We take the position that, if we wish to move toward decolonizing design, design(ers) needs to re-think the organization of the design encounter and how we as designers practice participation in that encounter. We emphasize the improvisational nature of turn-taking in “real-time” dialogue amidst asymmetric and dynamic power relations, with design’s commitment to generating resources for future practices, and decolonization’s commitment to re-configure power structures. Improvisational design dialogue – unraveling partial glimpses of our individual and collective journeys in improvised performances of potential realities through a dance of multimodal, partially distributed, partially synchronized dialogue in the “design present”.
4-page position paper, currently under development for a special issue.