User:Zpalomagar/RW&RM

300 WORDS ABOUT YOUR WORK

What

“The designer designed by Humans” is an installation that took place in the 3rd Istambul Design Biennal in 2016. This installation, which I designed as part of the team of the international office estudioHerreros, creates an audiovisual space in which the viewer could experience the design process of hundreds of contemporary designers through archive pictures or audiovisual material of them.

This multi-screen video installation presents five types of “designers”: the designer of prototypes, the designer as political negotiator, the designer by e-mail, the designer as consultants’ coordinator, and the designer of parts of a whole.

How

This installation started with a deep research into the method and strategic process that international designers follow in their production. After several weeks in which hundreds of references, testimonies and works were collected and analyses, we could conclude that the contemporary designer could be classified in one of the categories described above.

The green floor and walls area was equipped with ten screens, headphones and chairs in order to allow the viewers to find them confront space. The five types of designer were explained in ten synchronized screens that played videos that shared exactly the same structure so the visitor could choose between understand the installation as a complex combination of audio-visual content or be focused and enjoy each of them as an independent piece.

Why

The 3rd Istambul Design Biennal in 2016,  curated by Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley launched the question “Are we Humans?” as the main reflexion topic for participants. The Designer designed by Humans answer this question exploring what is the current role of the designers and how the designers have been redesigned by the human environment.

Final version

“The designer designed by Humans” is an installation that took place in the 3rd Istambul Design Biennal in 2016. This project, which I designed as part of the team of the international office estudioHerreros, created an audiovisual space in which the viewer experienced the design process of hundreds of contemporary designers through archive pictures or audiovisual material of them. This multi-screen video installation presents five types of designers: the designer of prototypes, the designer as political negotiator, the designer by e-mail, the designer as consultants’ coordinator, and the designer of parts of a whole.

This project started with a deep research into the method and strategic process that international designers follow in their production. After several weeks in which hundreds of references, testimonies and works were collected and analysed, we concluded that the contemporary designer could be classified in one of the categories described above.

The green floor and walls area was equipped with movable screens, headphones and chairs in order to allow the viewers to find their comfort space. The five types of designer were explained in ten synchronized screens which played videos that shared exactly the same structure so the visitor could choose between understand the installation as a complex combination of audio-visual content or be focused and enjoy each of them as an independent piece.

The 3rd Istambul Design Biennal in 2016,  curated by Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley launched the question “Are we Humans?” as the main reflexion topic for participants. The Designer designed by Humans answer this question exploring what is the current role of the designers. In the 20th and 21st century new figures of designers appeared in parallel to the human behaviour evolution. This dynamic installation allows visitors to have close contact with the creative processes and be immersed in a large number of references to achieve that the role of the designer can be understood all over the world.

READER CONTENT

Entreprecariat_reader_synopses_and_abstracts

Fake It Till You Make it – Genesis of the Entrepreneurial Precariat

• Author: Silvio Lorusso
• Publisher and date: 2018

Abstract

Silvio Lorusso narrates the perception of precariousness in relation to entrepreneurship through the different thoughts of writers, philosophers or social movements. “Fake it till you make it” is an expression that represents the existential crisis of the entreprecariat. Nobody assumes that is precariat because this could contradict the entrepreneur spirit. Even so in many countries movements have appeared claiming precarious situations such as San Precario, result of thirty years of policies in favour of companies and against workers.

Synopsis

Fake It Till You Make it - Genesis of the Entrepreneurial Precariat is an article by Silvio Lorusso, that narrate the perception of precariousness in relation to entrepreneurship through the different view that writers, philosophers or social movements have about it. First of all to describe the current situation, we need to understand Millenials as technology humans main characters of the digital revolution with a constant uncertain horizon.

Based on the words of Michel Foucault's who introduced the expression "Entrepreneur of the self", Lorusso establish a link between this description of entrepreneur and the current 20-30 years old worker, who has oneself as the centre of gravity of their work instead of their companies. Moreover, we can classify socially the entrepreneur following the social pyramid that Joseph Schumpeter presented. He saw the entrepreneur as the top of the social pyramid because of its precious ability to innovate. This vision was inverted by Peter Drucker who defended that everyone is call to free enterprise if we want to accelerate the innovation. As a result of all these ideas the entreprecariat concept was born.

