Design has been and is still closely entangled with an idea of progress molded by modernism, technological development, rationality and economic growth. The very notion of progress, of moving towards a future ‘better’ than the present, is at the core of design as a discipline. While design has undoubtedly been instrumental in making situations and lives better from human-centered perspectives, it has also played a pivotal role in the planetary crisis and in futhering structural global inequalities. Today, when trying to shift towards other motivations and meanings in designing, we as designers find ourselves being haunted by this legacy. While seldom explicitly articulated, these ideas and practices of ‘progress' take on a ghostly presence in design, haunting us as we try to find ways of doing and thinking design otherwise. Looking for ways of designing that can support shifts towards
We invite you to join us in searching for examples of how and where the ghosts of progress in the everyday appear to haunt us, whether they show themselves clearly or whether we only can catch the faintest glimpse. We are also hunting for other ghosts, that we wish to invite to better haunt us in design: the people and practices that have gone before us. In particular, we search for practices, places, and people that have rarely been considered or given little or no attention in mainstream north European everyday narratives.
During this session, we will frame the perspectives of ‘hauntology’ in relation to expanding understandings of possible futures through calling forth aspects of the past in the present of design and everyday experiences. Mughda Patil and Maria Göransdotter will give an introductory talk, after which we will move into collaborative explorations and conversations.