 27, 2025
Available from: 2025-12-03 Created: 2025-12-03 Last updated: 2025-12-03Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

poster(2916 kB)38 downloads
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File name FULLTEXT01.pdfFile size 2916 kBChecksum SHA-512
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Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

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Kohtala, CindyÅström, RickardRylander, SaraWink, Magnus

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CiteExportLink to record
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Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
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  • en-GB
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Output format
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  • rtf