"Fake it till you make it" is an expression that represents the existential crisis of the entreprecariat. And it can be understood from two different perspectives. On the one hand, as an entrepreneur concept is defined as the existence of a product in order to obtain the financing necessary for its realization but psychologically speaking it is just fake your happiness till you are happy. If you mix this two concepts you can obtain a continuos optimization individuals that assume the failures on themselves.

In relation to the concept "class dysphoria" introduced by Raffaele Alberto Ventura we can understand that entreprecatiat need to show themself as a rich individual with opportunities. Nobody assumes that is precariat because this could contradict the entrepreneur spirit. Even so in many countries movements have appeared claiming precarious situations.

Finally, San Precario is described as a collective anonymous creation that emerged after thirty years of policies in favour of companies and against workers and which mission is still to be defined. Alex Foti, indicates three main objectives: urban power, climate justice and Universal Basic Income (UBI)

The article conclude explained the possible paths for the future described as: "to replicate the mantra of precarized entrepreneurship or to try to collectively bring about an entrepreneurial precariat".

Glossary

[Simon, Artemis, Pedro, Paloma]

"subjectivity" As a philosophical concept, subjectivity has its roots in the writings of Descartes and Kant. Modern discourse on subjectivity is often articulated by understandings of what constitutes an individual, and concepts of the self in relation to one's environment. Broadly speaking, subjectivity concerns the position of a subject as an individual (with consciousness, perspectives, feelings, desires etc.), the subject's agency, or ability to act on objects, and also information that is considered true from the perspective of a subject.

"self-precarization" Precarization stems from individuals reacting to economic circumstances where there is uncertainty. Isabell Lorey extends the concept to "self-precarization", which she defines as a precarization that is both forced and chosen; giving as an example of one choosing less-creative, precarious jobs in order to fund one's own cultural production within a state-imposed narrative that offers no alternative. In this way, self-precarization is a reaction to the top-down imperative to improve oneself through self-governance.

"gig-economy" The term is often applied in an economic system where long-term work contracted jobs are not a reality anymore and companies prefer to outsource temporary positions. It has its origins in the 1920's jazz musicians, being slang for a live musical performance, especially one that does not have a certain future or that is temporary. The term gig also derives has a "short" for engagement.

"Platform Capitalism" We can consider it as a digital mediated form of entrepreneurialism. Companies such as Deliveroo, Uber or Glovo, recruite large numbers of workers, outsourcing their job positions through online systems as websites, apps, etc. Workers are self-employed, creating most of the times a fake sense of freedom.

"Social pyramid" Term introduced by Joseph Schumpeter which categorise the society in ranges in an pyramidal structure distinguishing roles of each layer of society and relations between large social groups and headed by entrepreneurs because of their ability to innovate.

"Entreprecariat" This term was born as a mixture between entrepreneurialism and precariat concepts. The entreprecariat is the semi-young enthusiastic creative worker who is forced to reinvent himself as an entrepreneur of the self due to his working conditions are undervalued in a financial, psychological, affective, physiological, temporal or geographical aspect.

"Social Unionism" Social Unionism is the concept of integrating workers, trade unions and the labor movement into broader alliances for social and economic justice. The attempt to connect social movements with labor organising points to the achievement of mutual beneficial goals and the re-appropriation of “the common”.

“Entrepreneurship of the Multitude” This term is suggested by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, as an attempt redefine the concept of "entrepreneurship". The "entrepreneurial spirit" is broadly referred as the special ability of neoliberal managers and gurus to maximize production and create individual profit. In contrast, with this new term the entrepreneurial mindset is claimed back by the multitude, as an inherent feature in social production processes. The goal is in this case is “self-organization and self-governance”, with the intention to build the ground where “social wealth is shared in common”.

INDIVIDUAL TASK

[Task: expand Steve's notes by 300 words]

During the last years, in which I have developed my training as an architect, I have expressed my ideas through graphic elements using drawings, photographs or videos as the main elements of my communication strategies. The pieces of text have frecuently been trasnalated into claim sentences that have provided very specific information which became impossible to express with visual content. This texts were transformed into remarkable slogans or even advertising elements.

Following this idea of trying to transform complex concepts into simple and powerful text elements, I wrote as a diploma Project, a long text about the foundations of Japanese architecture built in the last 20 years. This reflection was based on the extraction of a collection of concepts that would transform the traditional text body into a glossary through which the reader is able to understand all the keywords that have been decisive for the architecture of this period and therefore understand the fundaments on which it is based.

After finishing this academic period and jumping into the professional world, I was working for two years in the renowned international office estudioHerreros, where I was closely involved in communication and writing tasks working in reduced formats in order to synthesize complex projects. In parallel with these activities, the work in the office gave me the opportunity to participate in international biennials in which we developed temporal installations with strong communicative audiovisual elements in which the text played a fundamental role.

After this long academic, professional and personal training period, I have found in the Experimental Publishing master and in the city of Rotterdam the perfect interdisciplinary mixture which combines art, communication and design and allows me to work on my communicative and expressive skills through the new systems that are present in our digital era highlighting the innovative and collaborative values of the school.

Parallel to the work in the master and the reading of recommended weekly texts, I am currently reading several books that are a strong inspirational source for my daily work, among which we should highlight:

Post-Truth, book written by Matthew D'Ancora in which the art of lying is explained as the fundamental basis of communication and the mediatic repercussion in communication today and in important social and political events that have taken place recently.

Delirious New York, book written by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas in which Manhattan is described as a laboratory of experiences and in which the text is presented as a collage of concepts through which the reader can travel through different adventures that you can have in the city that never sleeps.

Sincere by design, a full interview with the Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto, in this book the design of the book itself, has an important value for me in which the usual Japanese purity becomes a fundamental concept and all the usual graphic ornaments are replaced by subtle appreciations.

IRIS

Iris Synopsis

[Simon, Tancredi, Biyi, Paloma]

The Special Issue is comprised of two core components, a printed book titled "Ten Theses on Life Hacks" which is an attempt to define criteria for what constitutes a life hack, and a device called Iris, installed in any ubiquitous productive environments such as offices, co-working spaces and libraries. This device is a self-motivational life coach that is inhabited by three different personalities; presenting interactions and conflicts between them which force the user to be part of it in a reflexive and critical mood. The user is placed in an ambiguous position because they are not sure if the emphasis is on productivity or happiness.

Both components rely on interaction with an end-user; the printed book is bound by the reader using a selection from an eclectic range of items so the user should have an active role and design a binding technique through an improvised life hack strategy. However the life coach requires the presence of the user to be triggered and the subsequent reflection time to be processed by the listener.

Iris takes the appearance of a manufactured product; a small box that contains speakers and LEDs that speaks to a user when it detects movement via a camera placed in a screen at the top of the box. When the device is active, the top of the box displays a mirror in which LEDs are reflected infinitely, producing a combination of an endless light corridor and a blurred reflection of oneself. These LEDs are connected to the audio levels of the output, glowing at different luminescence in relation to the strength of the audio signal.

The primary voice of a Corporate Guru invites the user to repeat positive affirmations and invite self-inquiry into their thoughts as part of a meditative session. Its soothing voice is interrupted by the computerised voice of a Pirate Signal, who responds to these invitations to repeat and reflect with snarky statements that cast doubt on the Guru's instructions and the very process of taking part in such sessions. Whether the Pirate Signal is part of the corporate manufacturer's design or not is ambiguous; it could easily be coming from a hacker whose aim is to subvert the process.

The third voice is of an Announcer, who on the hour, every hour, describes a work-related problem and a life hack which addresses it, reminding workers of their autonomy and suggesting practical ways to improve their everyday lives in small, improvisational actions.

This project is developed as the second part of the Special Issue 7 on the main themes of the Entreprecariat and Life Hacks. NAME follows the conclusion of the previous publication 'Ten Theses on Life Hacks', in which we outlined the meaning of this ambiguous term, "life hack", as an everyday action which addresses both an improvement of personal life and an excess of productivity that can lead to burn-out. We wanted to organize a performance/installation to let the user experience this ambiguity in a clear way and facilitate the process of becoming aware of it. This purpose lead us to chose the context of the office as the site of interaction between the main character of the entreprecarious worker, whose actions trigger the performance and embed the worker within it, and an AI, which represents the ideal coach, capable of incapsulating this ambiguity in itself and making you conscious of it through a live interaction mediated by natural language.

Further developments consisted of how to embody this ambiguity into one AI and at the same time perform and give Life Hacks that can be executed by the user, and to manage this complexity we decided to assign three characters to this AI and developed their interactions as a kind of struggle between different perspectives. Finally we focused on the physical object, the hardware part of the AI. It contains an interface as an infinity mirror, modulating the intensity of the lights in accordance to the voice of the AI, projecting you inside a corridor of lights, as an inner or enter the void experience, and giving the possibility of shift your point of view to recognize your blurred image, both as enforcing your presence inside the performance and giving the effect of a distorted and ambiguous reality. The object is a full-optional and compact product whose elegant desing and aesthetic represent an ideal device that can be sold and installed inside offices to improve productivity and happiness.

Pitch

IRIS is a self motivational life coach device installed in any productive enviroment which works on the improvement of the productivity and happiness of the listener. This device is inhabited by three different AI personalities presenting interactions and conflicts between them. The Corporate Guru character is triggered by motion sensors and interrupted unexpectedly by The Pirate Signal, forcing the user to be in a reflexive and critical mind. However the Announcer is a time-based voice which describe a work-related problem and encourage the user to be a life hacker. X has a semi-reflective appearance that beacame a mixture of an endless light corridor and a blurred reflection of oneself when the device is active.

Longline

I’ve just arrived to my office and I see a strange machine on the table. I don’t know what it is but it looks beautiful. I am looking at it but I don’t have any idea about its function. When I stare at it from above a voice starts to play. I am confused. I think this device is trying to communicate with me. I don’t understand anything. I’m going to start my routine, I have a pretty busy day. It’s 12:00 o’clock, an unexpected voice is playing. It's giving us some life hack information, I like it. My college Alice is looking at the new device, this guru voice starts to play again but now some weird diabolical voice interrupts it. I am very confused. I’m trying to look for the instructions of this machine.

ARCHIVE

[Simon, Artemis, Tancredi, Paloma]

X Theses

OVERVIEW

Ten Theses on Life Hacks is the first publication of Special Issue #07. It attempts to acquire a widened perspective on how Life Hacks can be defined and how they relate to our collective experiences and reflections. Life Hacks are small improvisational interventions to the immediate environment; spontaneous actions that aim to improve or adapt materials to specific needs. A simple example, such as tying a knot in a earphone cable to determine easily which is for the left ear or the right without having to look, can be considered a Life Hack. They are diasporic, shared within communities both on- and offline in ever-increasing processes of self-optimisation.

The text consists of ten theses, the first of which is a selection of criteria that allow us to test whether something is a Life Hack or not. The remaining theses present extended arguments supported by examples, on how to identify specific features of Life Hacks, in which environment (and space) they exist and what kind of culture they foster.

Understanding Life Hacks in the context of an advanced capitalist society raises the question of the ambiguity of a system in which the entrepreneurial routine of the self is internalized to perform an ever-working life. In actuality, Life Hacks bring about the possibility of reappropriating everyday life in a creative and practical response, managing precarity and complexity.

This publication includes a Life Hack in its format. With the addition of a series of holes, each loose page can be seen as a “hackable surface”. The publication aims to depart from the traditional form of a finished book, inviting readers to bind it using an eclectic choice from a range of unorthodox materials included with the publication. This strategy incentives the reader to rethink their personal ideal form of the book, transforming it into a hand-made object. As such, the publication is completed by the reader, who is left to improvise a make-shift solution to bind the publication. The goal is not only to share the text, but to also provide an experience in which a life-hacked binding transforms the reader into an active subject, rather than a passive consumer. This small conceit illustrates that the process is even more noticeable than the outcome.

INVENTORY OF MATERIALS AND PROCESSES

Recycled kraft board Paper (200gsm ) Cling wrap Sticker label Disused polystyrene food packaging trays A wide range of unorthodox binding materials (e.g. paperclips, carabiners, rubber bands, nuts and bolts, earrings etc.)

PUBLICATION LAUNCH

Launched at Varia, the Centre for Everyday Technology (Rotterdam) on 31.10.18 as part of the event "Life Hacks: Space", including guests; author and designer Françoué Giraremeunier, the WORKNOT! collective (Arvand Pourabbasi and Golnar Abbasi), Varia, the Centre for Everyday Technology (represented by Roel Roscam Abbing, Manetta Berends and Niek Hilkmann). The Life Hacks series is curated by Silvio Lorusso, and jointly organized by Het Nieuwe Instituut’s Research Department and XPUB.

Iris

OVERVIEW Iris is a physical device, ostensibly, an “artificial intelligence”, whose aim is to increase productivity. It is installed in work environments where workers can easily interact with it. However, the device is inhabited by three different personalities: Corporate Guru, Pirate Signal and Announcer. The interactions with and conflicts between these three personalities forces the user to adopt a reflexive and critical attitude toward the device. The user triggers the performance and is placed in an ambiguous position; doubtful if the emphasis is on productivity or happiness.

Iris takes the appearance of a manufactured product; a compact 3D printed shell that contains a raspberry Pi and two speakers, and at the top of the device, an infinity mirror with an LED strip and a camera. When it detects movement via the camera it starts to speak, and the LEDs, connected to the audio levels of the output, start to glow at different intensity in relation to the strength of the audio signal. When the device is active, the infinity mirror produces a combination of an endless light corridor and a faint reflection of oneself.

The Corporate Guru invites the user to repeat positive affirmations and invite self-inquiry into their thoughts as part of a meditative session. Its soothing voice is interrupted unexpectedly by the raspy, computerised whisper of a Pirate Signal, who responds to the Guru with snarky asides that cast doubt on the Guru's instructions and the very process of taking part in such sessions. Whether the Pirate Signal is part of the corporate manufacturer's design or not is not clear; it could easily be coming from an outside infiltrator (e.g. a hackivist) whose aim is to subvert the process. The third voice is of an Announcer, who, every hour, between 9:00 and 17:00 (apart from a lunch break at 13:00), describes a work-related problem and a Life Hack which addresses it, reminding workers of their autonomy and suggesting practical ways to improve their everyday lives in small, improvisational actions.

Iris follows the conclusion of the first part of the publication, 'Ten Theses on Life Hacks', in which we outlined the meaning of the ambiguity within "Life Hacks", everyday actions which address both an improvement of personal life and an excess of productivity that can eventually lead to burn-out. The aim was to create a device to let the user experience this ambiguity in a clear way and develop their own critical position.

We chose the environment of the work space as the site of a live interaction between the main character of the entreprecarious worker, and an AI which represents the ideal virtual coach. Iris is capable of incapsulating this ambiguity in itself and making the user conscious of it through natural language. Further developments consisted of how to embody this ambiguity into one AI and at the same time announce Life Hacks that can be executed by the user. To manage this complexity we decided to assign three characters to Iris and developed their interactions as a kind of struggle between these different perspectives.

INVENTORY OF MATERIALS AND PROCESSES Transparent and mirrored acrylic (laser-cut) PLA filament (3D-printed) Tinted one-way mirror film Bluetooth JBL speakers (x2) Raspberri Pi 3 B+ Raspberry Pi Camera + flexi cable LED strip WS1 + charger Audio jack (x2) and splitter Wires and jumper wires

PUBLICATION LAUNCH Launched at Het Nieuwe Instituut on 13.12.18 at "Life Hacks: Introducing Iris (XPUB Special Issue #07)", the third event of the Life Hacks series. Following the launch of Ten Theses on Life Hacks, XPUB's Special Issue #07 is a further step of an inquiry into the meaning of Life Hacks. The Life Hacks series is curated by Silvio Lorusso, and jointly organized by Het Nieuwe Instituut’s Research Department and XPUB.